FCC calls out T-Mobile for Metro’s new phone unlocking policy
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Yesterday we told you that the FCC is thinking about issuing a new rule that would force carriers and wireless providers to unlock newly purchased phones no longer than 60 days after activation. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said that the FCC and the Department of Justice had previously placed unlocking requirements on wireless firms before as conditions required to get a merger approved. But Rosenworcel stated that despite this, restrictions on consumers unlocking their phones has continued.
The FCC chairwoman had something to say about T-Mobile after noting that some wireless providers have doubled the time consumers need to wait to unlock their phones. Rosenworcel was talking about T-Mobile's pre-paid Metro unit. After all, the FCC's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), a rough draft of which included the FCC's proposed 60-day unlocking rule, pointed out how Metro by T-Mobile recently increased the number of days its consumers must wait to have their phone unlocked from 180 days to 365 days.
"You bought your phone, you should be able to take it to any provider you want. Some providers already operate this way. Others do not. In fact, some have recently increased the time their customers must wait until they can unlock their device by as much as 100 percent."-Jessica Rosenworcel, FCC Chairwoman
Metro's unlocking rules do satisfy a deal made by T-Mobile and the FCC that was struck to get the regulatory agency to sign off on T-Mobile's acquisition of Sprint. Under that agreement, T-Mobile's prepaid subscribers had to be allowed to unlock their phones no longer than one year after activation. Metro's jump from 180 days to 365 days merely puts the T-Mobile unit in line with T-Mobile's own prepaid unlocking policies.
While Chairwoman Rosenworcel didn't specifically say so, her response seems to indicate that she would have preferred that T-Mobile brought the unlocking requirements of its prepaid units in line by reducing T-Mobile prepaid from 365 days to Metro's previous 180 days.
Metro by T-Mobile has more than doubled the number of days a customer must wait to unlock his new phone. | Image credit-T-Mobile
T-Mobile's postpaid subscribers, it should be pointed out, are allowed to unlock their phones if they have been active for at least 40 days. But that applies only to phones that have had their EIP (Equipment Installment Plan) or any leases paid off. Verizon, bound by an agreement it made with the FCC when it purchased some spectrum licenses 15 years ago, unlocks a phone automatically after 60 days for both postpaid and prepaid customers.
"AT&T has a waiting period and a 60-day active service rule before it will unlock a postpaid financed handset and the handset must not be active on another AT&T account, must not have any overdue account balance, and must not have been reported as lost, stolen, or involved with fraud. For prepaid handsets, AT&T requires the handset to have been active for at least six months."-FCC NPRM
The FCC is seeking comments from the public about a 60-day unlocking period. When locked, the consumer's phone cannot be moved to another wireless firm effectively keeping the consumer from leaving his current provider. Once unlocked, the phone can accompany the consumer to any wireless firm he wants to switch to.
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Things that are NOT allowed: