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FCC proposes ending cellphone carrier locks after 60 days (www.theregister.com)

submitted 4 months ago by ForgottenFlux to c/technology

118 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Long-term carrier lock-in could soon be a thing of the past in America after the FCC proposed requiring telcos to unlock cellphones from their networks 60 days after activation.

FCC boss Jessica Rosenworcel put out that proposal on Thursday, saying it would encourage competition between carriers. If subscribers could simply walk off to another telco with their handsets after two months of use, networks would have to do a lot more competing, the FCC reasons.

"When you buy a phone, you should have the freedom to decide when to change service to the carrier you want and not have the device you own stuck by practices that prevent you from making that choice," Rosenworcel said.

Carrier-locked devices contain software mechanisms that prevent them from being used on other providers' networks. The practice has long been criticized for being anti-consumer.

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[–] [email protected] 40 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Which is why I've been buying nothing except OEM unlocked devices since 2016 I Payful price for them, but I don't have to worry about leaving my carrier Whenever I want and I don't have to be on extremely expensive cell phone plans either. There is nobody else in my entire life that pays less for cell phone service than I do and I only know one person who pays the exact same and that's because we are on the same plan on our own accounts. Literally, everybody I know in my life pays about four times what I do for cell phone service.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yup. I can get away with prepaid 1GB/month for 3€ because I'm almost always near Wi-Fi and don't really need to use anything bandwidth when I'm not.

I also find it wild how some people will get an expensive contract that comes with a "free" phone, but then don't switch to an equal but cheaper contract (without a "free" phone) when the contract term expires, or at the very least renew the term so they get a new phone.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

Yeah, that one is beyond me as well.

[–] HeyJoe 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I am 40 and never had a phone bill to date! When I started working in a real job I was 22 and at that time cell phones were still not 100% a necessity. My job gave us a blackberry so I never had to worry. Crazy enough, I've been with this job for 18 years now and the job doesn't seem very secure these days so I opted to purchase a phone directly. I traded in my old work phone for a new Samsung and got a top of the line for like $400. I signed up for Google voice and got a free number and use my work phones hot spot if I go out to use it just as any other phone for the last 3 years now. Only issue I have is hot spot is battery intensive, and some accounts don't allow mfa with free voip numbers but whatever, free is awesome.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

Hey, that's an awesome setup.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I've just been buying phones a model or two behind the latest generation. Bonus points for a refurbished phone. Saves a ton of money and they're usually not much less capable than what's new.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I actually prefer to buy mid range phones that are brand new instead of buying phones that are a few generations old just because I know that with a new device the battery is new and I treat my batteries very well like only charging to 80% and so on. So I'm a lot more likely to buy like the Pixel A series or like the Motorola G series and such than I am to buy the latest Pixel flagship or whatever.