Having a carrier unlock your phone unfortunately can still be considered a pain in the neck as you have to give a million reasons as to why you need your device unlocked, and even still, they may not want to do it anyways. But the FCC has demanded carriers must voluntarily agree on what rights their consumers have when it comes to unlocking their mobile devices, if not, then they’ll be forced to rule on a policy and enforce it across all U.S. carriers.
The issue seems to stem from devices carriers sell to their customers for a subsidized price or free, with the usual agreement to a long-term contract. When carriers offer these mobile devices to their customers, they typically lock them to their specific service, and that’s what the FCC wants to attempt to stop from happening.
The FCC has been working with wireless trade group CTIA to attempt to come up with policies that would address the issues they’re having with the ways U.S. carriers handle subsidized devices sold on their network. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is urging the industry to adopt new unlocking phone policies prior to the start of the holiday shopping season, which he hopes carriers will notify their customers when exactly they can rightfully unlock their phones.
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