U.S. House Approves Bill Making Smartphone Unlocking Legal, Obama Pledges to Sign it Into Law

[Freida]

I thought America was free country. Unlocking your phone illegal? Wow, incredible.
It always amazes me how USA are so proud of their freedom this or freedom that but when I look at Europe and all the countries it has I have to say that there is way more freedom than USA ever had.
Apparently, in some US countries women can't even breastfeed - insane!

Well, on topic. I'm glad that at least one thing is going back to normal. Good news

 

[TouchMint.com]

I thought America was free country. Unlocking your phone illegal? Wow, incredible.
It always amazes me how USA are so proud of their freedom this or freedom that but when I look at Europe and all the countries it has I have to say that there is way more freedom than USA ever had.
Apparently, in some US countries women can't even breastfeed - insane!

Well, on topic. I'm glad that at least one thing is going back to normal. Good news

Think it was less of an America thing and more of a corporations got a jump on things haha.

unlocked cellphones is pretty low on my list of freedoms haha but yea i hear you.

 

[Bug-Creator]

Yay!! Until we start having to buy all smartphones cash up front at full price.

And that would be "bad" in your eyes ??

Cos as far as I see it would only mean that providers have to actually start competing over price & quality of their services.

 

[Robert.Walter]

This is so much more important to me than securing our national borders, preventing corporate tax manipulation and inversions, and curtailing constitutional violations by the NSA. Yes, I am proud and pleased to see that the DC crowd have their priorities in order.

/s

 

[mono1980]

It is sad that the simple fact of Congress doing something that benefits the people to be suspicious. I am looking for the ulterior motives here that would benefit their corporate masters. Very sad, indeed.

 

[SHNXX]

This is so much more important to me than securing our national borders, preventing corporate tax manipulation and inversions, and curtailing constitutional violations by the NSA. Yes, I am proud and pleased to see that the DC crowd have their priorities in order.

/s

do you expect the congress to focus on one thing?
that's an awful a lot of people to be working on a few topics that you feel are important.

 

[pika2000]

What should be done is to ban provider locking. Boom, problem solved. Provider locking is a clear anti competitive and anti consumer business practice. Instead of being a pro consumer, the laws are made to benefit big corporations first and foremost. Worse, only in the US where there are people that will defend provider locking, as if they are paid by the carriers.

And for those that think unlocking = no subsidy, go outside of your room for once. Banning provider locking doesn't stop carriers to subsidize phones in exchange for a contract. In Singapore, provider locking is banned, and I can get the iPhone 5S for free under contract if my monthly plan is high enough. Can you get a locked iPhone 5S for free with contract in the US? No. You can pay hundreds of dollars a month for your plan, but you still have to pay $200 for the phone. How does that make sense? How is that a better deal?

And stop defending Verizon/Sprint. There is no technological issue that Verizon or Sprint handsets cannot be interchanged. It is only the carriers themselves that refuse to activate phones that are not theirs. The limitation is at the carrier level, not the technology, especially today with multi-radio and multi-band devices.

 

[baryon]

Next step: make smartphone locking illegal and we'll be good to go. I either own the phone or I don't. If I do, don't tell me how I can and can't use it. If I don't, don't give it to me in the first place and don't say that it's mine.

 

[justperry]

What should be done is to ban provider locking. Boom, problem solved. Provider locking is a clear anti competitive and anti consumer business practice. Instead of being a pro consumer, the laws are made to benefit big corporations first and foremost. Worse, only in the US where there are people that will defend provider locking, as if they are paid by the carriers.

And for those that think unlocking = no subsidy, go outside of your room for once. Banning provider locking doesn't stop carriers to subsidize phones in exchange for a contract. In Singapore, provider locking is banned, and I can get the iPhone 5S for free under contract if my monthly plan is high enough. Can you get a locked iPhone 5S for free with contract in the US? No. You can pay hundreds of dollars a month for your plan, but you still have to pay $200 for the phone. How does that make sense? How is that a better deal?

And stop defending Verizon/Sprint. There is no technological issue that Verizon or Sprint handsets cannot be interchanged. It is only the carriers themselves that refuse to activate phones that are not theirs. The limitation is at the carrier level, not the technology, especially today with multi-radio and multi-band devices.

 

[mabhatter]

Yay!! Until we start having to buy all smartphones cash up front at full price.

The rule included payment of any subsidy or EFT. It it literally illegal for me to unlock my 4-yo paid off iPhone 3GS that's been replaced on contract with a different phone.

----------

This is so much more important to me than securing our national borders, preventing corporate tax manipulation and inversions, and curtailing constitutional violations by the NSA. Yes, I am proud and pleased to see that the DC crowd have their priorities in order.

/s

They could have repealed Obamacare, cause that's ALWAYS IMPORTANT. I'd check the fine print carefully.

I'm done now that I've ruined the discussion...

 

[Crunch]

This is such a colossal waste of time and resources on the part of our Congress. All to detract from what should be the real story as to the country coming apart at the seams on almost every level.

Anywho, yea, that is SO awesome that I can put a SIM into my phone and not have to worry about the SWAT team coming through the door.

 

[C DM]

This is such a colossal waste of time and resources on the part of our Congress. All to detract from what should be the real story as to the country coming apart at the seams on almost every level.

Anywho, yea, that is SO awesome that I can put a SIM into my phone and not have to worry about the SWAT team coming through the door.

Yup, doing something to protect the interests of the public over corporations is definitely a waste of time on the part of the government that is there to serve the public interests.

 

[Tech198]

Didn't we already know this, that it was legal.??. Apple, like like any, sticks to their legal mambo-jumbo like super-glue.

I guess now, its official, Apple REALLY can't go behind out back.

Lets the JB commence.

 

[funkboy]

The US is lost in the woods.

Meh, they've sold the woods, logged it, chopped it up into sawdust, made ethanol out of it, and fueled their S.U.V.s with it, all the while claiming it was for the good of the environment because it's "cleaner" than gasoline.

 

[praterkeith]

If I buy my phone outright, it should be unlocked by default.

It is. Buy from Apple.

 

[apolloa]

This makes America behind the rest of the world surely? Because I can't remember it ever being illegal to unlock a phone in the UK? How can America bring iOS and Android to the world, and Windows mobile, but still have archaic laws like this one until now?

And speaking of this law, can they not simply scrap the existing one rather than go to all the expense of writing the opposite into law?

But then again, I think it still is, or was until recently still lawful for a pregnant women to pee into a Policemans helmet in the UK! The tall hats they wear. I think it was supposed to be out of respect for expecting mothers and they can't always squat down if they are pregnant. Yeah there are some funny laws in our various lands.

 

[gnasher729]

Didn't we already know this, that it was legal.??. Apple, like like any, sticks to their legal mambo-jumbo like super-glue.

I guess now, its official, Apple REALLY can't go behind out back.

Lets the JB commence.

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say, but Apple doesn't sell phones locked to any service provider.

----------

This makes America behind the rest of the world surely? Because I can't remember it ever being illegal to unlock a phone in the UK? How can America bring iOS and Android to the world, and Windows mobile, but still have archaic laws like this one until now?

Up to very recently, it was illegal in the UK to rip your CDs into iTunes. We are just lucky that they were sensible enough never to prosecute anyone. Would have been an interesting court case.

----------

What keeps you is the contract not the device. One doesn't have anything to do with the other, and shouldn't be tied to the other.

That's true in theory. In practice, I'd expect a large number of chancers to buy heavily subsidised iPhones, unlock them, sell them on eBay and pocket the difference, until the phone company chases them up for the monthly payments they are not making.

 

[Freida]

Think it was less of an America thing and more of a corporations got a jump on things haha.

unlocked cellphones is pretty low on my list of freedoms haha but yea i hear you.

Yeah, I know. I hear you too.
Stupid corporations that influence government etc. (prime example Monsanto)
It would great (and naive I know) to have a government that actually really cares about people and want to make their life better. Well, one can only dream, right?

 

[exizeo]

Yay!! Until we start having to buy all smartphones cash up front at full price.

So? You're going to pay that price in the long run anyways. And a $649 phone now will be a $450 phone in 2 years on eBay, from previous iPhone generations. And that's just $200 actually spent.

And going unlocked is absolutely great if you travel, at all.

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

Should be free

 

[Rafterman]

This is so much more important to me than securing our national borders, preventing corporate tax manipulation and inversions, and curtailing constitutional violations by the NSA. Yes, I am proud and pleased to see that the DC crowd have their priorities in order.

/s

Congress working on this bill is not what was preventing those other things from getting done. So, "priorities" is immaterial here.

 

[Reason077]

Once your contract has been fulfilled the provider should be obligated to provide the unlock at no charge.

In the UK, all operators will unlock for free upon request (or for a minimal fee). Even if you're still under contract.

On O2 I simply had to log in to my online account and fill out a request. The unlock happened automatically the next time I connected the device to iTunes.

There are legitimate reasons to want to unlock before contract expiration. e.g.:

- You're travelling abroad, and you want to use a local SIM card

- You want to upgrade to a new device before contract expires, and re-sell the current one to offset the cost

----------

That's true in theory. In practice, I'd expect a large number of chancers to buy heavily subsidised iPhones, unlock them, sell them on eBay and pocket the difference, until the phone company chases them up for the monthly payments they are not making.

There's nothing to stop people doing that in the UK, but it doesn't seem to be a significant problem.

Skipping out on a contract is going to earn you a bad credit record, and dodgy debt-collection agencies knocking on your door regardless of whether you unlocked the phone or not. So, not a good idea.

 

[C DM]

Didn't we already know this, that it was legal.??. Apple, like like any, sticks to their legal mambo-jumbo like super-glue.

I guess now, its official, Apple REALLY can't go behind out back.

Lets the JB commence.

Unlocking and jailbreaking are different things.

----------

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say, but Apple doesn't sell phones locked to any service provider.

----------



Up to very recently, it was illegal in the UK to rip your CDs into iTunes. We are just lucky that they were sensible enough never to prosecute anyone. Would have been an interesting court case.

----------



That's true in theory. In practice, I'd expect a large number of chancers to buy heavily subsidised iPhones, unlock them, sell them on eBay and pocket the difference, until the phone company chases them up for the monthly payments they are not making.

So if people sell their phones what does that change for the carrier? If someone stays with the phone they have or sell it they still have the contract they have to honor with the carrier so that doesn't change anything.

 

[seecoolguy]

No. You have to be in good standing with carriers in order to get it unlocked before the end of contract term. I had multiple iPhones unlocked for less than 1 year in with 2 year contract from ATT. They actually allow 5 unlocks a year.

What is odd is they won't unlock a phone you buy on eBay, until you have it on att for 6 months??

 

[kevink2]

Inb4 Fox News says that it's a "terrible idea" and "the end of the world as we know it" based solely on the fact that Obama is backing it.

This is why it is in the politics area. I couldn't find anything but the most generic of articles on foxnews.com that mention this. One was an AP article. Another Consumers Reports article.