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Comments on news posted 2013-03-11 10:24:23: Last week the White House responded to complaints that cell phone unlocking is now illegal by effectively punting the issue to Congress, with various politicians now scurrying to get their names in lights with new laws making cell unlocking legal aga.. ..

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meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow to Kearnstd

Member

to Kearnstd

Re: Won't unlock for international travel

The laws of the United States apply to US Citizens abroad.
meowmeow

meowmeow to ArrayList

Member

to ArrayList

Re: They Unlocked My Phone

True, I'll sell you one for $200 though LOL. God I wish I'd hoarded more of those... look on eBay it's INSANE.
elefante72
join:2010-12-03
East Amherst, NY

elefante72 to NOVA_UAV_Guy

Member

to NOVA_UAV_Guy

Re: Doesn't seem too bad.

Subsidy lock:

1. Control prepaid roaming ($5/min overseas gouging)
2. Control secondary market (aka prepaid, MVNO). Limit supply
3. Control cross use (only want on vendor, not competitor -- extension of 2
4. Easier to get customer into new plan (aggravation is the key to success)
5. Arbitrary rules to confuse customers, just like AT&T....

The crux of this lock --theoretically in their minds-- is essentially a secondary valve to control a person from taking a phone w/ a deadbeat account and easily selling it to say a guy to flash to cricket.

Within 2 years (or sooner) there will be universal basebands, even LTE so a phone XYZ should be able to be used almost anywhere, so these guys have lots to worry about. At that point a sub lock will be purely punitive. Hopefully google can continue to churn out nexus phones that put pressure on these guys.

Even if ETF is the recourse, this makes it harder, and now ILLEGAL. So these yoyos are happy. The above are just frosting on the cake, and I'm sure some bean counter figured those out long ago.

James007
@optonline.net

James007 to NOVA_UAV_Guy

Anon

to NOVA_UAV_Guy
The argument carries no sense to me.
The phone lock is similar to having a lien on your car or a mortgage on your house until you paid for it in full.
As a consumer, I choose to forgo certain liberties in the hardware that I purchase in exchange of a heavily discounted price, as much as USD400 in the case of a top-of-the-line device. So, as a consumer I benefit from the equation.
The lock is the only guarantee that the service provider has to recoup its investment in service fees.
Don't like to have a locked phone?
You can always buy one unlocked at full price and choose the service of your liking.
Have you fulfilled your contract with the service provider?
Then (and only then) the service provider should be obliged to unlock the phone automatically, without even being asked. Only then the phone really belongs to the user. Quit pro quo.

Anon12312312
@acs.org

Anon12312312 to King P

Anon

to King P

Re: AT&T is full of crap

that is why unlockit.co.nz exists. Use it. It works great.

woody7
Premium Member
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA

woody7 to roboiii

Premium Member

to roboiii

Re: how is the White House "punting"?

said by He shouldn't even be suggesting things to congress. [/BQUOTE :

tell that to the other side, they seem to think he is responsible for all the lack of legislation

NOVA_UAV_Guy
Premium Member
join:2012-12-14
Purcellville, VA

NOVA_UAV_Guy to James007

Premium Member

to James007

Re: Doesn't seem too bad.

So the contract that one signs to get a subsidized phone, and legal ramifications of not fulfilling it, are not enough? The provider gets their pound of flesh from you whether or not you fulfill your contract, thus the subsidy lock is only punitive in nature and completely unnecessary.

leibold
MVM
join:2002-07-09
Sunnyvale, CA
Netgear CG3000DCR
ZyXEL P-663HN-51

leibold to ptb42

MVM

to ptb42

Re: Won't unlock for international travel

said by ptb42:

The one time that I tried to get AT&T to unlock my phone for this reason, they refused.

That matches my own experience. I got the run-around between customer support (who said there is no such thing as an unlock group / department) and their sim unlock group who said that they only honor unlock requests coming in through customer support (not directly from end users). Any attempts to get the two groups to communicate with each other were futile.

I could not get it resolved before departure and ended up getting my phone unlocked at the overseas destination by the news/tobacco/phone dealer who sold me the local SIM.

I have since switched to T-Mobile (not because of the unlock incident, but because att's wireless service kept getting worse) and a similar unlock request there was processed without problems.

It would not surprise if the sole purpose of those false claims by att regarding unlocking is simply to sway opinion in congress (pretending that there is no real problem).
Kearnstd
Space Elf
Premium Member
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

Kearnstd to meowmeow

Premium Member

to meowmeow
said by meowmeow:

The laws of the United States apply to US Citizens abroad.

That cannot be 100% true because people under 21 can drink in countries where the age is 18.

kevinds
Premium Member
join:2003-05-01
Calgary, AB

kevinds to James007

Premium Member

to James007

Re: Doesn't seem too bad.

"Don't like to have a locked phone?
You can always buy one unlocked at full price "

No, some phones you can buy unlocked, but not a wide selection of phones.
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks to Kearnstd

Member

to Kearnstd

Re: Won't unlock for international travel

That's because the Federal Government has no real jurisdiction over the drinking age, see the 21st Amendment. It's almost entirely in the hands of the States.

Try having sex with a child where it's legal and you'll see how quickly the Feds enforce US Law to overseas actions. Hell, on a far more mundane level, it's illegal to purchase a Cuban cigar in Canada, even if you smoke it there.
clone (banned)
join:2000-12-11
Portage, IN

clone (banned) to King P

Member

to King P

Re: AT&T is full of crap

I haven't had AT&T service since early 2010. I did have an iPhone 3GS that I bought brand new on launch day in June of 2009, but I unlocked it (back then there was a software tool to do it) and sold it to someone being deployed overseas in December of 2009.

However, I have since purchased two secondhand iPhones (one 3GS off Craigslist and a 4 from a co-worker) that were never tied to my account. For both phones I have contacted AT&T, provided my old phone number and billing password along with the device serial numbers, and within an hour (the iPhone 4) to 4 days (the iPhone 3GS), I had a full unlock.

So, you don't have to have active AT&T service, as long as you've EVER had AT&T service they seem to be more than happy to unlock the phones.

Formerattguy
@charter.com

Formerattguy

Anon

AT&T unlocked my iPhone

AT&T unlocked my iPhone 4.

I fulfilled my contract, 2 years.
I had no unpaid balance. I had a zero balance.
Took a whole 5 minute conversion with AT&T
Got an email a couple days later saying to update my phone and voila.

Shorty after I cancelled AT&T and went to straight talk.

aztr0
join:2007-10-28
Brooklyn, NY

aztr0

Member

please include a post subject

I was able to unlock my Galaxy S3 within 2 days of getting my phone. Probably could've done it faster, I made a call to AT&T international customer service. Apparently they don't ask much and just gives the unlock code out. Probably be a harder process to unlock my iPhone though.

joako
Premium Member
join:2000-09-07
/dev/null

joako to James007

Premium Member

to James007

Re: Doesn't seem too bad.

If you have a lien on your house it doesn't affect what plumber you can call to fix your toilet or what brand food you can put in the fridge.

Steve B
Premium Member
join:2004-08-02
Auburn, WA

Steve B to NOVA_UAV_Guy

Premium Member

to NOVA_UAV_Guy

Re: My Experience

said by NOVA_UAV_Guy:

Why is the contractual obligation not out of line, when you're going to be forced to pay an ETF if you leave them early anyway? Just curious to understand your point of view. My belief is that the phone is either yours or it isn't - there's no shady gray middle ground in between.

You're right. I guess I should've added that if you pay an ETF that they should unlock it. Let's assume one hasn't or wouldn't. Then the contractual obligations aren't out of line.
meowmeow
join:2003-07-26
Helena, MT

meowmeow to Kearnstd

Member

to Kearnstd

Re: Won't unlock for international travel

Drinking age is a state law. The federal law doesn't apply to citizens but to the states. And it's not enforceable really, you just (as a state) don't get any federal funding for your highways if you don't make the drinking age 21. Which, of course, no state would accept.

Omair
@nayatel.pk

Omair to aztr0

Anon

to aztr0

Re: please include a post subject

I also want to Unlock my Droid 2 global cell phone which is locked by Verizon . anybody can help me it is showing network looked password type error while i am tryoing to use it. i have Verison password but its not working o it. if anyone can help me then i will be thanks full.
chuckkk
join:2001-11-10
Warner Robins, GA

chuckkk

Member

Unlocked Phones, etc.

To me, the whole digital phone business is grossly biased towards the providers, and fails to fulfill the promises made when the government allowed the conversion from analog phones to digital.

Most analog phones were allowed to "roam" on other networks (for a fee). Digital providers advertized "free roaming", then largely killed roaming on simcard phones. It's gotten so bad that the airports which had analog service, don't have digital service if your carrier doesn't have an agreement with the airport.
So much for "interoperability"!
gozer9
Premium Member
join:2010-08-09
Rochester, NY

gozer9

Premium Member

Verizon will unlock

I looked for the TOS that had the terms where Verizon stated info about rules governing the unlocking of any of their phones. I will write what I remember about it. Basicly if you have had service for 60 days and are in good standing payment wise just stop into any Verizon store and ask, I think the best way is to say you are going out of the country and will need to use it on another network. Allso it said you can have upto 3 phones unlocked per year. I read this or found the link to the TOS on a forum for international travelers. Kindof makes sence that Verizon would be willing to do this without question because they asume you want it for travel and not so you can move to another provider here.
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