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Comment by mzajc | Hacker News Reader

> What happens if I cancel my subscription?

> You can cancel at any time. Without an active subscription, certain core services and privacy features will be limited. To keep your MC03 fully functional, secure, and up to date, an active subscription is required.

Out of curiosity (I'm definitely NOT going to buy a Phone-as-a-Service), what exactly happens when you cancel your subscription? Does the smartphone brick itself? Does it let you flash a sane operating system that doesn't treat you as a cash cow?

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> what exactly happens when you cancel your subscription?

I have the previous model, the MC02. I reviewed it here:

https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/05/mc02_swiss_private_ph...

The sub is for the email account. Cancel the sub, that email stops working. You can still use any other email account and client you wish.

This may no longer be the case -- but that's what I'd expect.

Most people seem to be subscribing to a cell phone already. Not us techies, but most normies seem to have expensive phones on three year ”plans” while locked to an expensive network.

Financing a phone is dumb for most people imo, but at least it has an explicit end where you own the phone outright.

This phone requires a subscription in perpetuity, on top of the full purchase price.

The last couple times I got a new phone the price of the phone + plan without financing for 2 years was greater then plan with 2 years of financing. So yeah, I got the financing.

This was in Canada however.

Yeah I'd never do that. I just buy it outright.

I don't have a cell phone subscription either. I use prepaid which actually is cheaper.

Sometimes prepaid is a bit more expensive because you're paying for 28 days and not a month. You basically have 13 cycles per year instead of 12 (28*13 = 364 days)

I suspect the OP means prepaying for the year. AT&T is like $25/mo for 5GB data + unlimited everything else if you pay upfront for the whole year ($300). Prepaid MVNO plans are even cheaper.

No that's not what I mean. And I'm not in the US. A €20 prepaid data bundle here on orange is much larger than a €20 contract. And the prepay has built in overcharge protection.

Financing is not a subscription.

This has been made illegal years ago in Europe.

Legal in the EU but the consumer has to be notified about it.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/PETI-CM-580731...

Network locks are not illegal AFAIK, but consumers can request an unlock.

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