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Krisse burst a blood vessel: Long rant on why you should never buy a locked phone

Categories: Ideas and rants
By: , IntoMobile
Monday, February 26th, 2007 at 1:30 PM

As soon as you read the first paragraph, you know it’s going to be good:

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You want to buy a car, so what do you do?

Would you do the following?

Go to the nearest fuel station and agree to buy all your fuel from them for two years. Also agree to pay a hefty monthly fee to cover the cost of the fuel and car. You pay for fuel every month even if you don’t use any, plus extra charges if you use more than the agreement states. In return, the fuel station supplies you with any car from their very limited range, all of which have been altered to reject fuel from any other supplier.

I wrote something very similar a few months ago:

When you go car shopping do you go to your local gas station? When you want to buy a television do you call DirecTV? Do you buy light bulbs from your local electric company?

Then why are you buying a cell phone from a carrier?

She breaks down her argument in to 8 myths many people have about locked devices. You can feel her anger! I definitely share the same emotions on the subject:

  1. You have to buy a phone from a network operator, it won’t work otherwise
  2. Phones are too expensive to buy at retail, you have to buy it with an operator’s subsidy
  3. Phones from network operators are cheap or free
  4. The operators optimise the phone to work best on the network
  5. You can unlock the phone if you really want to, so locking really makes no difference
  6. The phone network operators give people on contracts great package deals which they couldn’t get otherwise
  7. Phones need phone network operators, that’s why they have unusual pricing arrangements
  8. Operators who receive a steady income from contracts and locked phones are able to provide better services

A very compelling read that I suggest anyone, especially Americans, read.

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About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.

  • Viipottaja

    I am not sure, but I think its a _he_ actually.. :) guys with names like Christian, Kristian etc. are often called Krisse. There are a few women called Krisse by nickname too though.

  • Stefan Constantinescu

    I’m pretty sure I’ve heard the AAS team refer to krisse in the feminine sense.

  • Viipottaja

    ok. she it is then. :)

  • krisse

    I’d rather you talked about the article than my gender! :-)

    FYI “krisse” is a gender-neutral name.

  • Sarah

    Locked or unlocked- Never buy a “branded” phone, which is much worse. You can unlock a phone, but you need to shell out $25-$100 to “flash” the phone back to its regular normal manufacturer’s intentions. I bought a Nokia 6133 and unlocked it, but third-party apps still don’t work thanks to T-Mobile’s software branding.