You could get a €2000 euro phone for €500, pay that up front, and walk to the local guy with a serial cable who unlocked your phone for €20.
A world in which telecoms can’t use SIM locking to offer financing on ultra-expensive phones to people who would otherwise be bad credit risks sounds like an improvement to me. Most people who can’t pay cash for a 2000€ phone are better off not buying one at all.
people like this make phone deals worse for the rest of us.
Verizon can get exactly the same amount out of most customers by either:
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.
That is a separate issue. This is a lock to prevent use with other service providers,
I think the common theme is dissatisfaction with the status quo.
Estimates are that 6-12% of Sanders primary voters voted for Trump in 2016. The specific ideology of the candidates was likely less important than the promise to dismantle the establishment.
I’m still of the belief that 2024, Biden beats Trump.
I don’t think so. In each case, there was significant dissatisfaction with the losing candidate prior to the election.
As I understand it, the practice remains common in the USA. Verizon, the carrier in the article agreed to limitations, but other carriers routinely finance phones and lock them until they’re paid off.