SHARP J-SH53

Cellular companies often sell you a phone for a ridiculously low price.
Why, because they like your pretty blue eyes? No, it's a business decision;
and they recoup their investment by making you pay inflated rates for a
long period (one year, two years).

Now, if you could drop the service and go across the street to the Last
National Bank and Cellular Company, they'd lose your business. This 'churn'
is identified as the single largest concern of investors in cellular
companies, so to keep the stockholders off their back, your cellular
company locks you into their service.

That 'free' or 'cheap' phone is programmed not to be reprogrammable, to
keep you from changing to another cellular company (except on roaming,
where there's enough overcharge floating around for everyone). This is a
'subsidy lock', and it can be erased with a 'unlock' code.

Verizon does not lock their phones, relying on their (relative) competence
to keep you happy. They must be doing something right, as they have lower
churn than many others.

North American GSM (only, AFAIK) carriers (not including ATTWS) have a
Gentleperson's Agreement that they will issue the unlock code on request
after six months. However, this is _not_ binding, and you _cannot_ rely on
it.

Any questions from the studio audience at home?

On Wed, 23 Jul 2003 10:51:39 -0700, Bill Fischer
<billfischermd@netscape.net> wrote:

>I don't understand. What is the difference between a locked and an
>unlocked cell phone?

>John Bartley K7AAY (ex-KGH2126) wrote:
>
>
>> However, most carriers who sell phones at subsidized prices sell it locked,
>> and only after the end of the contract can you get them, maybe, to unlock
>> it.
>

--
Nobody but a fool goes into a federal counterrorism operation without duct tape - Richard Preston, THE COBRA EVENT.