Bill Proposes Canadian Cellphone Unlocking Rights

SJrX sends in a CBC report that the Canadian New Democratic Party has tabled a bill requiring all cellphone companies to provide unlocked cellphones. (Wikipedia notes, "The party is regarded as falling on the left in the Canadian political spectrum.") This reader adds, "The fact that there is a minority government currently should help this bill's chances of getting passed." "The bill proposes three rules: cellphone carriers would be required to notify customers at the point of purchase whether a phone is locked to work only on their network; they would have to remove such a lock free of charge at any point after the conclusion of the customer's service contract; and they would have to remove it if the customer does not enter into a contract within six months of buying the device up front."

Comments

Re:Oh Canada

[anthonyfk]

Yes, this is a lot like universal healthcare: it's a government unreasonably telling private people what transactions they CANNOT engage in (private insurance in Canada is illegal).

Um, no? (One of many.)

Re:Oh Canada

[dkleinsc]

I find that difficult to believe especially since I barely use any government services.

I call BS on that one. Chances are extremely good that you've done at least some of these in the last year:
  - Purchased food inspected by the government to ensure that it's unlikely to give you food poisoning, and that the nutritional information listed on the side of the container is accurate. Or purchased food from a restaurant which had been inspected to ensure that there weren't cockroaches all over the place (among other things).
  - Purchased gasoline from a pump that had been inspected to ensure that 1 gallon of price = 1 gallon of fuel.
  - Put money into a bank knowing that the bank was required by law to give it back to you if you asked for it, and would still be yours even if the bank went under (assuming it was less than $100,000).
  - Engaged in a transaction on an SEC-regulated market.
  - Taken advantage of a 401(k) or IRA.
  - Relied on the military and police for protection against any really serious attack (not just one criminal going after your property, but an organized assault with bombs and missiles). You may have also called your emergency services for help with a criminal, a fire, an injury, or other hazards.
  - Made use of a government water system (not necessarily at home).
  - Taken a walk or ride or swim in a public park of some kind.
  - Ridden on or flown an aircraft that had been regulated to ensure that it was extremely unlikely to crash.
  - Breathed air that wasn't super-polluted because government regulations prevented companies from just spewing out nasty particulate matter.

I can keep going if you like. The point is, most of the really useful stuff your government does at various levels is not readily visible but affects you every day.

Re:Awesome except for one small thing.

[The Evil Twin]

Telus and Bell built a JOINT network. It's the same 3G network operating on 850Mhz & 1900Mhz.
Their CDMA Network is on the way out and will not be upgraded.
Rogers also has a 3G network operating on 850Mhz & 1900Mhz.

So, you have the nations three biggest carriers operating on the same frequencies of 850Mhz & 1900Mhz HSPA(+).
The only thing not compatible is the first and second gen networks.

The only carriers that this doesn't affect are Mobilicy and Wind.
a. because they don't have contracts and in case of Wind, will unlock your phone (after 3 months) (not sure about mobilicity)
b. they are on the AWS band and are only compatible with each other. (1700Mhz/2100Mhz)

Re:Awesome except for one small thing.

[anethema]

You're generally wrong.

Telus runs two networks. Their new HSPA+ (21mbps) network runs on both 850 and 1900 spectrum.

Rogers has both GSM AND HSPA/UMTS on 850 and 1900. Generally their 3G HSPA stuff is on 850 while the 2.5G EDGE is on 1900 but this is changing in many rual centers.

You can take an iPhone for example, and work perfectly fine on Telus, Bell, or Rogers (provided it is unlocked which they are from the Apple Store up here).

The particular phone you gave an example for was a bad one as well. The N900 has 2.5G EDGE/GSM on all Canadian frequencies. But it's 3G is only on the AWS band, which is T-Mobile in the USA or WIND Mobile here in Canada. You're also wrong about the SIM, Bell and Telus (and Nokia..what?) have their GSM network which has SIM cards like any other.

Telus/Bell still run their CDMA network but it is generatlly depreciated and not many phones are sold for it any longer.

SO basically there is no incompatible bullshit other than the info in your post. LTE will be welcome of course.