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What You Need To Know About Phone Unlocking

Posted by timothy on from the land-of-liberty dept.

Now that unlocking a new phone is under many circumstances illegal in the U.S. (!), Digital Trends has collected a useful set of answers outlining just what that means. As they put it, a "quick guide to answer all your why, how, and WTF questions." Among them, some explanation of the rule-making process, the reasoning that led to the end to the unlocking exception to the DMCA (including the Ninth Circuit's 2010 Vernor v. Autodesk decision), and illustrations of situations in which it is not illegal to unlock your phone.

9 of 321 comments (clear)

  1. Isn't banning unlocking anti-competitive ? by craznar · · Score: 5, Informative

    I know it is in Australia (ACCC).... would have thought US had more protection.

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    1. Re:Isn't banning unlocking anti-competitive ? by agoliveira · · Score: 4, Informative

      In Brazil the phones cannot be sold locked. If they are, for some reason, the seller is obligated to unlock it for free.

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    2. Re:Isn't banning unlocking anti-competitive ? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

      In the UK you can buy phones on contract unlocked, and usually cheaper too. If you buy directly from the phone company it might cost you £35/month and you get a locked phone. If you buy from an independent like the old fashioned sounding Carphone Warehouse or borderline illiterate Phones 4 U you get the same phone for £30/month and it will be unlocked.

      Apparently the free market has failed in the US, because it was able to buy laws designed to distort it in the phone company's favour.

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    3. Re:Isn't banning unlocking anti-competitive ? by jhoegl · · Score: 3, Informative

      I do not see an issue here.
      TFA states many exemptions such as currently unlocked phones you can purchase from many places, phones not under contract, second hand phones, etc.
      It isnt that big of a deal, and this isnt "jailbreaking", as some might think.

    4. Re:Isn't banning unlocking anti-competitive ? by __aaltlg1547 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Unlocking doesn't just apply to smart phones. It applies to most cell phones. They are "locked" (digitally preconfigured in a not-easy-to-modify-way) to use only one service. It locks you in to using only that service with that phone. If you are dissatisfied with your service, you can't take that phone to another service provider without first unlocking it.

      It's an anti-competitive practice that should be banned. You should be able to take any phone to any service provider that uses a compatible system and have them configure it to use their service.

      Of course, if you use a cheap phone, this kind of lock-in doesn't really provide much of a barrier to switching carriers, and may carriers give you a cheap phone when you sign up to use their service.

  2. Re:Paying more for locked device by greg1104 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Likely does not mean certain in all cases. The trend toward providing unlocked phones at full price, instead of subsidized ones, will on average save people money. You can of course find a case where it doesn't. In theory having a free market will eventually level such differences, such as how T-Mobile has started unlocking more and focusing on monthly rate to seem competitive. Monopoly situations where there is only one carrier available do not operate as a free market.

  3. Re:Paying more for locked device by JC61990 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its called pre-paid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_mobile_virtual_network_operators this is a list of every pre-paid carrier in the US, and what carrier they mooch off of. So if your so called "only" carrier in the area is on this list as an MVNO carrier, then you can take your unlocked phone to that provider and pay WAY WAY less than any on-contract carrier.

  4. Re:Because the firmware's copyright? by xaxa · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ah, my question is answered in the next part of the article:

    Furthermore, new court decisions have changed the interpretation of the law. In 2010, the Ninth Circuit court decided in Vernor v. Autodesk, Inc that we cell phone owners do not actually “own” the software running our phones. Instead, we are only “licensing” this software – a key difference – which means that we don’t have a right to alter that software. This also played a role in the Librarian’s decision.

  5. some of their homework is wrong... by jlv · · Score: 3, Informative

    "Verizon sells all iPhone 5s unlocked, meaning you could take your device over to AT&T or T-Mobile without having to unlock the device."

    You could take your Verizon CDMA iPhone over to AT&T or T-Mobile, but you won't ever get it to work on their networks.