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Rules for unlocking phones
Topic Started: Jan 29 2013, 07:21 AM (321 Views)
Delphi51
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Cell phone companies usually lock their phones so they cannot be used with another company. They may unlock yours for a trip to another country.
There are also several different incompatible phone systems going in the US.
Quote:
 
it is illegal to unlock your new smartphone. This rule, issued by the Librarian of Congress in October, is seen by many as a slap in the face of consumers who wish to do what they want, when they want, with the devices they own. But there are a few silver linings in this dark cloud. Here, we’ll answer all the pertinent questions about the new no-unlock rule.


Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/unlocking-your-new-smartphone-is-now-illegal-
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campy
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Delphi51
Jan 29 2013, 07:21 AM
Cell phone companies usually lock their phones so they cannot be used with another company. They may unlock yours for a trip to another country.
There are also several different incompatible phone systems going in the US.
Quote:
 
it is illegal to unlock your new smartphone. This rule, issued by the Librarian of Congress in October, is seen by many as a slap in the face of consumers who wish to do what they want, when they want, with the devices they own. But there are a few silver linings in this dark cloud. Here, we’ll answer all the pertinent questions about the new no-unlock rule.


Read more: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/unlocking-your-new-smartphone-is-now-illegal-
Apparently there is going to be a law passed prohibiting the locking of phones by manufacturers.

Don't ask for a link. I read that somewhere and can't remember where I read it.

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FuzzyO
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It's in the title of the link in the post above yours!!!
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Delphi51
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Today 100 thousand signatures on a petition to make unlocking legal again have been submitted to the White House. Hopefully they will get a positive response. The myth that a phone you have paid $20 a month for 2 or 3 years for is really a free loan from a benevolent phone company has to be killed.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/21/petition-to-make-unlocking-phones-legal-again-passes-100000-signatures-white-house-is-required-to-respond/
Edited by Delphi51, Feb 22 2013, 01:24 PM.
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Deleted User
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I hope Canada follows suit and also does away with those 3 yr. contracts. I use my server's phone service and get FREE long distance anywhere in Canada to anyone using their phone service. They are now looking into the cell phone business & doing beta testing. My IPad is locked in to Telus, rogers, Bell but since my phone service rents lines from Telus, I may be able to use their service instead of Telus.

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wildie
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Delphi51
Feb 22 2013, 01:24 PM
Today 100 thousand signatures on a petition to make unlocking legal again have been submitted to the White House. Hopefully they will get a positive response. The myth that a phone you have paid $20 a month for 2 or 3 years for is really a free loan from a benevolent phone company has to be killed.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/21/petition-to-make-unlocking-phones-legal-again-passes-100000-signatures-white-house-is-required-to-respond/
Is it illegal to unlock a phone in Canada? We have a retail outlet here in town that sells unlocked phones. I assume that they buy these directly from the manufacturer!
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Delphi51
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I think it is still legal in Canada. Difficult, though. We have an unlocked iPhone 3G. The trick hackers developed to unlock that model has the side effect of disabling the phone's GPS.
Imagine if they built cars that could only run on gas provided by one chain of fillings stations. There would be a riot. But we put up with the same thing in the cell phone world.
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Trotsky
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Quote:
 
A petition was quickly launched in response. One of the reasons the petition only met its goal now is due to a change by the Obama administration, which recently raised the number of signatures needed to elicit a response from the White House from 25,000 to 100,000.


This is called TRANSPARENCY. :sigh:

If this is a LAW, as itn seems to be, what can the White House do about it?
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wildie
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Delphi51
Feb 23 2013, 06:24 PM
I think it is still legal in Canada. Difficult, though. We have an unlocked iPhone 3G. The trick hackers developed to unlock that model has the side effect of disabling the phone's GPS.
Imagine if they built cars that could only run on gas provided by one chain of fillings stations. There would be a riot. But we put up with the same thing in the cell phone world.
Out of curiosity, I looked into the possibility of unlocking my cell phone. It seems to be a relatively simple process.
I had to extract a string of numbers from my phone by keying in *#6#. Armed with this number i can purchase a code that will unlock the device.
I didn't proceed with this, as I am concerned about the possibility of damaging the phone.
However, unlocking does seem to be a simple process.
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Delphi51
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Careful with purchasing unlocking - most of these offers for iPhone are complete scams. The ROM in the iPhone has to be changed by some trick. I know nothing about other phones.

It isn't a law as in made by Congress. It was a change made by the administration and the white house can retract it if they dare anger the phone companies.
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