The new chairman of the FCC, Tom Wheeler, has just announced to wireless companies that they are to pass rules that allow people to be able to unlock their phones, allowing them to change carriers. These rules, Wheeler says, are to be put in place by December.
The issue in question, “unlocking”, was in the news back in January thanks to a law that made it illegal for you to unlock your phone and bring it to another carrier, even if you paid all the fees associated with unlocking your device. Currently, unlocking your device requires you to hack it – a move that could send you to jail for up to 5 years.
The FCC is pushing for phone carriers to be required to follow 5 rules:
- Consumers must know about unlocking their phone from the start.
- Consumers should be able to own their unlocked device after paying off their contract.
- Consumers must be made aware that their devices can be unlocked at no cost.
- Carriers must unlock a phone within two business days, or tell consumers why their device cannot be unlocked in that time.
- Carriers must unlock phones for people in the military when they are deployed.
Such rules would make a big change to the way phone carriers currently work, but the aforementioned law will still need to be changed. One advocate of the new rules, Sina Khanifer, who founded an organization called Fix The DCMA, says that consumers should be able to unlock their phones without the need for carrier cooperation. One bill is currently in Congress that could help with that, called the “Unlocking Technology Act”. Khanifer says that he hopes people will contact their representatives to let them know of their support for the bill.
Source: Business Insider
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