Chile Forbids Carriers From Selling Network-Locked Phones

Posted by timothy on Tuesday January 3, 2012 @04:34AM from the as-regulations-go-not-a-bad-idea dept.

An anonymous reader writes "As from today, network operators in Chile are no longer allowed to sell carrier-locked phones, and must unlock free of charge all devices already sold to costumers through a simple form on their respective websites. The new regulation came into effect in preparations for the rollout of Mobile Number Portability, set to begin on January 16th. This is one among other restrictions that forbid carriers to lock in the customers through 'abusive clauses' in their contracts, one of which was through selling locked devices. Now if a customer wishes to change carriers he/she needs only to have the bills up to date and the process of porting the number should only take 24 hours."

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Re:Carrier Subsidy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-01-03 06:55 · Score: 0, Flamebait

Exactly. An Unlocked iPhone 4S costs more than an iPad 2. There is no reason for the unlocked phone to cost what it does.
A 16GB iPhone costs $649, and a 16GB 3G iPad costs $629.
For your $20, you get a 1080p rear camera (vs. a 720p camera in the iPad 2), smaller components (higher density = more $$$) and a high-density ("retina") display (again, more density = more $$$) plus some phone-specific things like a vibrator motor and a face-proximity sensor. I'd say you get your money's worth.