
New FCC chairman tells wireless carriers to unlock cell phones - _pius
http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/11/new-fcc-chairman-tells-wireless-carriers-to-unlock-cell-phones/
======
TallGuyShort
I really like the FCC, and I don't like government agencies very often. I've
interfaced with them when reporting illegal telemarketing and when getting an
amateur radio license. They've always struck me as very accessible,
responsive, efficient, and transparent. Although most of their job is
regulation, it always seems like they approach the task with a sincere goal of
actually serving the citizenry and making communication work well and fairly.
General kudos to them.

~~~
dantheman
You mean stuff like this? [http://www.fcc.gov/guides/obscenity-indecency-and-
profanity](http://www.fcc.gov/guides/obscenity-indecency-and-profanity)

or when the FCC in 2006 declined to investigate whether AT&T et al were
breaking the law by sending data to the NSA?

...

The FCC may do some good things, but it's history isn't near as nice as you
suggest.

~~~
stretchwithme
ah, what choice do they have? The NSA has the goods on them too.

------
endianswap
"Under Wheeler's proposal, carriers would have to unlock phones only after the
consumer's contract is up."

Why? If they're locked into a contract anyways, why does it matter if their
phone is unlocked?

~~~
lylebarrere
Because locking the phone to their SIM card means that the carriers can charge
international travelers enormous rates for minutes and data rather than just
putting a local sim card into the phone in each country.

~~~
Osiris
It is interesting that T-mobile U.S. has decided to provide free international
roaming (with a data cap). That certainly removes one problem with traveling
with your phone.

I also believe that carriers shouldn't be allow to lock phones. I don't think
carriers should be in the business of selling phones in the first place.

~~~
lylebarrere
T-mobile has been doing a lot of interesting things. They don't default to 2
year contracts anymore, they offer 200 mb free data per month for tablets, and
their phones are SIM unlocked.

It appears that most of these things aren't actually necessary and T-mobile is
pulling back the curtain to show what ATT/Verizon are doing.

------
shmerl
That referenced bill there is pretty weak and shouldn't be used as an excuse
that "something was done". What happened to the bill by Rep. Zoe Lofgren that
was supposed to break the teeth of DMCA 1201 by allowing circumventing DRM for
non infringing purposes? That was the real thing.

UPDATE: It doesn't seem to move anywhere:
[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr1892](https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr1892)

------
pdelbarba
I think that this is important, but what about locked bootloaders and
restrictive user privileges (rooting)? I truly do not understand how it
appropriate to sell consumers a computing device that they don't have the
right to run arbitrary software on. If I worked at [big box store] and tried
to sell anyone here a desktop that was locked down harder than a high school
computer lab from hell, someone would punch me...

~~~
ISL
I've bought plenty of locked-down hardware. What manufacturers haven't yet
capitalized upon is that I'll pay more for unlocked hardware.

~~~
saryant
One instance of this would be the Linksys WRT54GL wireless router which
Linksys specifically sold as unlocked so users could install OpenWRT and other
alternatives.

Worked on me, I've bought a few of that model.

------
alayne
This falls short. Phones should never be locked, even if there is an open
contract.

------
mikestew
Seems kind of ho-hum in that it reads a lot like AT&T's current policy for
unlocking. Perhaps other carriers are different, and hence the reason this
would be a big deal. But read it, it's not saying the carriers would have to
unlock two days into a two year contract. No, the contract must be fulfilled
or the ETF paid. They wouldn't have to unlock just because you say so.

As always, if you want an unlocked phone, then buy an unlocked phone. Plenty
of places sell them.

------
venomsnake
Remove the subsidies for the phones and long term contract lock in-s, enforce
the ability for carrier switch while keeping the phone numbers - that is the
best a person could do to protect the consumers. No one loses anything.

------
tcbawo
I was amused to find discover that Steve Largent (CEO of the CTIA) is the
former Seattle Seahawks wide receiver. Apparently, he was a U.S. congressional
representative for Oklahoma before losing a race for governor in 2002.

