Verizon will start locking phones for longer, making it harder to switch carriers

Verizon has just won its FCC petition to change the rule around unlocking phones to a less user-friendly policy. Here are the details.

FCC removes requirement for Verizon to offer more user-friendly device unlocking

Jon Brodkin writes at Ars Technica:

The Federal Communications Commission is letting Verizon lock phones to its network for longer periods, eliminating a requirement to unlock handsets 60 days after they are activated on its network. The change will make it harder for people to switch from Verizon to other carriers.

The FCC today granted Verizon’s petition for a waiver of the 60-day unlocking requirement. While the waiver is in effect, Verizon only has to comply with the CTIA trade group’s voluntary unlocking policy. The CTIA policy calls for unlocking prepaid mobile devices one year after activation, while devices on postpaid plans can be unlocked after a contract, device financing plan, or early termination fee is paid.

As Brodkin’s article explains, Verizon has until now been subject to a different set of device unlocking rules than its competitors.

Most carriers simply have to follow the same one-year unlocking requirement that Verizon will now be bound to. But the previous Verizon restrictions were in part by choice, as Brodkin explains:

Verizon gained significant benefits in exchange for agreeing to unlocking requirements in 2008 when it purchased licenses to use 700 MHz spectrum, and again in 2021 when it agreed to merger conditions to obtain approval for its purchase of TracFone.

In its explanation of today’s reversal, the FCC argued that the previous Verizon rule created “an incentive for bad actors to steal those handsets for purposes of carrying out fraud and other illegal acts.”

Verizon, in a response to the FCC decision, echoed that rationale. It said that prior to today’s decision, the FCC rules “benefitted…international criminal gangs at the expense of legitimate American consumers.”

If you’re one of those legitimate Verizon consumers though, there’s obviously a downside for you too.

Getting an unlocked device to switch carriers will now require more time to pass, and also be a greater hassle than before. Under prior rules, Verizon phones were automatically unlocked 60 days in. But now, they’ll only be unlocked upon a user’s request, and after a full year passes.

For more coverage of Verizon, see our previous articles here.

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