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T-Mobile, AT&T oppose unlocking rule, claim locked phones are good for users (arstechnica.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Carriers fight plan to require unlocking of phones 60 days after activation.

T-Mobile and AT&T say US regulators should drop a plan to require unlocking of phones within 60 days of activation, claiming that locking phones to a carrier's network makes it possible to provide cheaper handsets to consumers. "If the Commission mandates a uniform unlocking policy, it is consumers—not providers—who stand to lose the most," T-Mobile alleged in an October 17 filing with the Federal Communications Commission.

The proposed rule has support from consumer advocacy groups who say it will give users more choice and lower their costs. T-Mobile has been criticized for locking phones for up to a year, which makes it impossible to use a phone on a rival's network. T-Mobile claims that with a 60-day unlocking rule, "consumers risk losing access to the benefits of free or heavily subsidized handsets because the proposal would force providers to reduce the line-up of their most compelling handset offers."

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 weeks ago

That is a ridiculous take. All you're talking about really is changing the amount of debt that guy racks up before the end - he can still do the exact same thing with non-contract unlocked phones, just has to pay the $700 with the CC and not sign a contract. It really has nothing to do with locked or unlocked phones. It doesn't even have anything to do with phones, dude could have done the same thing with anything with decent resale value - I wouldn't be surprised if a good portion of things for sale "NIB" on ebay aren't the same situation.

The phone companies were not "hemorrhaging" money over this, they got paid by the bank. Banks issuing credit cards, maybe, but only so much money as they were willing to loan out in the form of a credit limit. That risk is there for them with every CC they issue and has nothing to do with phones.

Carrier locking phones is about keeping consumers prisoner, same as the predatory contracts. I have a cabinet full of old Sprint phones from about a decade on their plans that they would never unlock, well after their contracts were up, because they wanted me to just keep renewing... Please don't stan the most obvious monopolies of our time...