It’s official: President Obama will sign the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, which brings back an important exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that lets customers and authorized third parties modify a phone’s firmware and thus removing restrictions that most carriers put on their phones. The White House blog explains how this change was brought about in greater detail, but for those of you who’d rather not get into all the legal stuff, here’s the practical upshot:
You can now unlock your phone (or hire a service to do it for you) so that you can switch carriers, all without getting fined or sued.
Have a happy Friday!
2 replies on “Americans can unlock their phones again…legally!”
Would you still be able to unlock your phone if you are under contract with a current wireless carrier provider? Or would that not work until your contract is up?
If you’re are still under a previously-signed service contract with a carrier, you’ll still need to fulfill the terms of that contract before you can unlock your phone.