[Follow-Up] Senator Amy Klobuchar Intoduces Bill to Legalize Unlocking Cell Phones

Well you are forgetting one very important factor: a company's IP. Tech companies are only as good as their IP. So this is why the situation is more complicated than simply saying "a consumer can do whatever they want with their device". Again, I see your points, but I also see why the wireless companies are circling the wagons on this stuff. Especially since then consumers also want support even after doing "whatever they want".

Try buying a car, not changing the oil, and then try to get a new engine under the new car warranty. Doesn't work that way. If you want the OEM's support then you have to follow their rules.

 

I very much concur with what you are saying. but the caveat should be that once you've removed that software, unlocked the phone, rooted, etc, then the orig. wireless carrier is under no obligation to support your device.l

 

The carriers may be lobbying on behalf of the OEM's, but I still fail to see how the carriers really benefit from this. They don't make money on phones, but the OEM's certainly see a bump from people needing to buy a new phone when they switch carriers.

Carriers like to lock you up for 2-yrs, but they certainly don't need to tie those contracts to phones. They'll adapt. The locking ban was really an unnecessary law, but there is a [very] limited consumer benefit to lifting the ban for which I'll give a thumbs up.

 

Your post makes no sense. We're talking about people who have fulfilled all obligations on their contract wanting to change companies. It's akin to someone's warranty being up and the dealership telling them that they still have to come there for all future repair work if they want to continue driving their car. It's not causing the OEM issues because people would still be buying devices as needed. The only one it hurts are wireless companies gouging people on prices.

 

Actually you would have to go to a dealership for that OEM for recall work. Which means you couldn't do whatever you wanted to that vehicle, like remove the catalytic converter. It isn't the same but it's similar. As consumers we too often want our cake and eat it too.

 

What recall work? I said repair work, as in from the normal course of use, not from a manufacturer's defect.