Although the agreement made between carriers and the FCC was virtually finalized in 2013, carriers from today can’t say no to customer requests to unlock their phones. Providing they are no longer under contract, or have any installments to pay. Once unlocked, you’re free to use your handset on which ever compatible carrier your heart desires. Up until now, carriers only had to meet three … [read full article]
Ever since a specific exemption in the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) made phone unlocking illegal earlier this year, a movement has been underway to make sure consumers had the right to unlock their devices once their contract period is up. A bill was proposed to make it legal, and was passed by the Senate … [read full article]
Just before the Uncarrier 5.0 event last month, we received information from a T-Mobile test engineer telling us that the test version of the upcoming Galaxy Avant came equipped with a device unlocking app. The source told us that the app worked very … [read full article]
This afternoon, the Senate passed a bill that will allow consumers to switch carriers and keep their same phone once their contract is up. The bill was passed unanimously. Senator Patrick Leahy introduced S. 517, the “Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act” which adds an exemption back in to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) that will let customer unlock their phones once they’re paid up. … [read full article]
It’s been a while since we heard anything of the new cellphone carrier unlocking bill that’s still not been completely finalized. Earlier this year, the [read full article]
In the past few hours, the FCC and CTIA finally agreed a deal to allow consumers from the five major U.S. networks to unlock their devices. It’s been one of the big sticking points of the carrier/smartphone industry for sometime and is yet another step in the right direction of giving control back to the consumers and … [read full article]
Yesterday evening an interesting story broke online regarding the FCC’s new chairman, Tom Wheeler. In an open letter to CTIA (a U.S. operator association) he stated that current plans by the organization regarding unlocking handsets are “a hollow shell” unless a further, key point is added to them. And, if CTIA doesn’t instigate more consumer friendly plans, it … [read full article]
As the law banning phone unlocking enters into another month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told TechCrunch will investigate the DMCA decision. The FCC will work to find if the ban is harmful to the competitive nature of the industry and whether or not the executive branch has any authority to effect change. The “ban … [read full article]
A White House petition to make cell phone unlocking legal has reached the 100,000 signature mark, the amount required to draw an official response from the government. With the help of Anonymous, Reddit and word of mouth, it took right around a month to gain the necessary 100,000 signatures. The petition, a [read full article]
With the clock ticking toward the January 26th DMCA deadline for unlocked phones, T-Mobile has released a statement indicating their position. This is an unfortunate kink in T-Mobile’s “bring your own phone” campaign and one that will hopefully be rectified soon. Unfortunately, T-Mobile must adhere to the … [read full article]
