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Can you imagine a world where you could only use a specific phone model with a specific operator? or where you could only send text messages to people that is o
by nickez 6y ago
Can you imagine a world where you could only use a specific phone model with a specific operator? or where you could only send text messages to people that is on the same network? If we can regulate phones we should be able to regulate social networks.
- lultimouomo 6y agoWhen the iPhone originally came out in the US it was locked together with a 2 year contract with AT&T.
- karatinversion 6y ago(Deleted my identical but less detailed comment) Then again, this was never the case in the EU, where bundling handsets with a GSM subscription was banned. But yes, we don’t have to imagine - and the change certainly didn’t come out of the goodness of the carrier’s hearts!
- progval 6y ago> this was never the case in the EU, where bundling handsets with a GSM subscription was banned. It is not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_lock#European_Union https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_lock#European_Union Last time I was looking for a phone (~8 years ago), in France, I had to check which ones were simlocked.
- Too 6y agoUsually you had he option at least. Either fork up full price for unlocked phone, or take the subsidized monthly rental of phone with a locked SIM. And while the second option does lock you into one operator for 12-24 months you still had the choice of which operator to tie yourself to, I don't think I ever saw a phone model only available on single provider. Finally no matter which operator you chose you can still call people from other operators, even if they initially tried very hard to make this less pleasurable by allowing free texts and minutes within the operator.
- karatinversion 6y agoHuh, I lived in two EU countries so thought it was Union law, but turned out the national law in the two just coincided!
- grishka 6y agoAnd it took how long for people to figure out how to unlock it?
- nemothekid 6y agoNo amount of unlocking would have enabled you to use your iPhone in the second largest operator in the US; Verizon
- grishka 6y agoAh. Right. I always forget that the US is about the only country in the world where there still are widely used CDMA networks.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]