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[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 23 points 3 hours ago

Missing in this thread, courts are not known for their technological literacy. So companies just lie to them. Like, all the time. This isn't meant to withstand consumer scrutiny.

[-] reksas@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 hours ago

isnt lying to court felony?

[-] Chewget@lemm.ee 13 points 2 hours ago

For poor people, maybe

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 7 points 2 hours ago

Yeah but you have to get caught lying. And the courts aren't very literate with tech and economic stuff. You'd basically need to create a memo that says, "lol we lied!"

[-] reksas@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 hour ago

someone should try to inform relevant courts about technical things, no idea how but those corporations shouldnt be allowed to get away with crime

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

You'd be interested in groups like the EFF and Amicus briefs.

[-] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

“T-Mobile claims that with a 60-day unlocking rule, "consumers risk losing access to the benefits of free or heavily subsidized handsets because the proposal would force providers to reduce the line-up of their most compelling handset offers."

I’m I stupid or are they threatening to arbitrarily raise prices for no reason other than spite?

Also wtf is a “handset”?

[-] Seasoned_Greetings@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)
  1. "Handset" is obfuscating legalese to refer to a cell phone in a way intending to distance the meaning of the word from the thing that the old and technologically illiterate people who rule on this use every day.

  2. I'm no fan of their strategy, but cell phone providers have claimed for a long time that filling your phone with unremovable bloatware causes the overall price to decrease. They're argument is most likely that they will have to charge more once the propagators of that bloatware realize that they can no longer force it on people and wedge that as a reason to pay less to carriers.

  3. The reality is that cell phones are priced based on what people will buy anyway and carriers pocket is much of the money as they can that third parties pay them for their bloatware. Ultimately because of that this ruling hurts their bottom line, but the above reasoning gives plausible deniability in the face of the law as it is interpreted by old technologically illiterate lawmakers

[-] dessimbelackis@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago
[-] MehBlah@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago
[-] redwattlebird 8 points 3 hours ago
[-] Kbobabob@lemmy.world 2 points 36 minutes ago

Damnit! I was trying to find bliss!

[-] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago
[-] Uriel_Copy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

France is bacon

[-] muculent@lemmy.world 24 points 9 hours ago

Near monopolies say monopolistic behavior is good for you and does not only benefit them. More bullshit at 11.

[-] Eiri@lemmy.ca 23 points 12 hours ago

What year is it? Locked devices have been illegal in Quebec for, like, ever.

[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 12 points 11 hours ago

That's such bullshit. Locked phones are like google accounts. At the end of the 2 years of owning it supposedly, you end up with all this shit you accumulated and no way to save it anywhere practically.

[-] secret300@lemmy.sdf.org 38 points 14 hours ago

Locked phones should just be straight up illegal. It creates so much e-waste and is utterly ridiculous

[-] stratoscaster@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago

Why does that even matter? Currently, if you have a locked phone and switch carriers, you have to buy an entirely new phone anyways.

At least this way, a user can pay once, and then hop around carriers depending on what's cheap.

Also there's no shot that locking users to phones costs that much because the unlocked version of a phone is only like 15-20% more expensive. Since when did you ever get a 70% discount on the MSRP of a phone for buying it locked??? They're straight ass lying lmao

[-] Pacattack57@lemmy.world 0 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

That’s the problem. You have to buy a brand new phone because your phone is locked. With this law if you bought your phone outright you could switch carriers within 2 months if you found a better deal and still keep your phone. Can’t currently do that in the US.

And the whole locking cost is made up. It’s simple to make a phone “unlocked”. The cost in inflated on purpose to create a need so they can offer locked at a discount.

[-] littletranspunk@lemmus.org 50 points 19 hours ago

For my past 3 phones I just bought straight from the manufacturer.

I recommend it and hope phone unlocking gets pushed through despite their whining

[-] Aceticon@lemmy.world 7 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

I've done this almost from the very beginning (back in the 90s) and always had very small mobile communications costs because I could easilly change providers and plans and even do things like use a local SIM card whilst abroad to avoid roaming costs.

[-] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 6 points 16 hours ago

I haven't financed a phone since 2008. I copped a fee for ending a 24 month contract a day early.

I just buy a cheap outright handset, flash a community ROM and avoid everything my telco offers past a $20 basic service. Handsets with community support go for years past what the manufacturers support.

[-] eleitl@lemm.ee 7 points 14 hours ago

I install alternative firmware, so no sale for you.

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 15 points 12 hours ago

This is talking about carrier locked phones, not locked bootloaders.

[-] herrvogel@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

How does that work? Based on imei perhaps? Does spoofing that not do the trick?

[-] n2burns@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

Carrier lock is on the phone, not the network. You need to enter a code to disable it. There are 3rd party services that you give your IMEI and pay, and they have a way of finding the code. I'm not certain on the details.

[-] empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 80 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"Narcissistic domestic abuser claims the exit doors that are locked from both sides are just for the protection of their spouse and its in their best interest to be secure"

[-] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 145 points 1 day ago

"Taking away peoples freedom is whats best for users! It's the American way!"

So the story is 'if they have to be unlocked, we can't offer discounts on the phones'.

Okay fine but uh, the last time I used a post-paid subsidized phone, I signed a contract. That stipulated how much I'd pay for however many months, and what the early cancellation fee was, as well as what the required buy-out for the phone was if I left early.

In what way is that insufficient to ensure that a customer spends the money to justify the subsidy?

[-] Anivia@feddit.org 7 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Bonus points: In Germany all phones come unlocked, regardless if you get them with a contract or not, and we still get much better discounts on the phones than in America.

Often times the total cost of the 24 month contract ends up being cheaper than buying the phone without a contract, so you essentially end up with a free phone plan

[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 1 points 2 hours ago

So, what does it take to emigrate to Germany? Asking for a friend...

[-] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Money and lawyers

[-] Hegar@fedia.io 65 points 1 day ago

It's just a lie. I don't think it's meant to hold up to scrutiny, it's just meant to be repeated.

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[-] DaddleDew@lemmy.world 46 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Is there a technical term for when a company or corporation makes a statement that is a blatant bad faith argument like that?

If none exists, I'd call it "Corporate massturbation". Because they're trying to jerk everyone off.

Edit Here's another one: "Corporate Anal Ostriching." Because they're shoving their heads up their own asses

[-] Maggoty@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago
[-] Cryophilia@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago

It's always the same argument. "This objectively bad thing for consumers is actually good for consumers because it allows us to offer a lower price!"

No, dipshits, you are choosing to make your product shittier than necessary and charging customers to undo your shittery. That's not some external thing, it's something that you chose.

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[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 35 points 23 hours ago

Locked phones are what led me into the rabbit hole of purchasing phones from manufacturer, since the carriers not only lock phones but hobble the OS.

It did mean understanding what was necessary for a phone to qualify for given carriers, but I can tech when I need to, and I tech for my friends when they need it.

In 2024, T Mobile and AT&T (and Verizon) have all demonstrated they do not engage in good faith commerce, and so right now they're being sniveling little shits (quote me please) because the FCC and DoC are escaping regulatory capture.

That is to say, the end users are tired of their shit. Apple and Google, too.

[-] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 6 points 18 hours ago

"Rabbit hole"? Isn't it as easy as just not going to a carrier's store for it?

We always bought from generic tech stores, almost always big chain ones - never got a carrier-locked device. Is it different in the US?

[-] uriel238@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 hour ago

If you get phones from the manufacturer they're not labeled compatible with AT&T so much as that they have access to specific radio ranges and are controlled either by soft-stored codes or by a SIM card, and I'd buy the sim card from the service, and then stick it in my phone. The Sony I had for a while was compatible with both the T-Mobile and AT&T ranges, and I used a third party service that was an el-cheapo front for T-Mobile.

T-Mobile wanted me to pay extra for hot-spot use, but I got around that with software, which is like hacking the subscription seat warmers on your BMW.

Curiously, Apple phones will lock themselves (or did for a while... is it better now?) based on what service you initially connected them to, and you have to (had to, I hope) get their permission and pay fees to unlock it again.

The telecommunication companies are an oligopoly, so like a legal cartel, so they pull a lot of bullshit that we end users have to suffer. But it means I feel not a jot of guilt when I hack the hell out of it to extract services I didn't pay for, since it's all a grift anyway.

[-] Chris_Saturn@lemmy.world 3 points 14 hours ago

A lot of the big tech stores here in the US have separate counters for each of the major mobile carriers, and sell devices that are locked into those contracts. You can sometimes get unlocked phones from big tech stores, but most of what they carry is locked to a carrier.

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[-] bdonvr@thelemmy.club 12 points 20 hours ago

Meanwhile Verizon has already been unlocking after 6 months

[-] CileTheSane@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 hours ago

Meanwhile in Canada it is illegal to sell locked phones, and if someone comes into possession of a locked phone (say from before it was made illegal) they can contact the carrier and the carrier must unlock it free of charge.

[-] scottmeme@sh.itjust.works 33 points 1 day ago

Never buy a phone from your carrier, they will do some evil shit to try and force you to stay

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[-] lnxtx@feddit.nl 24 points 1 day ago

If they are good, why then the Europe ended that practice nearly 2 decades ago?

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this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2024
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