The FCC wants to make it significantly easier for consumers to unlock their phones from their carriers, proposing that all devices can be unlocked as soon as 60 days after purchase. How that will mesh with current phone designs and buying trends, however, is something the agency hopes to learn before such a rule goes into effect.
Cell phones purchased from a carrier are generally locked to that carrier until the contract ends or the phone is paid off. However, despite improvements in the process over the years (unlocking was illegal not long ago), it is still not clear to all consumers when and how they can unlock their phone and transfer it to their carrier (or country) their choice.
To be clear, this is not about unlocking your phone using a face, fingerprint or password, but about changing settings in its software to allow it to work with different mobile networks.
FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel announced the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, or NPRM, in a press release Thursday. “When you buy a phone, you should have the freedom to decide when to switch service to the carrier you want and not have your device locked into practices that prevent you from making that choice,” he wrote. “That’s why we’re proposing clear, nationwide mobile phone unlocking rules.”
Specifically, the announcement says, carriers will simply have to provide unlocking services 60 days after activation. A welcome standard, but one that can clash in today’s phone and wireless markets.
For example, although the dreaded two-year contract is no longer imposed on most consumers, many still choose to lock in the price and receive other benefits. And perhaps more to the point, the phones themselves are often paid for in installment plans: You get a phone “for free” and then pay it off over the next few years.
NPRM is the stage of FCC rulemaking where it has a draft rule but has not yet solicited public comment. On July 18, the agency will publish the full document and open comments on the above topics. And you can be sure there will be some screaming from mobile operators!
Without knowing the specifics of the proposed rule, we cannot be sure how it will mesh with these common payment details over time. But unlocking a phone doesn’t absolve someone from having to pay off the device – they can just use it on other networks if they want. And if a carrier lets you buy a phone directly from them, but locks it into bands for six months or a year out of sheer greed, that would offer an early exit.
As Rosenworcel said, the point of the rule is to provide consistency and transparency: a simple, national rule from regulators that sets a reasonable limit on how and if carriers can lock down devices. We’ll know more in July when the full NPRM is published.
