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Cell Phones: To Lock or to Unlock

Filed in archive Tech News Around The World by Eric Hanson on December 7, 2006

Here's an interesting little conundrum: should people be allowed to unlock the software that ties their cell phone to a particular carrier so they can take it with them if they decide to switch? The Federal Government recently said yes and found itself slapped with a lawsuit by Miami-based pre-paid wireless carrier Tracfone Wireless, Inc. Tracfone says the ruling links

is unfair because it allows consumers to buy the phones, legally reprogram them and then resell them elsewhere in the world, a problem they're already fighting against.

I think I'm on the side of the reprogramming on this one, as it's never made sense to me that I have to a buy a phone company to buy a cell phone. However, there's certainly a good counter argument to this interesting debate - there's no protection against the kind of quasi-smuggling Tracfone describes. We'll see how it plays out.

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Tags: tracfone wireless unlock cell phone phones cell+phones lock+unlock

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Add your response to Cell Phones: To Lock or to Unlock: Response from: Jon Rochetti (12/08/06 12:21am) If a consumer buys and owns the phoine, they should bew able to move it whereever. If carriers need to protect their cost structures due to giving away free or discounted phones, they should so it through their subscriber contracts or by using deposits.
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Cell Phones: To Lock or to Unlock

Filed in archive Tech News Around The World by Eric Hanson on December 7, 2006

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