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FCC proposes ending cellphone carrier locks after 60 days (www.theregister.com)

submitted 4 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

118 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Long-term carrier lock-in could soon be a thing of the past in America after the FCC proposed requiring telcos to unlock cellphones from their networks 60 days after activation.

FCC boss Jessica Rosenworcel put out that proposal on Thursday, saying it would encourage competition between carriers. If subscribers could simply walk off to another telco with their handsets after two months of use, networks would have to do a lot more competing, the FCC reasons.

"When you buy a phone, you should have the freedom to decide when to change service to the carrier you want and not have the device you own stuck by practices that prevent you from making that choice," Rosenworcel said.

Carrier-locked devices contain software mechanisms that prevent them from being used on other providers' networks. The practice has long been criticized for being anti-consumer.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (7 children)

I don't really see why people are against it, personally I never buy locked devices but they are usually a chunk cheaper and there is always an option for a locked device.

If telecoms were making certain phones exclusively locked (as in not selling unlocked phones) it would be a problem. But rn it seems that it is an easy way to save money if you like a carrier.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

okay but you end up paying more - if it was just normal data plan and cost of phone it would be even, but there's also something paid to middleman that provides something that is effectively credit and extortion services like simlock and some legal thingies, it might have smaller downpayment but it's not this, see also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boots_theory

this is on top of various security and privacy implications of using a phone which you can't legally reflash

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Boots theory doesn't really apply because it is the exact same phone/hardware. Plus most people don't really care about reflashing their phone.

As for the privacy stuff I don't really know much about it in the context of locked phones so I'll take your word for it.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago

I think it's more of a corollary that phone companies can incentivize people to buy more than they need. I live in Canada, where carrier locks have been outlawed for a decade, so we don't typically get $100s off the phone, but they do often give interest free financing. This pushes people to get a brand new, top-of-the-line Galaxy or iPhone, when all they do is simple stuff that any basic smartphone could do. They just get used to paying "only an extra $50/mo" so once that phone is paid off, they finance a brand new, top-of-the-line smartphone.

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