Starting January 26th, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act disallows mobile phone owners in the U.S. from unlocking their phones. A locked cellphone is restricted to being used on the network belonging to the carrier the phone was purchased from. Unlocking a device may be beneficial to be able to switch when another network offers better terms and services or to avoid insane roaming charges when abroad (by using a local SIM card in the foreign country). But under the new law, mobile phone owners would need to obtain permission from the carrier to avoid penalty or punishment.
What Else You Need To Know
- The new rules only restrict unlocking does not include jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting an Android device.
- Phones sold unlocked by carriers -- such as Verizon's iPhone 5 and the LG/Google Nexus 4 -- are not covered by the law.
- The trade-off for the restrictions is that a locked phone usually costs less upfront cots: Apple, for example, is offering an unlocked iPhone 5 for $649 but major U.S. carriers are offering the latest-generation iPhone at subsidized pricing of just $199 on a two-year contract.
Other sources
Unlocked phones that are sold through carriers will not be affected by this law, so if you want to legally possess an unlocked phone in the U.S. you’ll have to start buying one of these.- Ian Kersey, Into Mobile
Consumers shouldn’t confuse the iPhone 5 unlock with an iPhone 5 jailbreak, which will still be legal after Saturday, even though an iOS 6 jailbreak for the iPad 4 won’t be legal.- Josh Smith, GottaBeMobile
- Mashable
- Unlocking Cellphones Becomes Illegal Saturday
- Fone Arena
- Carrier unlocking to be illegal in the United States starting January 26
- PhoneDog
- New DMCA rule requiring carrier permission for legal phone unlocks to go into effect on Jan. 26
- iPhone Download Blog
- Unlocking a cell phone in the US to become “illegal” this weekend
- BGR
- Unlocking your smartphone will be illegal starting next week
- iPhone Hacks
- Unlocking Cellphones Illegal in the U.S. Starting Saturday
- GottaBeMobile
- iPhone Unlocking Illegal Starting Saturday, Won’t Stop Users
- Phone Arena
- It may become illegal to unlock your phone starting Saturday
- PhoneDog
- Should unlocking your cell phone be illegal?
- Other
- Bringing Your Unlocked Smartphone To T-Mobile Is About To Get A Little Harder
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