Comment on Verizon refused to unlock man’s iPhone, so he sued the carrier and won

Armand1@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• kuneho@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  I remember when carriers not just locked the phones, they also had custom firmwares filled with bloat and customized skins and even locking down features and all that shit. For example, I had a Sony Ericsson K700i and it had a disgustingly customized FW on it, and aside that it was ugly, I could only play MP3 files that I purchased through Vodafone. Sending them via bluetooth (or even with IR) didn’t work, the phone refused to play it back.

  (Then of course I found out that Sony Ericssons were pretty moddable phones so I replaced the FW with an original one and that solved all my problems. Using VKP patches were just

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  • dogdeanafternoon@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    One of the best things about iPhone, carriers can’t touch shit on the OS.

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    • ayyy@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Except disabling WiFi hotspot/connection sharing.

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  • CentipedeFarrier@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    They still lock down features, as of like maybe 5 yrs ago. Idk about today specifically but I wouldn’t doubt it, if only because most people don’t realize that it’s locking something the OS can do by default.

    For example, if you have a major brand phone with OEM OS, on a plan in which you pay separately for the WiFi hotspot feature, even though it’s built into your operating system, hotspot is locked and you can’t access it.

    This is even true if you buy your own device, I discovered, and was very very very angry about. Enough that I switched providers, because fuck that nonsense.

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  • glimse@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    I loved firmware modding on pre-smart phones! My first eBay purchase ever (with the help of my parents) was a USB cable for the ridiculously large port on my flip phone. I blew my friends’ minds with my custom text on the front panel

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• CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  When I left my company, I had to get a new phone. When I talked to the rep, the phone cost was essentially free with a contract.

  The offer was that Verizon would pay for the phone over the course of three years.

  So it’s not financing so much as it was free with a contract. When I asked why this was, he said that it was due to how the market was. Everyone has a phone at this point so now cell service provides have to compete to keep people. So they are willing to pay for your phone so long as you are locked in with them.

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  • tja@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    But the contract is more expensive than without phone? Or is it the same?

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    • CosmicTurtle0@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      It was the exact same. the math of this is that verizon makes enough money on the contract that they can pay for a phone within your 3 year contract.

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• bdonvr@thelemmy.club ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Sometimes you can get a really good trade in deal. Just pay it off immediately and it will be unlocked, then you’ll usually get bill credits for 2 years. You’ll have to stay with that carrier for 2 years if you want the full discount but every month is you saving off of the full retail price, so as long as you plan to stay a few months anyway you’re still saving.

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• CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Because a locked loader only really affects an absurdly small percentage of people.

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  • Zak@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    That is a separate issue. This is a lock to prevent use with other service providers,

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    • CallMeAnAI@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      Which people don’t care about. They were getting a new phone when they switched.

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      • Zak@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        People… don’t care about being able to switch phone carriers while keeping their phone? I think you’re quite mistaken.

        Even if few people actually do that, they certainly care about the effect of the resulting competitive pressure on the market.

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