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Unlocking smartphones without permission illegal in US after 01/25/13

Rxpert83 said:
If you buy the phone outright then its yours.

If you get a $400 discount offered by the carrier and sign a 2 year contract the phone is only truly yours after the contract is up.
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sorry buddy.. i do disagree with that.

i bought the phone.. even at a discount.. it is MINE..
if it breaks.. if it is stolen/lost... I have to deal with it..
the cost of ownership is mine to deal with, so it is mine to do as I please.

i did sign a contract to PURCHASE the phone at the discount. I am liable for the contract. I must fulfill the service agreement. i can also pay the EFT and get out of the contract.

these 2 things: phone and contact are separate.

i should be able to...
take that phone and do as I please.. even move it to another carrier.
just as long as the contract is being honored: keep paying the monthly service (with no phone or to another phone i have).. or pay the EFT and close the account.
 
argedion said:
You purchase a CD of your favorite band. You can play the music but you don't own it.
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but i can burn it.. trash it... give it away.. loan it out...make backups of it... sell it... listen to it on as many devices as i want, when i want, any where i want...

i own the CD.. not the music.

I own my phone.. i do not own the carrier/network.
 
dan330 said:
sorry buddy.. i do disagree with that.

i bought the phone.. even at a discount.. it is MINE..
if it breaks.. if it is stolen/lost... I have to deal with it..
the cost of ownership is mine to deal with, so it is mine to do as I please.

i did sign a contract to PURCHASE the phone at the discount. I am liable for the contract. I must fulfill the service agreement. i can also pay the EFT and get out of the contract.

these 2 things: phone and contact are separate.

i should be able to...
take that phone and do as I please.. even move it to another carrier.
just as long as the contract is being honored: keep paying the monthly service (with no phone or to another phone i have).. or pay the EFT and close the account.
Click to expand...

This is a gray area for most carriers, but you don't own the phone if you buy discounted at T-Mobile anymore. It's more like a loan you get from a bank that you have to pay back a little bit each month until the end of your contract. Though I don't think I've heard of phone repo if you don't pay it, though that would certainly be an interesting story to read. On the plus side, your bill is in fact less if you buy the device at full retail or BYOD. On the other carriers, there is no difference in your bill if you do this or not. So it can be argued that you do in fact own the device on these carriers.
 
no.. it is not a loan.. lease.. rent...

it is a purchase.. i agree to purchase at a lower cost..
in return.. i sign a contract for service.
 
argedion said:
You purchase a CD of your favorite band. You can play the music but you don't own it.
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No, but you do own the CD and can do every task with that CD that it is capable of. You do not need permission to rip it to your PC to play it there. You do not need anyones permission to sell it. It is yours. The wireless services and their minions in government do not see ownership in the same way. You have all the responsibilities and limits while they can do pretty much whatever they desire to yor product. I remember a few years ago when Amazon sold a book for kindle, discovered they had a copywrite problem and then went back into everyones kindles who had bought the product and deleted it without permission.
 
miked6875 said:
So can I take my EVO V to Cricket for example since I'm not under contract with Virgin ?
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Yes, because as I already stated and you repeated, you are not under a contract and that phone was not subsidized.

Now why you would leave VM for Cricket is beyond me. It's the same network but it costs you more. I made the switch from Cricket to VM because: it's the same network but costs less.
 
Government sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. What used to be "By the people, for the people" is now "By the rich, for the rich".
 
It is not the same network. That is wrong. LEAP Wireless (owner of the Cricket brand) operates their own CDMA network. VMU is wholly owned and operated by Sprint Nextel Corporation and uses that company's CDMA infrastructure. (also: you cannot carrier swap CDMA phones. The registration is done by IMEI, not using SIM cards, and carriers will not accept IMEI numbers for phone models that are not theirs. So not only is the recent DMCA decision irrelevant to bootloader locking, it's irrelevant to any CDMA carrier entirely.)
 
Another data point: Straight Talk is an imprint of America Movil, which is the owner of the Tracfone brand. They do NOT have their own infrastructure in the United States, but instead of a patchwork of roaming agreements, which recently apparently has expanded to include Verizon Wireless. However, if you think Verizon is letting Straight Talkers get full-speed access to data, or even letting them on all of their towers, then you clearly don't know Verizon very well. Virgin is an excellent deal. Don't take a good thing and ruin it by trying to chase some imaginary better thing.
 
dan330 said:
no.. it is not a loan.. lease.. rent...

it is a purchase.. i agree to purchase at a lower cost..
in return.. i sign a contract for service.
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And the length of that contract repays the discount. That's part of why you have fees if you cancel the contract early.

The whole purpose of this law is to help ensure you follow through with the contract you signed.

If a person wants to unlock it either buy the phone outright or follow through on contractual obligations
 
nsciucco said:
Exactly. Virgin is the best prepaid company out there if you want a smartphone..
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I'm not arguing with you because I haven't used any prepaid service yet but the new Monthly 4G Prepaid Plan from T-Mobile looks pretty good with unlimited everything for $50/month. I may give that a try when my Sprint contract expires since LTE isn't coming to my area anytime soon.

ramjet73
 
But is there anything in the new law that says the owner can unlock their phone once the contract has ended? If not, then there is a problem.
 
ramjet73 said:
i'm not arguing with you because i haven't used any prepaid service yet but the new monthly 4g prepaid plan from t-mobile looks pretty good with unlimited everything for $50/month. I may give that a try when my sprint contract expires since lte isn't coming to my area anytime soon.

Ramjet73
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except for 100mb of data
AND 500$ FOR A gs2 ... YIKES
 
nsciucco said:
except for 100mb of data
AND 500$ FOR A gs2 ... YIKES
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That's only for 4G (HSPA+ which some people don't consider "real" 4G) speeds, but the actual data usage is still unlimited. And you can get 100 minutes with unlimited text and data for $30/month with 4G speeds up to 5 GB and probably use VoIP instead of cellular for most calls.

And I would be spending $300 for a Nexus 4 from the Play Store, not $500 for a GS2. ;)

So how does Virgin Mobile compare? I haven't looked at their plans yet, so what do you have?

ramjet73
 
deathsled said:
Yes, because as I already stated and you repeated, you are not under a contract and that phone was not subsidized.

Now why you would leave VM for Cricket is beyond me. It's the same network but it costs you more. I made the switch from Cricket to VM because: it's the same network but costs less.
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Just using Cricket for an example.:D
 
thermometercat said:
It is not the same network. That is wrong. LEAP Wireless (owner of the Cricket brand) operates their own CDMA network. VMU is wholly owned and operated by Sprint Nextel Corporation and uses that company's CDMA infrastructure. (also: you cannot carrier swap CDMA phones. The registration is done by IMEI, not using SIM cards, and carriers will not accept IMEI numbers for phone models that are not theirs. So not only is the recent DMCA decision irrelevant to bootloader locking, it's irrelevant to any CDMA carrier entirely.)
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I flashed my old Verizon phone (what ever it was.) to Cricket with no problems what so ever.
 
Rxpert83 said:
And the length of that contract repays the discount. That's part of why you have fees if you cancel the contract early.

The whole purpose of this law is to help ensure you follow through with the contract you signed.

If a person wants to unlock it either buy the phone outright or follow through on contractual obligations
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yes.. contract and i have to fulfill it. me, company, and a contract. the phone is not part of it.

there is .. contract law already used buy the rest of the world!!!!!

should there be law written for contract on cable service too? and all the other services we sign up for?

this is just silly!
 
ramjet73 said:
I'm not arguing with you because I haven't used any prepaid service yet but the new Monthly 4G Prepaid Plan from T-Mobile looks pretty good with unlimited everything for $50/month. I may give that a try when my Sprint contract expires since LTE isn't coming to my area anytime soon.

ramjet73
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If and when I get my Nexus4, I'll be on T-Mobile's $30/month plan, 5Gs,100 talk plan for starters. See how that go's,then maybe the $50 plan.
 
buzzcon said:
Government sticking their nose where it doesn't belong. What used to be "By the people, for the people" is now "By the rich, for the rich".
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While the quickest route for the world of the mediocre to wealth is through government, the real problem was said better than I...

"There is no power above them, to control any of their decisions. There is no authority that can remove them, and they cannot be controlled by the laws of the legislature. In short, they are independent of the people, of the legislature, and of every power under heaven. Men placed in this situation will generally soon feel themselves independent of heaven itself"
 
dan330 said:
yes.. contract and i have to fulfill it. me, company, and a contract. the phone is not part of it.

there is .. contract law already used buy the rest of the world!!!!!

should there be law written for contract on cable service too? and all the other services we sign up for?

this is just silly!
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The phone is the biggest bargaining chip the carrier has.

What would be the purpose of unlocking the phone while on contract?
 
Rxpert83 said:
The phone is the biggest bargaining chip the carrier has.

What would be the purpose of unlocking the phone while on contract?
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travel?

dont matter what the reason!.. it is my right to unlock it. if i wish.
smash it .. if i wish.

all i have to do.. is keep paying the monthly bill .. till end of contract.. or pay EFT
 
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