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AT&T Says Malware Secretly Unlocked Hundreds of Thousands of Phones
alphadogg writes: AT&T said three of its employees secretly installed software on its network so a cellphone unlocking service could surreptitiously funnel hundreds of thousands of requests to its servers to remove software locks on phones. The locks prevent phones from being used on competing networks and have been an important tool used by cellular carriers to prevent customers from jumping ship.
In the US, carriers are now required by the FCC to unlock a phone on request, if the phone is not still on a subsidy contract.
It's been like this for about 2 years now.
Just go in a physical store and refuse to leave until they agree to do it. I've gotten five iPhones that my family has owned unlocked by doing that. They'll tell you that you have to call 611 to get that done, but keep fighting.
What? I've done this with AT&T several times. You go to their website, enter your phone information (and it includes details on how to get it), and it sends you an email with exactly what to type on your phone to unlock it. The whole process only takes a few minutes.
This, pretty much. I went round and round with AT&T trying to get an off-contract iPhone 4 unlocked for over a year before I ended up trading it in for double-credit on a iPhone 6 for my wife for far more than it would have sold for on eBay or the like even unlocked. They just kept declining it with no explanation, and the customer service reps were no help.
I had at&t unlock my iphone a few months ago and it couldn't have been simpler. I did it from their web site with a very simple form and it was unlocked within 2 days.
Maybe I was just lucky, I don't know, I'm just a sample of one. I have no love for AT&T, but at least that worked well for me.
I have a dual-SIM phone with one SIM on T-Mobile's network, the other on AT&T's (both are MVNOs). My experience has been that T-Mobile has better overall coverage in the areas they cover -- and by that I mean actually getting 3 or 4 bars on T-Mobile while indoors and getting 0 or 1 bars on AT&T (obviously in the exact same location since it's in the exact same phone).
I think it's pretty well known that T-Mobile is not the carrier of choice if you're looking for extensive rural coverage. If you need that, my impression is that Verizon is the way to go. But if you're in an urban area 99% of the time, T-Mobile is amazing given their prices and their perks, i.e. free unlimited data and text when traveling overseas. (I think most people don't realize just how unprecedented it is to have unlimited data when roaming abroad, and to date I know of no other carrier in the WORLD who offers that.)
www.gaiageek.com
I guess I tie the idea of "malware" to two concepts:
1) Mal, as in harmful to the user.
2) Ware, as in software.
To me, "malware" as a concept is basically about end users. It is software that is installed by endusers that does something contrary to what they expect, possibly without their knowledge, that is harmful to them. Malware is inherently deceptive, and the method of its deception is posing as something else. It is directed from bad actors toward strangers that these actors wish to exploit. It is a numbers game, a volume game.
This was not installed by end users, it did not pose as something else, and the harm was directed at an organization by individuals within the organization. It was not distributed widely, but was a single instance. I'd call this a "hack" or a "sabotage" or an "embezzlement" of some kind before I'd call it malware. Maybe a new term is needed.
But it seems a big jump from the widespread distribution of a Windows wizard to millions of hapless end users all the way to the willful and direct modification of company equipment by employees for gain.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW