On Thursday 22 February 2007 2:22 pm, Jeff Andros wrote: > On 2/22/07, Gabriel Ambuehl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Thursday 22 February 2007 19:43:26 Sam Kome wrote: > > > Yes, if the phone in question has been locked to another carrier: > > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsidy_lock > > > > Still, nobody really forces you to buy SIM locked phone for all I > > know. If you want cheap phones, that is usually the price... > > > > _______________________________________________ > > OpenMoko community mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > > in the U.S. carriers are basically the only "real" source of > phones... and they only sell one kind. it's also next to impossible > to buy a plan without purchasing a phone as well(albeit a heavily > subsidized one). while there are retailers that sell sim-unlocked > phones most of these are either internet order or slightly shady. as > I understand it, most other places this is not the case but it's the > reality here > > when Sean's dad, or other "normal" consumers go out to purchase a > phone, the only trustworthy source they can really find is from the > carrier... so it's a self-perpetuating ecosystem
My experience has been somewhat different. I purchased my last phone, under a contract, from CellularOne in the US. It's a gsm quad-band Motorola V400. It was unlocked at the time of purchase. I've been off contract for over a year now and have successfully used sims from other carriers. The store from which I purchased the phone has told me that CellOne does not lock its phones. Before I found out about the Neo, I was planning on purchasing my next phone from Nokia's company-owned NYC store, where I got my N800. All of their phones are unlocked. Michael _______________________________________________ OpenMoko community mailing list [email protected] http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
