FCC wants telcos to carrier unlock cellphones 60 days after activation
(2024/06/27)
- Reference: 1719519313
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/06/27/fcc_carrier_unlock_proposal/
- Source link:
Long-term carrier lock-in could soon be a thing of the past in America after the FCC proposed requiring telcos to unlock cellphones from their networks 60 days after activation.
FCC boss Jessica Rosenworcel put out that [1]proposal on Thursday, saying it would encourage competition between carriers. If subscribers could simply walk off to another telco with their handsets after two months of use, networks would have to do a lot more competing, the FCC reasons.
"When you buy a phone, you should have the freedom to decide when to change service to the carrier you want and not have the device you own stuck by practices that prevent you from making that choice," Rosenworcel said.
[2]
Carrier-locked devices contain [3]software mechanisms that prevent them from being used on other providers' networks. The practice has long been criticized for being anti-consumer.
[4]
[5]
Locked phones can't be used with another carrier without authorization (or somehow bypassing those mechanisms) which is typically baked into the contract. Device unlocking is not designed to be an easy process, either, with most carriers likely hoping a customer would simply sign a fresh contract than leave for someone else.
[6]NIST dreams of cellular networks free from 5G vendor lock in, supply chain pain
[7]AT&T wants Big Tech to help fund US internet access
[8]It's official: You can now legally carrier-unlock your mobile in the US
[9]FCC slaps Verizon with $1M fine for dropping 911 calls, again
There are supposed to be rules on the books in the US that make device unlocking easier, but nonprofit advocacy group Public Knowledge believes they're ineffective. In 2022 the group [10]asked watchdogs to investigate carrier unlock programs to ensure they were fair.
One imagines there will be carrier push-back to that 60-day requirement, and the FCC is opening a public comment period following a vote on the matter at its July 18 open meeting. The regulator said it not only wants people's comments on its two-month unlock plan, but said it also wanted feedback on various ways the change could impact carriers.
The commission will ask industry for its take on whether the 60-day unlock requirement should be applied retroactively to existing contracts, as well as how an unlock requirement could hit "service providers' incentives to offer discounted phones for postpaid and prepaid service plans." The FCC also wants to know how an unlocking requirement could benefit smaller providers, new carriers, and resellers by expanding the secondary market.
[11]
Contrary to expectations, not every carrier is entirely opposed to the FCC's handset unlocking idea.
"Verizon agrees that the FCC should consider the merits and trade-offs of handset unlocking requirements," Verizon spokesperson Rich Young told The Register , though that support is conditional.
"The goal should be reaching an industry-wide solution to this issue rather than continue with an increasingly fragmented and unbalanced approach to regulation," Young added.
[12]
We also reached out to the FCC, AT&T, and T-Mobile US for further comment. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-chairwoman-proposes-mobile-phone-unlocking-requirement
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://android.stackexchange.com/a/217365
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/26/nist_5g_open_ran/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/att_wants_big_tech_network_fund/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2014/08/02/unlock_your_mobile_phone/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/fcc_verizon_911_fine/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/fcc_phone_locking_public_knowledge/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
FCC boss Jessica Rosenworcel put out that [1]proposal on Thursday, saying it would encourage competition between carriers. If subscribers could simply walk off to another telco with their handsets after two months of use, networks would have to do a lot more competing, the FCC reasons.
"When you buy a phone, you should have the freedom to decide when to change service to the carrier you want and not have the device you own stuck by practices that prevent you from making that choice," Rosenworcel said.
[2]
Carrier-locked devices contain [3]software mechanisms that prevent them from being used on other providers' networks. The practice has long been criticized for being anti-consumer.
[4]
[5]
Locked phones can't be used with another carrier without authorization (or somehow bypassing those mechanisms) which is typically baked into the contract. Device unlocking is not designed to be an easy process, either, with most carriers likely hoping a customer would simply sign a fresh contract than leave for someone else.
[6]NIST dreams of cellular networks free from 5G vendor lock in, supply chain pain
[7]AT&T wants Big Tech to help fund US internet access
[8]It's official: You can now legally carrier-unlock your mobile in the US
[9]FCC slaps Verizon with $1M fine for dropping 911 calls, again
There are supposed to be rules on the books in the US that make device unlocking easier, but nonprofit advocacy group Public Knowledge believes they're ineffective. In 2022 the group [10]asked watchdogs to investigate carrier unlock programs to ensure they were fair.
One imagines there will be carrier push-back to that 60-day requirement, and the FCC is opening a public comment period following a vote on the matter at its July 18 open meeting. The regulator said it not only wants people's comments on its two-month unlock plan, but said it also wanted feedback on various ways the change could impact carriers.
The commission will ask industry for its take on whether the 60-day unlock requirement should be applied retroactively to existing contracts, as well as how an unlock requirement could hit "service providers' incentives to offer discounted phones for postpaid and prepaid service plans." The FCC also wants to know how an unlocking requirement could benefit smaller providers, new carriers, and resellers by expanding the secondary market.
[11]
Contrary to expectations, not every carrier is entirely opposed to the FCC's handset unlocking idea.
"Verizon agrees that the FCC should consider the merits and trade-offs of handset unlocking requirements," Verizon spokesperson Rich Young told The Register , though that support is conditional.
"The goal should be reaching an industry-wide solution to this issue rather than continue with an increasingly fragmented and unbalanced approach to regulation," Young added.
[12]
We also reached out to the FCC, AT&T, and T-Mobile US for further comment. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-chairwoman-proposes-mobile-phone-unlocking-requirement
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://android.stackexchange.com/a/217365
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/01/26/nist_5g_open_ran/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/att_wants_big_tech_network_fund/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2014/08/02/unlock_your_mobile_phone/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/26/fcc_verizon_911_fine/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/fcc_phone_locking_public_knowledge/
[11] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Zn3hAGv2ul8JL6rPS@812QAAAdI&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Never quite that simple
Snake
60 days after you sign the contract or 60 days after you pay for the phone? . They are not the same, most people have the cost of the phone purchase amortized into the month payments of the contract. I am sure no telco will enable you to leave the contract by unlocking your phone after 60 days of signing; fully expect corrected language on that, saying '60 days after full payment of the cost of the phone'.
Also, not every phone here in America has every frequency band for every telco as standard equipment. To truly enable phone movement across carriers this would need to be addressed with standardized, full-coverage devices.
It might be that simple
diodesign
As it's 60 days after _activation_. When the phone connects to its cellular network for the first time. Whether carriers would be OK with that is another matter, but right now, it's from activation.
The proposed rule, according to the FCC, is specifically "requiring all mobile wireless service providers to unlock mobile phones 60 days after the device is activated with the provider."
C.
Re: Never quite that simple
DS999
I imagine that carriers would be less likely to offer those installment type purchases if they had to unlock them after 60 days.
Stoic Skeptic
No more subsidized handsets.
Ban the locks entirely.
With all the fees and contracts, they don't need the carrier locks to keep their customers prisoner. Though, even after unlocking, the nonremoveable carrier bloatware make them practically useless on other carriers anyway, likely by design.