[ale] [OT] White House Petition to Legalize Mobile-Phone Unlocking

[Jim Kinney]

Reread the rules. You can't root a phone that under discount-based
contract. It doesn't belong to you until the contract is over. It's a lease
to own.

Yes, I want to remove the facebook app that Verizon installs by default on
my jelly-bean phone. But I can't until I own it free and clear.

This doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to require customer service from
Verizon and demand they remove the app I don''t want so I have more
resources for what I do want.

On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 7:20 PM, Brian Mathis <
brian.mathis+ale at betteradmin.com> wrote:

> Why should you need to ask permission to unlock your phone?  You paid
> for it.  If you want to break the contract that's fine, but you would
> be subject to a termination fee which should cover the subsidy.  And
> since most contracts already have large termination fees, they can't
> argue that it's about that.
>
> Worse is that the phone is still locked after the contract is over.
> If I want to sell my old phone, I need to hope that the phone company
> will give their blessing, and many have rules that you must have an
> active account, it must be in good standing, etc... in order to unlock
> it.  This is *after* you have paid off the contract and probably
> signed onto a new one with a new device.
>
> The only reason is to increase the friction for you leaving for
> another carrier, and that is anti-consumer and can only happen in an
> oligopolistic market.
>
>
> ❧ Brian Mathis
>
> P.S. Why does my phone bill not go down after I have supposedly paid
> off the subsidy?  Because the prices of non-contract phones are
> inflated on purpose as an incentive to sign a contract.
>
>
> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 11:44 AM, JD <jdp at algoloma.com> wrote:
> > Or we can just purchase unlocked phones. There are lots of choices.
> Nobody forces anyone to buy a subsidized phone, though the fact that cell
> plans do not include a BYOD discount is a problem.
> >
> > Last fall, I contacted t-mobile to get a locked phone unlocked prior to
> an overseas trip. About 5 days later an email arrived with the unlock code.
> No real difficulty at all, except the wait.
> >
> > Remember when cell phones were a convenience?
> >
>
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-- 
-- 
James P. Kinney III
*
*Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain
at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail.
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- Speech 11/23/1900 Mark Twain
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