Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
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America is a business not a society. It's civilisational aim is profit, not citizen wellbeing.
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Carriers are universally awful. I have not bought a phone through a carrier for over ten years.
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RickRoyLeonPrisZhoraRacha
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Your phone is locked from Apple unless you buy it sans-carrier. If its the 17 or 17 Air, you pay an additional $40 to have it unlocked. Or you spend more (Apple tax) to get the Pro/Max models that are an extra cost for unlocked.
Plus you need your phone unlocked if you have more than one number/eSim.
I too, bought an unlocked iPhone (17 Pro) from Apple, then moved it to Visible, an MVNO subsidiary of Verizon. $25/month. Same services that I had from ATT at 1/3 the price.
SOS... can you hear me now? Where's my $20? - that is reference to those that suffered the SOS no service when Verizon (cough) lost a server in NJ (I still don't believe that. Amazing how quick Verizon was to offer $20 credits to customers, right? Hmmmm a server outtage... no redundancy?)
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That's a couple stages away. They are doing what they have done for decades. Boiling a frog for profits, because the one thing an American Corp cannot stand is a fair exchange of services for money.
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So I buy a sim unlocked iPhone from Apple, it’ll be locked only on Verizon and it’s MVNOs for at least a year? Terrible.
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Normally I buy phones outright, but this last Black Friday I found a deal too good to pass up. My carrier provides carrier-unlocked phones.
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You can absolutely have a cake and eat it too. What you can't do is eat a cake and also have it.
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Never buy a phone from the telco. Always bring your own. "free phone" is a hook, not them being nice to you.
I'm still pissed at AT&T for "locking" my ability to do tethering on a phone that I bought direct from Apple via whatever "telco permissions" they have. Also, slightly pissed at Apple for even allowing that. It's my data. Fuck you how I use it. I was a AT&T customer for almost 30 years. Never again. Dropped them so fast when they removed that from the bottom tiers. Visible is $40/month cheaper and none of that price gouging.
I'm still pissed at AT&T for "locking" my ability to do tethering on a phone that I bought direct from Apple via whatever "telco permissions" they have. Also, slightly pissed at Apple for even allowing that. It's my data. Fuck you how I use it. I was a AT&T customer for almost 30 years. Never again. Dropped them so fast when they removed that from the bottom tiers. Visible is $40/month cheaper and none of that price gouging.
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From the article:
"Customers who bought phones before today are still eligible for unlocks after 60 days."
The Tracfone family of brands is going by the activation date to determine which phones will still unlock in 60 days, not the purchase date. Visible is going by the purchase date.
https://www.tfwunlockpolicy.com/wps...D_YLsbEUAOz5aGg!!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/
"Customers who bought phones before today are still eligible for unlocks after 60 days."
The Tracfone family of brands is going by the activation date to determine which phones will still unlock in 60 days, not the purchase date. Visible is going by the purchase date.
https://www.tfwunlockpolicy.com/wps...D_YLsbEUAOz5aGg!!/dz/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/
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In the UK some companies offer the contract split in two, so for me on EE I pay usage separately to the handset. Both payments taken on the same day by direct debit and billed on the same invoice.
This means I can jump ship on my provider and go SIM only deal with a new provider but keep paying for the handset with EE really easily.
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The "fraud" that was causing Verizon* a problem wasn't aunt Millie buying a Tracfone family of brands phone. It was organized groups buying large numbers contrary to the number of phone allowed by Verizon's policies to be purchased by an individual by using fake identities to buy unlocked in 60 days and resold. Some of that may have been done by credit card theft. These are discounted phones (subsidized) that they hoped to recoup the subsidy by long term use and payment. Verizon claimed to the FCC that there were over 700,000 such phones. That's not from aunt Millies and their canasta clubs.
Verizon had a problem. The FCC allowed Verizon to squash the problem with a sledge hammer rather than better managing their sales channel. Screw them.
*Verizon bought and owns the Tracfone family of brands - Tracfone, Straightalk, Total Wireless, etc.
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This is why I haven't bought a phone from a carrier in a decade. I get much better service and price from an MVNO than I do from a large carrier, and I'd rather pay for the phone up front. While I've had my provider for four years now, I like that I could leave at any time if something changed for the worse.
At the same time, I know that many people can't afford (or maybe just don't financially plan) to purchase a phone outright; this seems like a tax on the lower class as well as a brand lock-in, and a lot of people still seem to believe a "free phone!" or "phone at a discount!" really is discounted as opposed to the money just padded to the back-end; the cellular plan.
I also wonder if people largely just accept the carrier they have and don't go through the effort to research (I spent several months on reddit.com/r/NoContract to find a provider that people were happy with that was priced right). To me, it's one of the first places someone can save money and yet I surprise people every time I tell them how little I'm paying for a plan that has a massive amount of high-speed data.
At the same time, I know that many people can't afford (or maybe just don't financially plan) to purchase a phone outright; this seems like a tax on the lower class as well as a brand lock-in, and a lot of people still seem to believe a "free phone!" or "phone at a discount!" really is discounted as opposed to the money just padded to the back-end; the cellular plan.
I also wonder if people largely just accept the carrier they have and don't go through the effort to research (I spent several months on reddit.com/r/NoContract to find a provider that people were happy with that was priced right). To me, it's one of the first places someone can save money and yet I surprise people every time I tell them how little I'm paying for a plan that has a massive amount of high-speed data.
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I really doubt that 60 days somehow made this really easy.
It also ignores the fact that Verizon already could report those phones as stolen if the purchases were fraudulent. Reporting the phones as stolen can keep them from being activated in most markets in the world. It's why we have this program, because it eliminates the value of stolen phones and discourages people from buying them.
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I know it's not realistic for some people, but if you can pay for your phone outright then just use Visible. Same Verizon service with none of the bullshit. I've been using them for 3+ years now. $450/year for the same service you'd pay probably double for on regular Verizon.
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Or perhaps, people don't actually need $1500+ iPhones. My daily phone is a Motorola Power 5G 2024 - bought it on Amazon for less than $200 unlocked, brand new. It's great, does everything I need. Even has wireless charging... the only drawback (and I grant you, for some people it's a big one) is the cameras aren't iPhone / Pixel level. They're FINE for 99% of what people actually do.
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"The law" is now what the oligarchs say that it is, with an assist from the Supreme Court and the federal agencies that were created to regulate the oligarchs.
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Some decades ago I had a math professor who said:
"No matter vhat happens, there vill alvays be sons of beeches in this vorld."
Indeed.
"No matter vhat happens, there vill alvays be sons of beeches in this vorld."
Indeed.
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I don't know why you were downvoted into oblivion.
You made an excellent point. I use Visible $30/mo. It didn't protect me from the outage, but it sure as heck is not as expensive as Verizon.
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Rhurazz2012
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
That's because your countries are actually sensible when it comes to "one's property". This country of USA doesn't give a shit, as they want to own you and your devices outright..
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Rhurazz2012
Wise, Aged Ars Veteran
Only trouble is that many low income people who need phones for communication do this to avoid phone cost upfront. Not everyone in this world has the ability to do this. With the prepaid phones dragging in the mud now, it makes the situation even worse if they want to go that route as well..
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That sounds nice, and is what I continue to do, but I've encountered problems with lesser known phones in the past; basically, they had all the necessary hardware to work, but the carriers wouldn't let that model on their network because it wasn't purchased through them. My Nokia phone just stopped working on my first MVNO, worked for a week on the second MVNO then mysteriously stopped, all in the US. Went to Europe, it worked fine there, and the MVNO was happy to sell me a phone with worse hardware from the same manufacturer (Nokia) that was loaded with their bloatware that worked on their network; my understanding is because Nokia wouldn't pay the 'licensing' fee to get the model I had approved for off-the-shelf use on the carrier's network, the carrier just refused to let it work.
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Both of these are silly takes. The law was restricting what carriers could do with phone locks.
The law here doesn't really stop you from making an agreement with Verizon that your phone can't be unlocked for a year. The government doesn't really come into that. Its not an unreasonable contract clause if we were all on a level playing field.
Regulations exist to level that playing field, which is why the government was limiting what Verizon could do. So if anything here the constitution probably would be limiting what the government could do to Verizon. Or in htis case wahtever 5 supreme court justices randomly decide the law reads today.
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The trick is to buy them direct from the manufacturer. Google Pixel phones and Apple iPhones are routinely sold unlocked, and I've never had trouble getting them.
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I've mostly experienced this with pre-paid phones, which tend to have special configurations to make the pre-payment part work.
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I say this as one of the more conservative voices on Ars, all phones should just be unlocked. FULL STOP
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You reminded me of this: https://www.wired.com/2000/05/real-cybersquatting-really-sucks/
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In practice, many EU service providers were selling unlocked phones only as far back as iPhone 3 if not sooner. You could get an unlocked iPhone from Orange Slovakia on a two year contract or at the full price.
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Well, except for that time last week when the intern loaded the wrong file and brought down the whole network.
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I always, always buy unlocked phones because of BS like this. I may pay more for them, but then I’m not held hostage to one company. I also always use MVNOs, they’re cheaper and I’ve never had and issue with them.
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I think the problem is that people see and buy into the flashy advertising for the flagships and either aren't really aware of lower end offices or don't understand that they'd probably work just as well for them.
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"I used the parachute, now I'm falling slowly, I guess I don't need the parachute any more... wait why am I falling fast agai-" - a summary of U.S. politics.
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I bought my iPhone 11 unlocked in the good old days.
gonna keep it till it won't run no more.
gonna keep it till it won't run no more.
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Don’t ever buy a device from Verizon. Their trade in terms are deceptive bordering on lying. Apple has many options for buying an iPhone from them. If you want an iPhone copy, i.e. Android, I’m sure those companies have a way to sell you a device too. A lot of them are even designed to look like an iPhone. Like Samesung. Meanwhile you know someone on trumps FCC got paid to screw everyone over for Verizon.
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Some contracts are implied. You can argue about this one, but implied contracts are a human reality. I actually think people not accepting this in all sorts of arenas is a fundamental issue with the world today.
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People get fed up with Republicans wrecking everything, and elect Democrats, then get mad when the Democrats don't fix everything in two years and vote them out again. They will never catch on that it's harder to build than to destroy.
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There's a certain kind of person who, when you show them something impressive you've made, will say "yeah that's nice, 'course you could lose it all in a fire", or some similar sentiment, or worse talk about how easily they could break something as if they're pointing out a flaw in the very concept of building things. Yes, sure, you could break it, please don't though.
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