The US Congress/Copyright Office has ruled that cell phones should be able to be unlocked by the owner of the phone. So that means no more cell phones locked to a specific carrier. That should make things a bit more interesting now. Here is a portion of the article from the Register:
"The US copyright office will permit mobile phone subscribers to unlock their phones, allowing them to be used by rival network providers. It's a right that's taken for granted in most of the GSM world, where there's little operators can do to stop it. But US carriers, being the enlightened souls that they are (lowest form of wit - ed.) used fear created by the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act to prevent unlocking. The DMCA outlawed the circumvention of technological protection measures on copyright works - with few exemptions. It promised to permit the US Congress' copyright office to review these exemptions from time to time."
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2 comments:
For not-technical people, this could be a nasty trap. There are different ways to transmit cellular signals, so one carrier's network may not work with another's. For example, you cannot make a phone designed for Sprint work on Verizon's system.
So just be sure that when this is all sorted out and you can unlock your phone that you move your phone to a carrier with a compatible system (CDMA, GSM, etc.). Same with phones you buy on ebay.
That's a great point and it really is important to make sure your expensive phone will be able to jump networks. Personally, I prefer GSM phones as they work worldwide and I never know where I might find myself on a missions trip or whatever.
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