Technology

59674 readers

4285 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

709

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

submitted 5 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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 16 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Just stop buying phones from carriers and you never have to worry about this. If you like a phone, buy it unlocked straight from the manufacturer and do whatever you want with it. Most offer payment plans, and if not you can always use klarna or a credit card with no interest to make payments on it.

[–] chiliedogg 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Carriers will offer better deals on the phones though if you're planning to stick with them.

I'm looking at a $1000 phone that ATT will give me for 2.99/month for 2 years. That's over 85% off on the phone. The trick is they give it to you by actually charging like $42/month, but then giving a $39 credit every bill for 2 years, so you have to pay the difference on the $1,000 phone if you jump carriers.

But since they're the only carrier that works at my office, and this is gonna be a work phone (my company pays me a monthly stipend for it), I can live with that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

You just end up paying a premium for your mobile plan at that point. There are much cheaper plans than the ATT one, and for some, you'll end up paying way less if they buy the phone outright and subscribing to those.

[–] roguetrick 2 points 5 months ago

There are cheaper plans that subsidize under the AT&T network even.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 months ago

I used to do this, but Verizon gave me a Flip 5 for $500 less than Samsung was offering and I got a free tablet with it. I needed to switch off of Google Fi anyway because they didn't have service at my job site.