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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LilYoda
Feline with squirel personality disorder
Premium
join:2004-09-02
Mountains
| 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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roamer1
sticking it out at you
join:2001-03-24
Atlanta, GA
clubs:
| said by LilYoda  :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... The original point of the "subsidy lock" was to prevent people from buying discounted phones from one carrier and using them on another. The problem is that the idea breaks down when carriers refuse to release unlock codes even after the contract that covers the discount has been fulfilled (either via time or via paying an early termination fee), as was the case with AT&T Wireless, who until acquired by Cingular would not provide unlock codes for GSM phones under ANY circumstances (and Cingular STILL won't provide codes for "blue"/AT&T-branded equipment.)
Then there are the CDMA carriers, who for the most part (the only major exception these days is Alltel) refuse to activate phones not sold for use on their network, AND who tend to lock phones down much more than GSM carriers do and take away features in the interest of increasing revenue from content and messaging (e.g., Verizon/V710/Bluetooth).
-SC
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"it seems like all you ever buy is Abercrombie and cell phones" --a friend |
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