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TracFone Finally Agrees To Allow Phone Unlocking
jfruh writes: While most Slashdot readers probably enjoy the latest and greatest smartphones and heavy-use data plans, millions of Americans use low-cost, prepaid featurephones, and many of those are sold under various brand names owned by TracFone. Today, after much pressure from the FCC, TracFone admitted that its customers also have the right to an unlocked phone that they can port to a different provider, including those low-income customers who participate in the government-subsidized Lifeline program, widely (though incorrectly) known as "Obamaphone".
Gee, what news...
Citation is linked in the original comment.
That's not a subsidy. Instead, it's bundling the monthly rental fee of the phone with monthly phone service charges.
What I want to know is: Can I bring an outside phone in and use the tracfone prepaid plans?
I had a line on a OnePlus a few months ago, but passed because I could find no definitive yea or nay on the plan thing.
For my use, the $100/1200 minutes/1 year plan is just right.
It may not "technically" be a tax, but it sure is "effectively" one. The USF is levied on all phone providers, including VOIP ones and there is nothing voluntary about it despite the use of the word "donation" in the parent post. The current "contribution factor" (tax rate) for this quarter is 17.1%. Whether the phone company decides to show that as a separate line item or not, the end user is still the one who is going to pay it.
https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/contribution-factor-quarterly-filings-universal-service-fund-usf-management-support
Yes, you can bring phones in from other carriers. This capability was greatly expanded with the Page Plus acquisition. I suggest a Verizon 4g device (this is the least expensive path to Verizon service). Verizon devices get triple the value on all purchased pins. http://tracfonewireless.com/by...
Actually, this is the least expensive service that I've seen with unlimited features: http://www.textnow.com/
TracFone is great for what it does. It allows us to have a simple emergency phone in our vehicle. Nothing fancy. Cheap fixed cost annual plan. Easy. It cost us about $100/year. The phones are essentially free. ($0 to $19). If the phone gets lost you call up TracFone and they transfer the minutes to another phone. Easy-peasy. We've had ours for about a decade.
Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding, Obamaphone remix
Up until now Tracfone wouldn't even let me move a Straight Talk (a Tracfone company) phone onto Tracfone. They claimed they simply could not do it. Arguing that they could didn't help at all. Even with their statement that their phones will be unlocked if desired, I don't trust them to make unlocking easy for their users, or former users.
Weak troll is weak. One need only reach as far as "conservative majority on Slashdot" to realize it's a troll post.
So your contention is that there isn't a conservative majority on Slashdot? I will direct you to the comments on any article that even vaguely hints at a social issue as evidence to the contrary.
Required reading for internet skeptics
Here in the UK I bought an emergency phone for 10 pounds along with a 10 pound prepayment. The Sim will expire if I don't make a call at least once every three months, but other than that if I don't use it it won't cost anything.
Companies making statements like this simultaneously humor me and infuriate me. This is the equivalent of buying a house and having it for 3 weeks when the builder shows up and says "I'll let you arrange your furniture the way you want it." He can state it all he wants, but its already done. He is pretending he has authority over something that is no longer his. Fuck this and everything about it. When I pay for it, technology is mine. I'll unlock it and do whatever the fuck I want with it and there isn't a damn thing you can say or do to stop me. (A company) Pretending that they have authority over my shit just makes them look ridiculous. A house builder that I bought a house from may as well make press announcements that he is OK'ing me bath in my shower.
Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
>> While most Slashdot readers probably enjoy the latest and greatest smartphones and heavy-use data plans, millions of Americans use low-cost, prepaid featurephones
I'm on a low-cost prepaid plan along with my family. We currently have 3x sub-$100 Android phones and pay about $60 a month (total, not each) for about 600 voice minutes (which we never completely use), 500 texts (ditto) and about 3GB of data (which is mostly me streaming music between wireless zones at my home and office).
Though I've been into computers my entire life I really don't understand why anyone would pay $500 (or more) for a phone and then dump $50 (or more) per line per month down the drain - and yet I'm surrounded by friends and relatives who do. What am I missing?
ObamaPhone.com is not affiliated with any department of the US government, the FCC, or the Lifeline phone program
Did you not bother reading to the bottom of the page?
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Dude, seriously... if you want evidence, see this article , and notice that the modded-up posts are mostly *not* conservative in ideology. While you're at it, see the posts about AGW.
Personally, I find /. to be center to center-left, depending on the subject.
QED: GGP's Weak troll is still weak.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
there is nothing voluntary about it
You can opt to not use a cell phone. There are other communication options. Civilization got along just fine for thousands of years without them, and will continue to go on without them.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
I use T-Mobile's pay-as-you go, and it's $3/month for 30 mins or texts. They require $10/3 months, so that's not too bad.
Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
>> It is sort of sad that the woman in Drudge's "Obama phone" video has no idea that her free cell phone has nothing to do with Obama.
OK, I'll bite. Yes, one part of the conservative complaint is that the federal government shouldn't be in the business of providing free cell phone service*. However, the larger part of the complaint is that local political operatives DO advertise government perks like this as Democrat largesse. In other words, when the woman said that her phone was an "Obamaphone" she was probably just simplifying a version of this well-worn campaign slogan:
"Vote for [Democrat Leader] (Obama) and other Democrats and you will continue to get free or reduced price stuff (like this phone). Don't vote for Republicans because they will cut off your stuff."
>> conservatives...are...more cruel...
Yep, it looks like you're on the same page.
* = Conservatives are mixed on whether A) there should be NO subsidy, or B) a subsidy is OK but it should come as part of one cash handout, which has the duel advantage of teaching people to budget with real money and reducing the number of bureaucrats needed to "manage" these programs. (I'm a "B.")
Freedom Pop phone quality is too often like talking under water. The cost is great, but the service is horrendous. I prepaid for one year.. Afterward, I learned that the bad reviews were blocked to others. There is no Sprint voice service on Freedom Pop, It's all data. Their VOIP implementation is terrible. Speaking from experience I went back to Straight Talk and now have high quality voice again. If you want to try Freedom Pop, sign up for the free service before giving them any money at all and make sure to block "top off" the data as they do so when you still have 100 MB left to use.
This argument by any provider is absolute bullshit even when you ARE using a subsidized phone. If you leave the contract early you are charged an early termination fee and/or full price for the phone. EIther way the fucking thing is yours and you can do absolutely anything with it that you please.
Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
I think I see the problem:
conservative-libertarian
To put it bluntly, there's no such thing. The two ideologies' interests do overlap in places, but the libertarian ideology also overlaps with the liberals on others.
Basically, the libertarian mindset is socially liberal, fiscally conservative, combined with a strong distaste for governmental interference of any non-critical type. Their main goal is to take over the government, then promptly get the government out of everyone's way.
HTH a little.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I pay $45/mo, no contract on Net10, I get unlimited data**. I bought my own damned phone already unlocked (the LG G2 GSM phone I bought a month or so ago cost me something like $215 brand-new off of Amazon.)
It only costs me $755/yr my way ($45/mo plus $215 for the GSM/international phone I bought separately) with no ETF at all...
Oh, and I still get 4G speed on AT&T's network.
** at $45/mo, the first 3GB is at 4G speed, but anything over that in a given month is throttled to 3G, but there's no overage charges at all... I rarely burn more than 2.5GB though, so I'm fine with the terms given the rather massive discount.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
I've never felt like there was a conservative or liberal majority on Slashdot, but a very well represented (albeit oft-trolling) pool of each. Occasionally each side is well represented with intelligent discourse, but not as often as I'd like.
an independent Slashdotter
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
What's the barrier to choosing a different brand of car?
In this analogy, there are several road owners, and each road rejects all cars that lack a subscription to that road's owner. This means each of the major road owners owns a set of parallel roads that serve each destination.
But if you meant literal cars, I don't know what barrier the other AC was referring to either.
My daughters' phones are $10 (each) every four months on a VZW MVNO (PagePlus, winds up being 25min/mo with rollover) & I only recently upgraded my phone from $10/mo (Airvoice) to $20.93 (Lyca Mobile) so I could have unlimited voice/text/data
:)).
Yes, I am throttled to edge speed after 100MB LTE, but it is fast enough to listen to Pandora and use navigation at the same time (not fast enough for Netlix, but I have wifi everywhere but the car & I don't watch TV while driving
Best part is these are not 'before we tax and fee you to death' prices, but what I actually pay each month. People spending too much are either not shopping around or think looking at the "popular" plans (read: popular for the phone companies so they are the plans that are pushed) of the big-4 is shopping around.
"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear." - Every fascist, ever
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Comment removed based on user account deletion
In considering "unlimited" services, I do realize that byowireless has a $15 unlimited texting plan. However, byowireless is limited to 3g Verizon devices, and the $19 textnow/sprint plan seems a far better deal if you can tolerate the coverage.
It seems that most everyone tries to get the Moto G 3g prepaid Verizon phone onto the 3g mvnos, and this can be rather tricky. The textnow option is a lot less headache.
...and I believe that America Movil is owned by Telmex, the Mexican telephone monopoly.
...I had hoped to run Cyanogenmod, but Verizon has installed a fascist bootloader. The phone remains capable of running the DN3 and Alliance touchwiz alternative roms. I am on Alliance.
I realize that their IT systems must integrate into several major MNOs, but they will flat-out refuse to do for others what I have done for myself online. The constant obstructions are extremely annoying.
About half of the USF goes to providing phone service in rural areas. Another 25% goes to providing internet to rural libraries, and rural and low income schools. Some of the rest goes to Lifeline ("Obamaphone") so, if you want to cut that tax, let's start by eliminating support for all those rural areas, they're mostly Republicans anyway, so they should support the elimination of government services!
The right to protest the State is more sacred than the State.
This *IS* already the case. Try applying for a job lately? If you *DON'T* have a Cellphone or Email Adress, you're pretty much screwed, and I'm talking about Target,Kmart,Walmart and other places. If you're not on Facebook,or don't have a twitter account, or other such garbage, they look at you funny as well.
The only time I remember hearing about the "Obamaphone" was from Republican politicians against it. I never heard any Dems bring it up.
I've never felt like there was a conservative or liberal majority on Slashdot, but a very well represented (albeit oft-trolling) pool of each. Occasionally each side is well represented with intelligent discourse, but not as often as I'd like.
an independent Slashdotter
It is a little bad if you are an actual Libertarian and have to fend off the Republicans who are ashamed of their party so they have co-opted the party and made it seem as if we are lunatics. Most of us Libertarians are (were?) quite far left of the representatives of the Democrat party. I, for example, support single-payer health care - not because I am a lovey-dubey caring individual (I really am, sort of) but because it costs less for the society as a whole and makes a better business environment.
I shall rant but I will keep it short.
I support taxing the wealthy, I could pay more in taxes (I am not going to - I avoid them where possible) easily so I donate to causes I believe in instead. I support business regulations. I support roads, libraries, education, and social welfare programs. I could even be convinced to support a universal standard of living payment out of tax dollars. I want a small government that spends its money wisely.
We have plenty of money, even to service our debts, so long as we stop spending it on stupid things like being the World's Police.® If we strip out the pork and start working to taking the money out of politics then, perhaps, we will be on the right road. Note the perhaps part - the world is not black and white and no one political system can be incorporated in a pure form as it simply will not work.
I also support State and Individual rights, note that I did not use the word freedoms because unless you are physically restricted then you are free to do something though there are potential consequences for it. One of my favorite statements is that, "I am free to kill you, I am not at liberty to do so." I think I may be the author of that quote, or I picked it up subconsciously, so it is open for claiming, using, or debating. Consider it an open source adage and do with it what you will.
I support legalization of all drugs - all of them - even if they kill you. I support identification of products and product purity and think it is the government's job to work to ensure such. I do not support either heterosexual or gay marriage - I support civil unions with contracts being decided amongst the parties involved and do not limit it to a couple. I think marriage, as a word, is quite happily the property of the religious zealots who can happily have their ceremonies all they want but that those ceremonies should not be anything backed by or recognized by the state. We have contracts and contract law for a reason and it is high time we make use of them. Everyone should be equal under the law and the most correct way to do this, to my mind, is to allow it have contracts between people. The government should not be in the business of deciding who has access to what hole by which gender. If you want to self-identify as a transsexual bisexual turtle then go right the fuck ahead. It should not matter that you do not fit into a check-box on the government's form - that check-mark box should not be there in the first place.
I am mixed race. I am Caucasian, African-American, and Amerindian. I do not support affirmative action. I support merit based society. I think that, to me, affirmative action is "the man" telling me that I can not do it on my own and that because I am inferior that I must be given special treatment. Screw that. I got to where I am because I have had a lot of help and good fortune. None of that help was based on my gender, my color, or any other physical trait. I got that help because I worked hard, was in the right place at the right time, and had good information that I was able to use to further myself. If I had been told that I was inferior and needed help because of some innate physical trait then I probably wou
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
I've found a straight talk (Tracfone) is the only way to go as I see it. No contract, no free phone either. But I do have a MyTouch that's contract was fulfilled and given the number to use a different carrier.
Why is it so important to me, I can add a HOSTS file to it for one.
Google for one didn't care if one unlocked their "stuff", my Zoom tablet was rooted (I do hope the same as unlocking) and the ad blocking programs usable, as well as so much more ability, like changing ROMs on a whim.
I wasn't interested in them so skipped those sections, but did gather they are to stop screwing their customers.