moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
 ·Verizon Online DSL
1 edit | When phones are throwaways...
....no one cares about unlocking.
In many other countries, phones are sold full price with no contracts so people are a LOT more cognisant of which provider they use.
In this country, when many phones are free with a 2 year contract, by the time that contract is over, you get the latest and greatest for next to nothing or free. Just checking today, a Palm Centro is $10 with 2 year contract and a few others are $50 (HTC Ozone, Motorola Q (certified used.)) |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
 ·Comcast
| Agreed. Locking of phones is a non-issue in the USA because phones are so cheap.
I have to ask why does any logical, reasonable person want to force US consumers to pay the full price for a phone "just like they do abroad?" What possible good could come of forcing consumers to pay full price?
People who want to pay full price for an unlocked phone in the USA can already do so. I think we are better off having choices in paying full price for phone or not.
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Blagojevich / Madoff 2012! |
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ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| reply to moonpuppy
The thing is, these people really are paying full price--it's just that they don't realize it. The carriers recover that subsidy over the course of the contract. In many other countries, many people use prepaid service, which means they have no contracts. |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to pnh102
said by pnh102  :Agreed. Locking of phones is a non-issue in the USA because phones are so cheap. I have to ask why does any logical, reasonable person want to force US consumers to pay the full price for a phone "just like they do abroad?" What possible good could come of forcing consumers to pay full price? People who want to pay full price for an unlocked phone in the USA can already do so. I think we are better off having choices in paying full price for phone or not. I can tell you I work with someone who HATES cell phone contracts and is always complaining about the high cost of unlocked phones. He has a 1st generation iPhone he uses on T-Mobile and an old LG Env he uses on Verizon. He says he wants an iPhone 3G but doesn't want to pay the no contract price and he doesn't want a contract either.  |
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moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| reply to ISurfTooMuch
said by ISurfTooMuch :The thing is, these people really are paying full price--it's just that they don't realize it. The carriers recover that subsidy over the course of the contract. In many other countries, many people use prepaid service, which means they have no contracts. Prepaid service here is more expensive than a monthly plan and, last time I checked, there is no discount for bringing your own phone to a provider. In reality, it costs more to a wireless provider for someone to buy a subsidised phone than bring their own phone. |
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GWB
@apollogrp.edu
| reply to moonpuppy
said by moonpuppy :people are a LOT more cognisant of with provider they use.  |
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ISurfTooMuch
join:2007-04-23
Tuscaloosa, AL
| reply to moonpuppy
Correct. In fact, carriers are quite happy to have folks bring their own phones, since the money that would pay off a subsidized phone is pure profit when that happens. It's a huge ripoff.
Of course, the carriers want you to bring only an "approved" phone loaded with their bloatware and locked down so no changes can be made to it. |
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jester121
Premium
join:2003-08-09
Lake Zurich, IL | reply to moonpuppy
He sounds like any number of visitors to this website who moan and gripe about "evil greedy corporations" and "unfair pricing", and have no clue about how businesses run or what stuff really costs. |
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sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH
| reply to pnh102
Because you pay for the phone over the course of the contract. And regardless of what phone or plan you purchase, you're paying the same as everyone else. Meaning even if you don't buy an iPhone you're paying at the "subsidized", marked up price point.
Forcing consumers to pay full price for unlocked phones that can then be used with any carrier would force phone manufacturers to actually *compete* with each other, especially in terms of price and quality. Price wars naturally lead to a downward trend in overall prices. The lack of subsidized contracts *should* also result in a decrease in the amount you pay for monthly plans. Of course collusion among the 4 major carriers could prevent his from happening. |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| said by sonicmerlin :Because you pay for the phone over the course of the contract. Why does this matter? It isn't like any carrier is going to give you a price break if you pay full price for the phone anyway.
There are plenty of choices in phones, both for zero cost up front and others which have all sorts of bells and whistles and which cost a lot. Why not let the customer decide which phone he wants and let price be a factor?
said by sonicmerlin :Forcing consumers to pay full price ... ... would just cost consumers a ton of money, and force people who rely on cheap cell phones and who cannot afford to pay full price to drop the service. In most countries where you pay full price for a phone you pay roughly the same as what you pay here, so there's no point at all.
Besides, what is better if you money is a problem? Finding a provider that works best in your area and getting a zero cost phone though them or paying full price for the phone and maybe getting more than one good provider? With the latter, you just pay more, a lot more.
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Blagojevich / Madoff 2012! |
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sonicmerlin
join:2009-05-24
Cleveland, OH
| Wow. No, really they don't. in Asia phone hardware is a generation ahead of the US. This is part of the reason the iPhone isn't particularly popular in Japan. It's very expensive relative to other phones, and the hardware isn't even that advanced.
I already explained this, but you purposely ignored every point I made, so I'll try one more time. Forcing consumers to pay full price would ultimately bring down the prices of phones, and allow them to pay less per month in wireless contracts.
Phone manufacturers would have to compete on price and quality, and wireless carriers wouldn't be able to charge hidden "subsidies" in their monthly plans to EVERYONE, regardless of the phone they purchase.
This is why locked phones are ILLEGAL in many other developed countries. |
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obeythelaw
Premium
join:2003-04-16
Bayonne, NJ | reply to pnh102
exactly, you can already buy a full price phone unlocked for use on ATT or Tmobile. There are hundreds of them on the internet. It's a non issue. |
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PGHammer
join:2003-06-09
Accokeek, MD
clubs:
·Comcast
| reply to sonicmerlin
And why are phones in Asia more advanced? Because that so-called advanced network (DoCoMo) is tied to the carrier (in Asia, Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, AKA NTT). And DoCoMo is deliberately licensed only to Asia-based handset manufacturers (both Nokia and Motorola have repeatedly been turned down). The primary DoCoMo handset licensees are Sony Ericsson and Mitsubishi (only Sony Ericsson even SELLS handsets outside of Asia!), and DoCoMo was designed directly as an Asia-specific (in fact Japan-specific) standard (Verizon and Vodaphone both made specific inquiries about licensing DoCoMo in the standard's early days and were turned down). Therefore, I have EVERY reason to believe that DoCoMo is more about lock-in than even CDMA (which VZW and Vodaphone both turned to instead of DoCoMo). |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| reply to sonicmerlin
said by sonicmerlin :This is part of the reason the iPhone isn't particularly popular in Japan. Nope.
»www.appleinsider.com/articles/08···ket.html
said by sonicmerlin :I already explained this, but you purposely ignored every point I made... Because they are all wrong.
said by sonicmerlin :Forcing consumers to pay full price would ultimately bring down the prices of phones, and allow them to pay less per month in wireless contracts. Which again is refuted by all the prevailing evidence. People abroad pay many times more for phones than they do here. The price of their service is comparable to ours. Ergo, forcing people to pay full price for their phones here will simply force them to spend more money and nothing more. Higher prices for phones will also push many people of lesser means out of the market for phones.
said by sonicmerlin :This is why locked phones are ILLEGAL in many other developed countries. So what? It is perfectly legal in the USA to unlock your phone if you choose to do so. There are numerous third party services who will sell you this service and some cell phone companies will even do it for you for free if you meet the criteria.
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Blagojevich / Madoff 2012! |
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koolman2
Premium
join:2002-10-01
Anchorage, AK | reply to moonpuppy
Tell him to offer to pay the upgrade fee for someone wanting a 3GS who currently has a 3G. That's what I did and got a barely-used 3G for $375, then unlocked it. |
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