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Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

I don't think people realize that the US is the only market in the world where phones are carrier locked, and in fact the only market where carriers have so much power over the features and overall experience of your phone. Mobile carriers dictate that a phone has to be sold with a locked bootloader. They decide if/when the phone should get OS updates. They are the ones who fill the phone with bloatware. Up until a few years ago the phone had a more prominent logo of the cell carrier than the company that actually made it.

US carriers have used their government-granted monopolies to influence the market wayy beyond phone calls and data plans, and it's about time it should end.

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Keep in mind that in Europe, some phones are still under carrier control, despite not technically being locked.

You can resell the phone and use it with any carrier you wish, but as soon as the original owner stops paying the bill, the phone becomes remote-locked and turns into a brick.

Samsung's Knox can do this, not sure which other brands also have that option.

Which is still significantly better than the system in the US. Most people make all their payments in time like they are supposed to, but are still affected by carrier locks. For example if I want to travel abroad and buy a local SIM for cheaper data, I'm out of luck, because AT&T won't let me use my phone. So I have to use their ultra expensive roaming plan or buy a secondary phone just for those few days.

This sounds like the prior owner is financing the phone, not purchasing it outright.

I've never seen this in practice in the EU, so it can't be common at least.

They used to be SIM and/or carrier locked here in west Europe, until if I remember correctly 10-15 years ago

Phones only started being unlocked in Canada starting in 2017, so the US isn’t so unique. Though Canada carriers are probably not the standard to hold yourself to.

2017 is quite a long time ago, especially in terms of how long smartphones have been around (and arguably even in terms of how long cell phones have been mainstream).

The US is way behind here.

In terms of changing laws and regulations? No, not really.

> I don't think people realize that the US is the only market in the world where phones are carrier locked

Probably because that's not true.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_lock

> They decide if/when the phone should get OS updates.

That's an Android issue. iPhones have no such issue.

Do other countries get subsidised phones with a phone plan?

Yeah I'll take a big ass logo on the start screen for a free phone.

Yes

In Canada, phone locking has been banned since 2017, with free unlocking being available to phones purchased before that. You can still get cheaper/free phones with your plan, but it won't be locked to that carrier, that would be silly. It's over a contract of some defined length, and you're bound by the contract to pay for whatever value's left of the phone if you cancel. If you paid for that phone by being subscribed to your carrier for that length of time (say, 2 years), why wouldn't you be able to take that phone elsewhere? You've already paid for it, it's yours.

There's also been a trend (I don't know whether it's legislated or not) for phones to be explicitly $X/mo for 24 months (though that still ends up being far below retail, and is sometimes $0), instead of burying that in the plan costs. We still have plenty of problems with ridiculous plan pricing and data limitations, but those have gotten better, and were still bad before carrier locking went away.

Hey now, there’s only so much data to go around. They have to charge really high prices for it. And of course it’s limited by month-use because that’s necessary. Canada needs some damn changes.

If you run the numbers the subsidy offered by US carriers always ends up costing you more than just buying a new phone for full price with a cheaper plan.

Your "free" iPhone isn't free if it involves (1) giving them your current one which is worth $500+ in a private sale and (2) signing up for a 3 year contract at $100+ a month.

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