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FCC proposes ending cellphone carrier locks after 60 days (www.theregister.com)

submitted 4 months ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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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[–] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 92 points 4 months ago (3 children)

OK, now ban bootloader locking next.

[–] sunzu@kbin.run 6 points 4 months ago (3 children)

Don't Sammy do and apple do it... Not even carriers?

[–] Lojcs@lemm.ee 21 points 4 months ago

Pretty sure Samsung does it to appease carriers since they sell unlocked snapdragon variants elsewhere

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

If you buy a phone from Verizon its perma locked for no reason

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Oh there's a reason. Hotspot bypass being a big one I'd wager, the other being making it significantly harder to avoid ads

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

But I can use a non Verizon phone on Verizon? Are they just trying to dissuade it because the people doing hotspot bypass are likely gonna do the research.

Edit: oh yeah ads. Of course it's ads.

[–] bobs_monkey@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

This was for bootloader locking, not carrier locking. But yeah, they want you to buy their bullshit hotspot plan instead of just using the data you already pay for.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 2 points 4 months ago

Of course.

And yeah carrier locking is already illegal [if the phone is fully paid for].

[–] dinckelman@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

For quite a long time now, it's been the case that if your vendor makes this hard as is, a carrier on top of that will make it considerably worse. As an example, take a look at older Samsung devices, that all needed special-tailored roms for each carrier variant

[–] androidisking@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I sent the FTC a letter asking them to look into the practices of bootloader locking. They did they they would consider looking into it

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

How did you go about doing that? I wanted to ask them about being able to replace the primary bootloader, including signing keys for any device that a user has paid for, which is a step above bootloader unlocking.

Kind of like installing coreboot or libreboot on a PC/laptop.

[–] brb@sh.itjust.works 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It's one command to unlock so what's the point?

[–] BigFatNips@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

...on OEM unlocked devices that you buy upfront and pay full price for. Buy one second hand? Fuck you. Get one through a carrier? Fuck you. Get a gift from a family member who has upgraded? You guessed it, fuck you.

[–] brb@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago

I wasn't aware that anything can block unlocking it. Learned something new thanks