When Mobile Phones Aren’t Truly Mobile
New York Times - July 22, 2007
Digital Domain
When Mobile Phones Aren’t Truly Mobile
By RANDALL STROSS
WIRELESS carriers in the United States are spiritual descendants of dear Ma Bell: they view total control over customers as their inherited birthright.
The younger generation — Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and the namesake child AT&T — would make their hallowed matriarch proud. They do everything they can to keep power firmly in their own hands. It is entirely at the carriers’ discretion to permit, or disable, the features that a factory loads into the newest phones. They also decide which software can be installed and how it may be used. Many wireless subscribers have ruefully become acquainted with gotcha clau...
(continues)
Digital Domain
When Mobile Phones Aren’t Truly Mobile
By RANDALL STROSS
WIRELESS carriers in the United States are spiritual descendants of dear Ma Bell: they view total control over customers as their inherited birthright.
The younger generation — Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and the namesake child AT&T — would make their hallowed matriarch proud. They do everything they can to keep power firmly in their own hands. It is entirely at the carriers’ discretion to permit, or disable, the features that a factory loads into the newest phones. They also decide which software can be installed and how it may be used. Many wireless subscribers have ruefully become acquainted with gotcha clau...
(continues)
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This whole 'phone locking thing' doesn't apply to AT&T as much as to other carriers. Anyone on AT&T can easily buy a phone unlocked and use it with any of the other GSM carriers...
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What this article fails to point out is the consumers hesitancy to purchase equipment at the "non subsidized" pricing. AT&T sells all its equipment at a "no commitment" pricing, and if you purchase a device at that pricing, AT&T will provide the unlock code so that you can use it on whoever's network you want. But how many people actually take advantage of it?
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