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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.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Fuck telecos... Parasites

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Yeah who are they to charge for access to all those naturally-occuring cell phone towers?

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

Didnt even know carrier locking is still a thing. I think thats long illegal here in the EU

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

People can usually unlock the carrier on their own. Many phones (or at least every phone I've ever gotten from T-Mobile) even come pre-installed with a carrier unlocking app. It's just not automatic, and certain conditions need to be met.

People may also sometimes be able to buy phones already unlocked directly from the manufacturer if they want to. (Whether or not they're able to do this depends on the manufacturer.)

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

How about no lock in from the get go?

[–] TheTimeKnife 2 points 5 months ago

About damn time.

[–] NewWorldOverHere 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

So everyone knows… the new Apple Card lets you do 0% financing on the iPhone. (You also get 3% cash back for buying from the Apple Store.)

So you can buy an unlocked iPhone and pay for it in installments.

Now there is no need to buy from the carriers, have a locked phone, or pay full price up front.

Source: Me, paying ~$68/month for the unlocked iPhone 15 Pro. Also, I do a carrier’s prepaid plan because I’ve been bested by contracts before.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 months ago

This would be of limited use for many people. Carriers lock people in by selling lots of phones that are missing frequency bands and cannot be used on their competitor's networks. For instance, many of TMO's phones cannot be used on AT&T and Verizon's networks. My Oneplus 9Pro is a great phone, but if I wanted to switch to Spectrum (on Verizon's network) or AT&T I would be forced to buy a new phone.

Some phones like the Iphone and Pixels are compatible with every U.S. network, but plenty of others are not.

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