If you live in the US, you know all about carrier-locked smartphones. The “factory” state of a smartphone is being unlocked, where you can take it to any region of the world, stick a SIM card in it, and get to use it as you need to. It’s nice and easy that way. However, carriers can offer phones and lock them to their networks for many reasons.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US has proposed reducing how much time it takes for carriers to unlock smartphones to a mere 60 days. However, T-Mobile has responded to that intended policy and the carrier certainly doesn’t seem to be a fan.
T-Mobile Doesn’t Want Consumers To Be Able To Unlock Their Phones So Quickly
There are many reasons why you might want to buy a smartphone that’s locked to your choice of carrier. The major reason is because you can get the phone at a large discount. The carrier will give you the phone at a subsidized rate (or even free) as part of a post-paid plan, but your payments will be made each month and added to the phone deal, just like buying anything else on credit.
The FCC wants consumers to be able to use unlocked devices sooner rather than later, so it has proposed that carriers unlock devices after 60 days. At the moment, it is merely a proposal, so no need to panic. However, T-Mobile has responded to the FCC’s intent and the carrier is clearly against this potential policy, claiming that it might prevent its customers from being able to pay for new smartphones in installments.
This New Policy Could Have A Big Negative Impact On Consumers
It might seem that being able to quickly free consumers from the sweaty grasp of their carriers could be nothing but a good thing, but that’s far from the case. Sure, there are a lot of selfish reasons why carriers want to keep your devices locked for longer — it keeps you committed to their network for longer and makes it harder for you to jump ship to one of the competitors.
However, locking your phone is what enables your carrier to provide you with a new smartphone at a major discount. They have the assurance that you can’t run away with the phone that they sold to you at a loss, but being able to unlock a phone after 60 days means you could make a minimum of two payments towards your new device before deciding to have it unlocked and run away.
Think about it: if a carrier knows that you’ll be able to unlock its device 60 days after you get it from them, it loses all leverage. At that point, carriers won’t even offer large discounts on smartphones anymore — you’ll have to start buying them at full price or with just a little shaved off the top. That’s what T-Mobile was referring to when it said it’d affect customer’s ease of payment.
At the end of the day, some customers will win, but if T-Mobile moves the way we expect it to, a lot of customers — particularly low-income consumers — will lose. For instance, T-Mobile is offering a device as high-end as the Motorola Razr+ (2024) for free. That might not be a reality anymore if things change. It’s hard to say it is worth it.
