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i think the whole lock thing is weired - cell phone should be available as any other consumer items at walmart, circuit city etc. You just go to these stores, p

i think the whole lock thing is weired - cell phone should be available as any other consumer items at walmart, circuit city etc. You just go to these stores, pickup the phone and hook it up with any service provider of your choice, same as what we do with our TV, Internet etc.

xirium 18y ago
Locked telephones have set a bad precedent and some broadband ISPs are attempting to do the same thing with routers. In the UK, Sky, part of NewsCorp, supplies a badged NetGear DG834G or suchlike with patched firmware. However, it isn't obvious how to change the settings - or change the account details to make it work with other ADSL ISPs. It doesn't have default NetGear username/password of admin/password and uses admin/sky instead. Thankfully, the GPL2 source is available. However, I'm very concerned that in the future ISPs could offer enhanced or exclusive access through routers which are not trivial lock down or patch and which would be incompatible with other ISPs.
mdasen 18y ago
That would be great! Are you willing to pay an extra $150-300 for your cell phone? The problem is that it would cost more. In fact, you can already just buy a phone (unlocked) at many online places. The reason it isn't popular is because it costs significantly more - to the extent that even most geeks go with the cheap, locked stuff. Now, would it make the monthly plans cheaper? Probably, but not by as much as the additional money you'd spend on the phone. Why? Adding a customer, even if they bring their own equipment, costs money. Billing needs to be set up, often it takes time from a rep, new customers have a ton more questions, etc. So, if you'd be willing to pay an extra $50-100 (and convince 60% of other people that's a better way too), then the industry might change. Until then, we're stuck, but we have cheaper prices.
- elai 18y ago
  If they didn't add so much nickle and diming bullshit, I bet their customer service costs would go waaaayyy down. Most of the cell phone confusion from the large amount of confusing restrictions and nickle and diming.
- dejb 18y ago
  So I guess this argument would extend to other industries as well. You could buy a cheaper computer that was locked in to a particular ISP or a car that was locked into a particular fuel supply. Or perhaps a TV that only connected to a particular cable supplier. All these year of inefficiently allowing consumers to freely match their products and suppliers! What have we been thinking.
- jauco 18y ago
  Now, would it make the monthly plans cheaper? Probably, but not by as much as the additional money you'd spend on the phone. In the netherlands you can get a monthly plan for 50% of the original price if choose to go "sim-only" i.e. without a new phone. Depending on the amount of minutes you buy and the phone you'd want this can be significantly cheaper.
jgrahamc 18y ago
Here in France we have a law that makes that happen. If you sell a product in France you can't be forced to by a service at the same time. It's one of the consumer protection laws, and for the cell phone people it means that all phones are available for direct purchase.
signa11 18y ago
in india that's exactly how it works.

xirium 18y ago

Locked telephones have set a bad precedent and some broadband ISPs are attempting to do the same thing with routers. In the UK, Sky, part of NewsCorp, supplies a badged NetGear DG834G or suchlike with patched firmware. However, it isn't obvious how to change the settings - or change the account details to make it work with other ADSL ISPs. It doesn't have default NetGear username/password of admin/password and uses admin/sky instead. Thankfully, the GPL2 source is available. However, I'm very concerned that in the future ISPs could offer enhanced or exclusive access through routers which are not trivial lock down or patch and which would be incompatible with other ISPs.

mdasen 18y ago

That would be great! Are you willing to pay an extra $150-300 for your cell phone? The problem is that it would cost more. In fact, you can already just buy a phone (unlocked) at many online places. The reason it isn't popular is because it costs significantly more - to the extent that even most geeks go with the cheap, locked stuff. Now, would it make the monthly plans cheaper? Probably, but not by as much as the additional money you'd spend on the phone. Why? Adding a customer, even if they bring their own equipment, costs money. Billing needs to be set up, often it takes time from a rep, new customers have a ton more questions, etc. So, if you'd be willing to pay an extra $50-100 (and convince 60% of other people that's a better way too), then the industry might change. Until then, we're stuck, but we have cheaper prices.

elai 18y ago
If they didn't add so much nickle and diming bullshit, I bet their customer service costs would go waaaayyy down. Most of the cell phone confusion from the large amount of confusing restrictions and nickle and diming.
dejb 18y ago
So I guess this argument would extend to other industries as well. You could buy a cheaper computer that was locked in to a particular ISP or a car that was locked into a particular fuel supply. Or perhaps a TV that only connected to a particular cable supplier. All these year of inefficiently allowing consumers to freely match their products and suppliers! What have we been thinking.
jauco 18y ago
Now, would it make the monthly plans cheaper? Probably, but not by as much as the additional money you'd spend on the phone. In the netherlands you can get a monthly plan for 50% of the original price if choose to go "sim-only" i.e. without a new phone. Depending on the amount of minutes you buy and the phone you'd want this can be significantly cheaper.

jgrahamc 18y ago

Here in France we have a law that makes that happen. If you sell a product in France you can't be forced to by a service at the same time. It's one of the consumer protection laws, and for the cell phone people it means that all phones are available for direct purchase.

signa11 18y ago

in india that's exactly how it works.