Free the Cell Phone! (Wired)
Posted Sep 29, 2005 9:47 UTC (Thu) by
climent (subscriber, #7232)
Parent article:
Free the Cell Phone! (Wired)
In many countries phones are locked as part of the purchasing contract, so
that the terminal is bought for a price that otherwise would be impossible
to get (read 10/50 EUR for a terminal that otherwise would be 200 EUR).
This is a common practice for operators wanting to temporarely lock
customers in their network, hoping that they will obtain a benefit from
the bills, thus regaining the discount they applied to the terminal.
As being part of the contract (IANAL), breaking the lock would seem to be
a breach of contract, and the operator could request the terminal to be
handed back to them. Of course, the time a phone is locked is (or should
be) limited, and after a certain period the user can (or should be able
to) unlock the phone at no (or little) cost.
However, not being the only alternative, seems to be a legal practice (as
long as the country laws do not state otherwise, as is the case of, at
least, Finland, where a service cannot be linked to a service provider).
One can buy an unlocked phone and make a contract with an operator without
having to purchase a terminal.
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