Starting today, US carriers must unlock your phone if you finish your contract
Feb 11, 2015, 10:27 am
#1
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Starting today, US carriers must unlock your phone if you finish your contract
CooL!
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015...ck-your-phone/
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015...ck-your-phone/
Major wireless carriers in the US have promised to unlock customers' phones or tablets once they've paid off their contracts, beginning today. This is the result of an agreement the carriers made with FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler in late 2013; the deadline to comply with all portions of the agreement arrived today.
Feb 11, 2015, 11:51 am
#2
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Furthermore, this seems like non-news to me. AT&T has been unlocking my phones, once I completed the 2 year contract, for literally years.
Regards
Feb 11, 2015, 12:27 pm
#4
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As scubadu noted, what immediately struck me is that caveat that the subscribers must have paid off their contracts first. It immediately affects those who are beyond the term of their contract and have not re-upped. If you're still under contract or enter into an agreement after today, they don't have to do anything until the contract ends if they don't want to.
Thread title makes it seem as if they must do it for everyone, so it is a bit misleading.
Carriers, upon request, will unlock mobile wireless devices or provide the necessary information to unlock their devices for their customers and former customers in good standing and individual owners of eligible devices after the fulfillment of the applicable postpaid service contract, device financing plan, or payment of applicable early termination fee.
Feb 12, 2015, 12:44 am
#7
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How exactly does this apply? For instance, if I signed up for a 2 year contract long ago and it is already up, must my carrier unlock my phone if I ask tomorrow? Or does it only apply to new contracts going forward? Or is it based on the manufacture date of the phone itself?
Feb 12, 2015, 7:20 am
#9
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If you call your carrier, they should unlock it immediately if you are eligible.
I've been on plans in the past where I could unlock and where I could not (all prepaid). I switched to TMobile a bit over a year ago and bought an unlocked phone from the start, but my boyfriend stayed on Virgin Mobile. We realized that Tmobile will work better for him so he got the unlock code from VM yesterday, and we are going to experiment and see if he can bring his iPhone over, since the phone is still relatively new for him and he'd rather not buy a new phone yet. I'm not sure if his iPhone supports the right bands, but at least we can try now. (This was part of the reason why I left Virgin Mobile. They had it locked and so I could not even buy a foreign SIM when I travelled.)
I've been on plans in the past where I could unlock and where I could not (all prepaid). I switched to TMobile a bit over a year ago and bought an unlocked phone from the start, but my boyfriend stayed on Virgin Mobile. We realized that Tmobile will work better for him so he got the unlock code from VM yesterday, and we are going to experiment and see if he can bring his iPhone over, since the phone is still relatively new for him and he'd rather not buy a new phone yet. I'm not sure if his iPhone supports the right bands, but at least we can try now. (This was part of the reason why I left Virgin Mobile. They had it locked and so I could not even buy a foreign SIM when I travelled.)
Feb 12, 2015, 2:01 pm
#10
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Who (which carriers) haven't been doing this for the past several years? I've had AT&T, sprint and verizon phones unlocked for which any post paid 2 yr (whatever) contract had been reached. Only AT&T I think had an online site for this, but still I don't see this as making much difference to anything at all.
Feb 12, 2015, 2:56 pm
#11
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Who (which carriers) haven't been doing this for the past several years? I've had AT&T, sprint and verizon phones unlocked for which any post paid 2 yr (whatever) contract had been reached. Only AT&T I think had an online site for this, but still I don't see this as making much difference to anything at all.
Feb 12, 2015, 4:04 pm
#12
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Are they required to unlock if you pay the ETF?
Say I'm 6 months into a 2-year deal and another carrier is willing to pay my ETF. Is the original carrier required to unlock, allowing me to use that phone on the new carrier's network? (Assuming the device is compatible, of course.)
Assume I wait long enough to be free and clear from any rules the retailer had in place on subsidized phones. (IME, that's 6 months.)
Say I'm 6 months into a 2-year deal and another carrier is willing to pay my ETF. Is the original carrier required to unlock, allowing me to use that phone on the new carrier's network? (Assuming the device is compatible, of course.)
Assume I wait long enough to be free and clear from any rules the retailer had in place on subsidized phones. (IME, that's 6 months.)
Feb 12, 2015, 5:08 pm
#13
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