woody7
Premium
join:2000-10-13
Torrance, CA | God
When will will this $hit end........
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BlooMe |
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jjoshua
Premium
join:2001-06-01
Scotch Plains, NJ
 ·Verizon FIOS
 ·Comcast
1 edit | The phone is already paid for
Presumably, the person who purchased the phone has also been locked in to a multi-year contract which is intended to recoup the cost of the phone.
If I own the phone, then it's mine to do with as I please.
BTW, if you have never unlocked a cell phone... The unlock functionality is built into the phone. The phone's copyrighted firmware is not being hacked or circumvented AFAIC. |
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packetscan
Premium
join:2004-10-19
Bridgeport, CT
clubs: | reply to woody7
Re: God
When we as consumers stop buying the "crap" these companies are selling. |
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jc100
join:2002-04-10 | reply to jjoshua
Re: The phone is already paid for
How do you unlock a cell phone then? |
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JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL
| Really a small number.
How many folks(most likely biz customers) would actually go thru the trouble of doing this? Not many I think. I find it hard to believe that people go to a particular carrier just because of the style of the phone that a wireless carrier is offering. |
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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| Sounds like Cingular...
who's been all pissy about people wanting to take their RAZRs, Treos, and so on when they leave because of their network "integration" and UMTS buildout screwing up service. 
and I'm pretty sure that since THEY and not, say, Moto are the ones pushing the crap, they have no standing under the DMCA since the "secret handshake" (and what about comparing the MCC-MNC on the SIM to what's in the phone can be considered "secret"???) is theirs, not the phone manufacturer's.
Besides, most unlocking providers are based outside the US (a lot of them are in Canada and the UK), where the DMCA doesn't apply.
-SC
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"it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend |
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LilYoda
Feline with squirel personality disorder
Premium
join:2004-09-02
Mountains
| reply to jc100
Re: The phone is already paid for
either with a software, or sometimes as easily as punching a code in...
When you have the contract for long enough, your Cell phone provider usually gives you the code to unlock it. Did that on 3 phones already, all legally.
I see the use of locking the phone for the ones that are not tied to a 2 year contract, like the "to-go" phones...
However, nowadays telco are locking the phones so that you can't claim that you lost it and sell it on Ebay, or get the contract with a fake ID and run with a $400 phone, etc... |
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TKJunkMail
Enjoy the sun
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Avalon, NJ
 ·Sprint Mobile Broa..
·Comcast
|  IMHO you buy the phone; do what you want with it
Cell phone companies have a choice to make. Sell the phone or rent it. With those 2 choices comes some consequences.
Sell the phone and the owner can do what he wants with it - even use it with another cell provider. The user still signed a contract to pay so much a month for a certain period of time for the cell phone service, so the cell phone company recoups the cost of selling the phone at a discount. They should not get the right to limit the devices uses after they sell it. And I believe that the cell phone company will lose this case against the unlock company in court.
Rent the phone and the cell phone company keeps ownership of the phone and can then legally demand NO CHANGES be made to its hardware or software. But that decision has tax consequences because the phone remains an asset of the corporation and rules on depreciation, etc apply. I'll assume that renting is not financially advantageous to the corporation.
In any case, the cell phone companies made their choice and should have to live by the consequences of that choice.
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to jjoshua
Re: The phone is already paid for
said by jjoshua  :If I own the phone, then it's mine to do with as I please. I don't care if I pay 1 cent for the phone or $300 for the phone, it is mine and I can hack it, unlock it, paint it, customize it, any way I damn well please. The fact that some phone company's business model relies on my phone being "locked" is not my problem.
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Rove / Rumsfeld 2008! |
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nerdboy789
join:2004-06-07
Rigby, ID
| reply to roamer1
Sounds like Cingular...
The only questions I have are is unlocking a phone only possible on GSM phones with a SIM card? And it's not true that if you use an unlocked phone on someone else's network that you *have* to not have access to say txt messaging etc right?
As far as I know, in Europe and Asia you can unlock your phone and your number, take both with you from Provider X and go to Provider Y while still having txt and MMS messaging functionality. From what I heard, the carriers just intentionally cripple the feature on unlocked phones. |
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apsinkus
join:2002-06-25
Chicago, IL
| we can get pissed all we want...
We can all get pissed... but when you apply business 101 principles...
Look, carrier subsidizes the phone $100-$400, that is why you are locked in for a long contract. By buying the phone at subsidized price you agree to pay company back with long term service. So put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel if you paid money out of your pocket to acquire customer and that customer took the subsidized product from you and bailed. Wouldn't you get pissed?
I know that there are some legit reasons, like if you have finished off your contract. But guess what, you can call your carrier early in the contract and ask it to be unlocked. I have done it 4 times after I have been with Cingular and Tmobile for over 6 months. I told them I need to go to EU and would like to use prepaid cards, customer service reps didn't spend even a second trying to give me runaround, they just sent me to the appropriate department. |
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Rob
In Deo speramus, God Bless the USA
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
·Comcast
| said by apsinkus :We can all get pissed... but when you apply business 101 principles... Look, carrier subsidizes the phone $100-$400, that is why you are locked in for a long contract. By buying the phone at subsidized price you agree to pay company back with long term service. So put yourself in their shoes, how would you feel if you paid money out of your pocket to acquire customer and that customer took the subsidized product from you and bailed. Wouldn't you get pissed? I know that there are some legit reasons, like if you have finished off your contract. But guess what, you can call your carrier early in the contract and ask it to be unlocked. I have done it 4 times after I have been with Cingular and Tmobile for over 6 months. I told them I need to go to EU and would like to use prepaid cards, customer service reps didn't spend even a second trying to give me runaround, they just sent me to the appropriate department. I bought my Razr full price ($285) off Amazon. Neer went to directly to Cingular.
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quetwo
That VoIP Guy
Premium
join:2004-09-04
East Lansing, MI
| reply to nerdboy789
Re: Sounds like Cingular...
You can unlock a GSM based phone in the United States and bring the phone with you to any carrier, as long as they use GSM (and the same Mhz Frequency).
I took my Cingluar "Blue" (ATTWS), and brought it with me to T-Mobile because Cingular was forcing me to sign a new contract with Cingular "Orange". Text, MMS, and regular Cell works great. |
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black_ops
join:2001-12-24
Baltimore, MD
| reply to apsinkus
Re: we can get pissed all we want...
I don't buy that subsidized crap. Their money is earned by the bloated costs of calling plans, unknown taxes, late fees, TERMINATION fees, and others. They don't have to subsidize anything with the amount of money they take in.
It's concievable that they could give most phones away--and that is exactly what they do! |
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BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium,MVM
join:2000-01-13
Beaverton, OR | *Cough* Cingular is bitching *Cough*
Poor babies, people want the Black razr, and are taking it to other GSM carriers.
After the first 14 days the consumer OWNS the hardware, and they can do whatever the hell they want with it. |
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DeathWarrant
join:2002-06-12
Coram, NY
| reply to apsinkus
Re: we can get pissed all we want...
However, as it hs already been pointed out, that is where the 1 or 2 year contract comes in. They make their money back by locking you in. And as far as bailing out you pay a penalty for that (so they make their money anyway still). Bottom line you paid for it. It's yours. |
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navalpatel
join:2003-07-28
Lubbock, TX | reply to JSRoman
Re: Really a small number.
what if you accidently break your phone and you need a new one...
you buy a locked one on ebay...
unlock it and du du du! |
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tangojoker
Peace
join:2004-01-25
Beaverton, OR
·T-Mobile US
 ·Teleblend
| reply to BlitzenZeus
Re: *Cough* Cingular is bitching *Cough*
Spot on. i am with TMobile. they unlocked my phone, when i called them, just asked for unlock code. friend on mine is with cingular and they are not unlocking it.
i used Vodafone in UK. had the service for 2yrs.They sent latest phones unlocked out of the box. Even pay as you go service provider, Virgin Mobile, unlocked the phone if you had used their service for sufficient period. |
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PhoneBoy2
@shawcable.net
| reply to apsinkus
Re: we can get pissed all we want...
NOPE! That has been the Telco party line but it's total BS. They just want to prevent people from having the option to leave. As others have stated, if their motivation was REALLY just to recoup the cost of the phone they could do that with term contracts.
At least you guys have the option if you can manage to unlock your phone. I don't have that option as CDMA providers in Canada do not allow ESN portability so unlocked or not I can't change providers. I suppose the phone could be used in the US on CDMA networks if they allow ESN portability. There is only 1 GSM provider in Canada so other than taking my unlocked phone to another country, I don't have an options there either.
Telco's are EVIL! Damn them all! |
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black_ops
join:2001-12-24
Baltimore, MD | reply to DeathWarrant
That's all I'm sayin'. |
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