Slashdot Mirror
Starting This Week, Wireless Carriers Must Unlock Your Phone
HughPickens.com writes Andrew Moore-Crispin reports that beginning today, as result of an agreement major wireless carriers made with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in late 2013, wireless carriers in the US must unlock your phone as soon as a contract term is fulfilled if asked to do so unless a phone is connected in some way to an account that owes the carrier money. Carriers must also post unlocking policies on their websites (here are links for AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile), provide notice to customers when their devices are eligible for unlocking, respond to unlock requests within two business days, and unlock devices for deployed military personnel. So why unlock your phone? Unlocking a phone allows it to be used on any compatible network, regardless of carrier which could result in significant savings. Or you could go with an MVNO, stay on the same network, and pay much less for the same cellular service.
Welcome to the 90's, USA.
I don't think I've ever had a phone on contract that couldn't be unlocked on demand after the initial period.
http://www.virginmobileusa.com/unlock
Bummer, I deployed and made sure that my Sprint cell phone was unlocked prior to my deployment. I asked Apple and I asked Sprint, both verified that they were unlocked. ... Then Sprint sent an OTA update and locked it. When I called and complianed, they were a stone wall and absolutely refused to unlock my phone. Invoking the SCRA, I terminated my contract on my brand new iphone, took it to the store and sold it for $50 more than I paid for it. (wasn't expecting to actually make a profit on it). And signed up for another carrier that DIDN'T lock my phone. ... Problem solved. And I was even paid for my troubles. Of course, Sprint lost my family's business, so there's that.
With the whole 2-year contract things, most people can basically never have their phone unlocked for international use until it's time to upgrade anyway. Locking phones should just be illegal to begin with. If you sign a contract saying you are going to pay for service for 2 years, you have to pay for that service (or pay an ETF) regardless of if your phone is locked or not.
Morphing Software
Does this apply to tablets/data-only devices as well?
I have a PS Vita 3G that's just *dying* to get on a network that isn't AT&T.
Why can't all fpga/microcontroller manufacturers just release free optimizing compilers???
I have a Motorola Photon 4G (pre LTE) that was infamously scheduled to receive ICS but then Motorola backpedaled and abandoned it, *right after* the last OTA shipped that locked the bootloader--so essentially it's stuck at gingerbread while fully capable of running kitkat or lollipop (with a much better experience).
It's not activated on my account to make calls anymore, but Sprint's system still sees it.
It's a world phone with both cdma and a sim card for gsm--would be a great travel phone if I could unlock it.
There is nothing in there stating that the carriers must unlock the device free of charge. We got burned by the same sad lack of foresight in Canada: The carrier must unlock your device, and they will actually do it right on the phone with you in most cases, but not until you have paid the $75 fee!
the above is my personal opinion and does not necessarily reflect that of the little voices in my head
Did you guys know that Samsung's EULA actually allows it to push ads at odd times of the night, ring you and make you look at the ads? In fact it has the right to put you call on hold and make you listen to an ad for 15 seconds once in 3 minutes. And finally the government wheels have started moving against locking the phone. By the time they understand Samsung's smart-tv/smart-phone pushed ad model, we all would by dead ...
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
This is nice, but there's still a problem with carriers locking the bootloader on smartphones. This means one cannot easily or reliably change the OS to something more suitable. I'd like to install CyanogenMod on my phone, but I learned after I got it that my carrier locks the bootloader.
Before switching from a prepaid carrier to an MVNO, make sure you read the MVNO's plan closely.
Some don't allow roaming at all, or only allow a minimal amount (like say, 25 megs of data). Some don't allow tethering/hotspot use, or charge an extra fee for it. Some shut off data when you hit the cap instead of throttling.
You can save money with an MVNO, but make sure you're actually getting the services you need.
There’s always a gotcha. These new rules are effective going forward so carriers could argue that only phones launched commercially after this date should be subject. Also, the rules were put together and agreed upon by the CTIA, formerly the Communication Telecommunication Industry Alliance, i.e. the carriers and a few other corporations. It feels a bit like the foxes watching the chicken coop.
How will this work for the likes of Tracfone and subsidiaries? There is never really a debt to begin with.
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
The problem is that some phones get useful, permanent mods, such as the HTC One X, or the HTC One M8. Others start out as locked, such as the Moto X or the Motorola CLIQ, but eventually are easily updated. Still others never really get completely unlocked, such as the Motorola Atrix 2.
My next phone, I'll probably just place my bets on HTC, since I've had good luck with their products. Maybe LG is decent, but I've yet to research their stuff.
Motorola and Samsung? They can keep their expertly locked bootloaders and eFuses.
People in the U.S. still sign up for two-year contracts? What year is this, 2002? I love my $35 smartphone on Tracfone. It uses Verizon's nationwide network. I only pay $100 a year for 400 minutes. I can always add more data for $10. Gah, this sound like a commercial. Sorry. Only downside to CDMA/EVDO cell phone is that I can't use it in Canada or any other country. I know, I should've bought a $75 unlocked Motorola GSM HSPA/LTE phone from Amazon.
An absolute requirement for me is a phone with an SD card slot. After I realized my phone has a bootloader lock, I tried to find one with an SD slot AND unlocked bootloader. I couldn't find one. It seems the HTC One M8 and Motorola Atrix 2 seem to fulfil my requirements. Thanks.
The Atrix 2 has a locked bootloader, and is several years old. I'd go for the M8, but HTC should be releasing the next flagship phone in 4-8 weeks.
in the first place?
There are some FABULOUS devices coming out of China these days, readily available on eBay and Amazon, with high specs, Android KitKat or Lollipop, and sold at half the price or less vs. offerings from the carriers.
Just got a Huawei Honor X1 and am using it with an MVNO in the US. The retail price of the new off-contract phone from China, purchased on eBay, was about what the two-year on-contract retail price of a similarly specced Android device is in the U.S. The MVNO contract, with "unlimited" data (throttling to HSPA+ after the first several GB every month) is less than half the price of a similar contract at a major carrier.
There's no reason to buy on-contract phones any longer.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Postpay Device Unlocking Policy:
We do not lock most phones or tablets that are activated with our postpay service, either during or after the term of your service contract or Edge installment sales agreement.
We do not lock our 4G LTE devices, and no code is needed to program them for use with another carrier.
We do not lock our 3G devices, other than our non-iPhone Global Ready 3G phones, and the simple code to program such 3G devices for use with another carrier is either “000000” or “123456.” If the user guide for your device does not provide instructions to access the programming menu, you can contact us at *611 from your Verizon Wireless phone, or (800)922-0204, for assistance.
This is a flat-out lie! I had Verizon through my job and the process of getting my iPhone 5 off their network was an absolute NIGHTMARE! Verizon claimed my phone's hardware was locked to their network and could not be released. I tried to explain to them that cell phones are cell phones. The only company that has a hardware lock is the company who created it; in my case Apple. I told them I should be able to take my phone to any carrier. After 3 hours dealing with their shenanigans I left angry and bitter and my phone still on their network. On a whim I visited an AT&T Store and one of the more knowledge staff was able to help me make the switch. All he did was replace the Verizon SIMM card with an AT&T SIMM card and it worked. To say that Verizon lied to me is an understatement.
Cool story, bro. You explained it so well, I didn't even feel obligated to click the spam links to your site.
Don't even think that you are getting the same quality of service with prepaid (MVNO) operators Large carriers have roaming agreement with each other and independent tower operators. With MVNOs you are getting only the basic service from the core network. My wife uses a PagePlus phone- it can't compare in coverage with a proper Verizon postpaid phone.
There aren't many that work reliably on CDMA.
Do they have to unlock the bootloader so you can root your phone as well?
Please rite moore a bout tows cheep homophones from oversees. Aye here their FABUUULOUUUUUS, an its knot just yore revue that cot my a tension.
Although your post is informative and accurate, I think you are slightly missing the whole picture of what the parent poster was trying to convey. As far as cellphone technology is concerned, the US is indeed in the 90's. Not just due to locking, but in many other different aspects as well.
call price model:
- the US is about the only country in the world where the recipient pays for incoming calls when not roaming. I leave it as an exercise to the read to think why this is plain ridiculous.
- the prices are plain crazy. In Europe you pay max 30-50 Euros per month for unlimited plan, with 1GB or data. Less if you don't need unlimited. I payed about 15 Euro/month for moderate calling and 1GB/month, with the option to purchase on-the-fly 1GB extra for additional 3 Euros if you run out.
- in the US, if you exceed your limit, you get a heavy bill. In Europe, your data speed simply decreases down to GPRS.
Coverage:
- the US has many many dead areas. I know, it is a big country. But the fact remains.
Carriage involvement:
- incredibly intrusive branding, crapware, etc
- carriers are involved in certifying which phones are supported in their networks, the software update process, etc. which is none of their f*ing business.
- they use non-compatible networks.
- Their customer service is such crap that I don't know where to start.
All in all, this puts the US model of cellular communication really in the 90s. The unlock issue is just the cream on the top.
Because everyone talks about the great plans you can get if you bring your own phone but no one provides any examples. I can't find a BYOP plan that is sufficiently cheaper than my current plan to even make a dent in the cost of the phone so I'd actually be losing money.
I'm willing to believe that these plans exist. Why won't someone provide some evidence?
Japan solved the problem of contracts differently, although it took a law to make it happen. When you buy a phone, you pay the retail price, minus whatever discount that particular store offers. You can pay all at once or in installments, there's no difference. Instead of subsidizing part of the phone cost in exchange for a contract, the carriers pay "support" to the customer each month over the first two years of the contract. So you might end up paying $20 per month for the phone installments and you get $18 of that back for support. If you cancel the contract, the support stops but you're stuck paying the remainder of the phone's cost. That way there's an incentive not to jump ship mid-way through the contract but for those that still want to, they can but the phone ends up costing more, depending when you cancel.
BTW, I second the motion that there are some really decent unlocked phones available these days. I picked up a Blu Dash for around $250 last year, unlocked, covers the bands in use both in the US and Japan (where I currently live), dual-SIM (so I can use my Japanese SIM and a cheap 30-day data-only SIM at the same time), and the interface is free from the typical bloatware you get from the major carriers. In fact, it's one of the cleanest Android interfaces I've ever seen.
I've got an iPad with AT&T that I'd love to hook up with my verizon cellular data plan. Is this a thing I'll be able to do now?
Because Huawei is a piece of junk? You'll find out soon enough. I have a Xiaomi and I can't wait for the two years to finish so I can justify buying a new phone to myself. Major brands are major brands for a reason.
PS stop starting comments in the Subject: line, it disrupts the flow of your message.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
And that includes iPhone 3gs, 4, Samsung Galaxy Note, and Galaxy note 3 during the smartphone era.
You can pry the X1 from my cold, dead hands. (Or probably not even then.)
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Try NET10. If you got in last year, you could get 2GB + throttling to 3g HSPA unlimited everything for $40/mo., month-by-month (no contract).
New signups right now get 3GB + throttling to 64kbps unlimited everything for $45/mo., month-by-month (no contract).
AT&T's 2-year contact for 3GB is currently $80/mo.
NET10 GSM plans use the AT&T network, so the coverage is the same and the phone compatibility is the same.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Coverage may be the same, but reliability is not. MVNO users are considered second-class users. If you are on a call connected through a cell that is nearing it's capacity, and a post-paid AT&T user tries to make a call, your call can be dropped in order to make room for the post-paid user. Same thing with data, as the cell nears capacity, data speeds are throttled for MVNO users before anyone else. Did you really think you found a way to pay a reduced price for the exact same service?
and am VERY satisfied.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
The VZW Droid RAZR XT912 is locked so only the international GSM frequencies are available, not domestic USA frequencies. You can get it unlocked so you can travel out of the US and use it on other GSM carriers. It cannot be unlocked to use on GSM networks in the good ol' US of A. Some of the other DROID RAZR models (XT910) could be hacked by changing a few bits to work on other Domestic USA networks.
But are they iOS compatible? Many families, relatives, and asian friends use iOS devices. :/
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
That's not very much. I blow past 5GB/month on Sprint, with no throttling.
First, thank you for actually providing examples!
Second, unfortunately they're not worth it.
I am currently paying $63/month to AT&T including taxes and fees and a subsidized iPhone 5s for unlimited LTE and more minutes than I ever use.
The subsidy is $450 and the contract term is 20 months, so that's $22.50 overhead for the subsidy.
I'd break even on a plan for $40.50/month with unlimited LTE, but I should allow a bit more since I would be gaining the convenience of an unlocked phone.
"Did you really think you found a way to pay a reduced price for the exact same service?"
Strictly speaking, they do reduce service over AT&T... in marketing and retention. Note that I had never heard of NET10 while AT&T and ads and stores everywhere.
I'd be much more thrilled if CDMA was banned, or rather the hardware mandated to be SIM-based, rather than incorporating the entire handset, ala Verizon.
The American market can enjoy this because of the nanny state. Thanks, big government! Fuck you, free market!