Reply With Quoteso was the original banning of the unlocking passed by congress or was it some agency's dictate?
The White House legalises - Mobile phone Unlocking ..
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/whi...ry?id=18649981
The White House has responded to an online petition to make cellphone unlocking legal, and that should make the 100,000-plus people who signed it very happy. The Obama administration says it's time to legalize the practice, which lets you to take your phone with you if you switch carriers, but was banned in January by the Copyright Office and the Library of Congress.
"The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties," R. David Edelman, White House Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation and Privacy, wrote on the White House Petitions Blog. "In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones."
Typically, if you sign a contract with a wireless carrier, you get a phone at reduced (or no) price as long as you stay with them. Unlocking your phone involves a software alteration and requires a new SIM card -- not a big deal if it hadn't been banned. The White House says the ability to bring your phone to another carrier or network is "crucial for protecting consumer choice" and is important in making sure America maintains its "vibrant, competitive wireless market."
The Obama administration said it is now planning to address the issue and would support legislative fixes to say that "neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation."
so was the original banning of the unlocking passed by congress or was it some agency's dictate?
Unlocking only is an issue with prepaid phones, but they dont subsidize good phones anyway. You get most phones with contract, and there it doesnt matter if you unlock it, as they will get their money back anyway via monthly payments from you. Or is it different in US?
not necessarily, for example if you were s sprint customer when they finally allowed usage of the iphone, you had to buy it from sprint at 500% markup (an iphone 4 in 2012 for 400 bucks? FU). with this passing, if you were formally an ATT user with your phone intact but a desire for service change, you can do it without getting raped on the hardware line.Originally Posted by Nyusu
Very good for US citizens. I am glad that they passed the bill because the idea of making unlocking illegal, was dumb as heck. I think it also fell under rooting the phone as well, so pretty much limiting you on what you can do with the phone you purchased.
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