
Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone - chermanowicz
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/02/starting-today-wireless-carriers-have-to-unlock-your-phone/
======
digitalmaster
Personally I don't think they should be locked to begin with. We've already
signed an agreement in which i've agreed to terms which include making
payments until the cost of the device is paid. Given that contract there
should be no reason why I can't use the device as I please so long as I
haven't violated those terms.

People who travel with a locked phone know how useless it is. No one is stupid
enough to want pay the ridiculous roaming rates. Locked phone prevents you
from using a local service during your stay! #thisNeedsToChange

~~~
dorfsmay
I know my point of view is really unpopular, but in my opinion if you value
your freedom and privacy you should buy a phone. Just get one that is cheaper
or a used one if you can't afford the latest greatest.

Would you take a subsidise laptop with a bunch of restrictions from your ISP?

~~~
laxatives
Of course it is unpopular. You're treating freedom and privacy as a commodity.
If I cared and spent enough money, could I also restrict other people's
freedom or privacy? Neither should be a function of ability to pay. That being
said, that is more or less how it is now -- you pay in cash/time/effort.

~~~
ptaipale
I think he was saying precisely that: when you take a locked-in phone with a
fixed deal, you're treating freedom and privacy as a commodity.

~~~
marcosdumay
Nope. They are lending you money (normaly with a huge interest), and taking
your privacy and freedom away for free.

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bri3d
This seems pretty vague about what "unlocking" really means. For example, I
had a Verizon HTC 8X which was "unlocked" (as are all Verizon LTE phones), but
you couldn't edit the MMS gateway. Some older Verizon Android phones were
"unlocked" but with no APN editor, so you couldn't get data service.

Does anything about this code prevent carriers from playing the "it's unlocked
but good luck configuring it" game?

~~~
coldpie
I'm fairly clueless about this topic, but I thought "unlocking" simply meant
you can install a different OS if you want.

~~~
bri3d
No, "unlocking" in this context refers to the baseband lock which prevents
your phone from joining another carrier's network. This form of lock vastly
predates phones with customizable OSes and was originally in place to prevent
customers from receiving a subsidized phone, re-selling it for use on another
network, and then breaking their contract, or trying to arbitrage a margin
between early termination fees and remaining phone cost.

This guidance requires that phone companies allow their phones to join
networks they are technically compatible with (i.e., have the radios and
baseband support for). It's generally unrelated to the OS or bootloader, as
this form of lock is often implemented at the baseband level.

The issue is that phones can be "unlocked" (made able to join another network
at the baseband level) but non-configurable at the OS level, barring features
requiring OS configuration, like MMS, from functioning. This doesn't seem to
be specific enough guidance to prevent phone carriers from playing this trick,
as they can continue to provide technically unlocked phones that don't work
properly on other networks.

This doesn't really change much these days as the US market is gradually
moving towards a financed (rather than subsidized) phone sales model where
early termination fee arbitrage isn't possible and collections for broken
contracts are more conventional. In general, carriers have less of an
incentive to carrier lock their phones than they used to. Plus, some carriers
(like Verizon) are already required to supply their LTE phones unlocked due to
agreements made to acquire spectrum licenses, so this doesn't really affect
them.

~~~
coldpie
Thanks for the explanation. I guess the confusion comes from "locked baseband"
and "locked bootloaders." Unlocking is ambiguous without enough context or
domain knowledge.

------
mayneack
From the AT&T page:

> All the device’s service commitments and installment plans are completed,
> and all early termination fees are paid in full.

I assume that means that if you got a "free" phone with a two year contract,
you have to wait two years to unlock it.

[https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/#/](https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/#/)

~~~
dethstar
In my country (Mexico) there was a law for them to sell you unlocked
phones/unlock them on request. The biggest company had you fill a stupid
request and you couldn't fill it if you had your phone for less than X months,
something which was not allowed by the law, that ceased after a series of
complains to some branch of government made to "protect consumers"

Anyway, I wonder if AT&T is kind of going with it and saying yes we'll unlock
it BUT as a way to kind of cheat on the law, or if the law really allows them
to do that.

edit: I guess I forgot most people here have prepaid phones, so really I
ignore if that was the case for phones on plans, too.

~~~
username223
> that ceased after a series of complains to some branch of government made to
> "protect consumers"

Why the "scare quotes"? It seems like consumers were actually protected by
that scary government.

------
pkamb
I was reading about this upcoming milestone last week when attempting to
unlock my old Sprint iPhone 5 for use on other domestic carriers. The
consensus then was that it would apply only to Sprint devices sold _after_
this date; an old Sprint iPhone 5 will continue to NOT work on other networks.

~~~
grmarcil
As far as I know, that is an artifact of the hardware. The network
compatibility of early (all?) iPhone 5s was divided across three models. Some
can work on other networks, but not in other networks' LTE bands. Depends on
your particular model and which network you're trying to move to.

[http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4150856/bringing-your-
ipho...](http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/4150856/bringing-your-iphone-to-t-
mobile-better-think-twice)

Edit: better explanation at this link:
[http://www.wired.com/2012/09/iphone5-lte-
model/](http://www.wired.com/2012/09/iphone5-lte-model/)

~~~
nanidin
My Sprint iPhone 4S worked fine on CDMA networks in the US, and it worked fine
while traveling internationally on GSM / non-CDMA networks.

There's something going on in the baseband firmware that rejects domestic
carrier SIM cards, but still allows international carriers when an
international unlock is granted.

~~~
pkamb
Yes, my newly "unlocked" Sprint iPhone 5 will work fine overseas. It's
specifically on non-Sprint domestic carriers where it won't work.

------
ddffnn
I wonder how this will work with used phones purchased privately. I bought a
phone on craigslist that was locked to T-Mobile. It wasn't blacklisted so I'm
able to use it on T-Mobile, but I don't know if the contract was paid in full,
the original account is in good standing, etc.

~~~
c0wb0yc0d3r
I think, because, the contract is between you and the carrier you should be
okay. Even if you sell your phone to someone else you're still obligated to
pay your bill or terminate early.

Carriers aren't stupid. They sell you a phone at a quarter of the price
because you will pay nearly if not more than $100/mo. and they have recouped
their loss by the end of April.

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fpgaminer
Can we please just get rid of carrier locking altogether? It is clearly anti-
consumer and dangerous in the oligopoly ruled wireless market. So just outlaw
the practice and be done with it.

~~~
31reasons
Exactly, its a horrible policy. I can't believe it even exists. Imagine if Gas
companies lock you into using only certain brands of cars. OR If your computer
comes locked with Comcast internet access only!

~~~
mullen
Makes perfect sense. What if the gas company knocked 3/4th off the cost of the
car but you could only buy their gas at an inflated rate? Same thing. After
buying an unlocked phone at full price and using a pre-paid plan, I am never
going back to the "buy the phone from the wireless carrier" plan. I am saving
a ton of money, can easily use it internationally and I can easily resell the
phone when I upgrade.

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Reebles
It would be nice if they were forced to unlock your bootloader on request too.
I would love to install Cyanogen mod on my Verizon Galaxy S4 but it is
impossible to do so as the bootloader is completely locked down with no
recourse.

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dazne
I think these phones should be unlocked the day you sign up for a contract.
What's the point in keeping them unlocked? You can't violate your contract. I
can think of one downside for them carriers: they won't be able to charge you
extra when you travel abroad, but then you have to ask if that's really in the
best interest of the customers? Perhaps not.

~~~
NoPiece
You definitely can violate your contract. Just stop paying your bill. Or
declare bankruptcy. The carrier will try to collect, but even if they do
they'll end up with a fraction of the value.

~~~
bad_user
Most phones can be unlocked. For an iPhone, the difficult part is to jailbreak
it and doing it yourself can be a little painful, but that hasn't been a
problem for many people. So somebody stops paying their bill, or declares
bankruptcy. Do you think there's anything stopping them from unlocking their
phones for pennies?

As an anecdote, I once stopped paying my bills to Vodafone and gave up on my
contract obligations. At that time Vodafone demanded a 250 EUR interruption
fee, which in the meantime became illegal in my country. Well, I told them to
dare and sue me, because I have proof of unjust treatment and service
disruption on their part and I did have that evidence. Basically they were
assholes, they knew it and they gave up on any claims. I also unlocked my
iPhone 3GS by myself and moved my business somewhere else.

Just like DRM, there is absolutely no valid reason for selling locked phones,
other than lock-in, i.e. to prevent you from using other carriers while in
roaming and thus suffer roaming charges. But even that is just annoying,
because you can get unlocked feature phones for $30 without a contract, with a
battery that lasts for a whole week and just use that.

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geographomics
Is it common to need permission from the carrier to unlock?

I use a smartphone now (which I was able to unlock myself), but when I had a
'feature' phone there were any number of small mobile shops that would unlock
for a few quid. This is in the UK.

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geofft
There are carriers that do much better than this, right? T-Mobile (my carrier)
allows unlocking postpaid plans after much less than 2 years, and I had no
trouble at all calling them and saying "Hey, I'll be in Europe, unlock code
plz" despite not having paid off the device.

[https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1588](https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-1588)

Surely someone's made a nice table of carriers and policies?

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gtirloni
In 2010, Brazil mandated that carriers had to unlock phones at customers'
request for free. In 2012, it was mandated they stop selling locked phones
altogether.

------
jkot
All providers in Europe will unlock your phone if you spend enough credit or
for small fee.

Also US devices have locked some features (voice calls on tablets).

~~~
gambiting
In Poland all phones have to be sold without a simlock. Doesn't matter if you
are on contract or not. The world still hasn't collapsed, people on contracts
continue to pay for them, nothing has changed.

~~~
fpgeek
Also true in Singapore.

Some contracts can be nastier (e.g. no early termination, just pay the rest),
but that may just be an unrelated local difference (I've seen the same thing
with residential ISP contracts, where there isn't a SIM-locking equivalent).

------
mrbill
Over the past week I've had no problems getting an unlock code from ATT for a
GoPhone Nokia 635 bought on Black Friday for $40 (and never activated), and
for a HTC One M7 bought outright from Best Buy last week for $150. It took a
couple of days for each one but the unlock codes arrived in email after I
submitted the info using their online form.

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patcon
Damn. I just had to pay $80 to unlock a t-mobile hotspot I bought outright,
because they claimed I needed to spend $100 on service before they'd unlock
it. Wouldn't be so bad if I weren't job-hunting :/

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beagle3
Verizon told me last week they will not unlock my iPhone 4S for other US
carriers, and were adamant that they never will. I should try again.

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Pxtl
I hope this won't mean online unlockers don't vanish - we still need them in
the savage wastelands of Canada.

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evo_9
Oh drag I'm so going to miss those sketchy website in foreign countries that
were doing this for me prior.

