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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] 176 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (52 children)

is that some american problem i'm too euro to understand? we got rid of this anticompetitive shit in early 10s

[–] [email protected] 76 points 4 months ago (12 children)

Yeah, the less civilized parts of world still do carrier locking to act as an impediment to switching carriers without also giving up your phone or paying a ransom fee.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago (6 children)

Which is why I've been buying nothing except OEM unlocked devices since 2016 I Payful price for them, but I don't have to worry about leaving my carrier Whenever I want and I don't have to be on extremely expensive cell phone plans either. There is nobody else in my entire life that pays less for cell phone service than I do and I only know one person who pays the exact same and that's because we are on the same plan on our own accounts. Literally, everybody I know in my life pays about four times what I do for cell phone service.

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

Yup. I can get away with prepaid 1GB/month for 3€ because I'm almost always near Wi-Fi and don't really need to use anything bandwidth when I'm not.

I also find it wild how some people will get an expensive contract that comes with a "free" phone, but then don't switch to an equal but cheaper contract (without a "free" phone) when the contract term expires, or at the very least renew the term so they get a new phone.