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(you can also see my local news interview on Iphone hacks, open networks, and cancelling your cell phone contract. Please share your thoughts on cracking the Iphone.)
The days of soldering parts together to unlock your iPhone are over.... unless you just enjoy soldering, and in that case, as you were. For everyone else, put your soldering guns away. Today, a San Francisco-based group is claiming to have developed software that will allow users to "unlock" their AT&T iPhones so they can be used on other networks. In the US, the only other GSM carrier is T-Mobile, but that gives you one more choice than you had before.
Perhaps the most important point to make is that there is a strong argument that using the software to unlock your iPhone is legal, as long as it is for personal use. Basic American copyright law protects the software code, or firmware that runs the Iphone and locks it to AT&T's network. Additional protections exist from the always controversial Digital Millenium Copyright Act (let's just say that if a laws appeared on celebrity gossip sites, the DMCA would be front and center most days). The DMCA offers additional protection to rights holders by restricting users of copyrighted material from circumventing technological protection measures intended to restrict access to the copyrighted material. This includes accessing content even for legitimate, fair uses of content. However, in November of 2006, the Copyright Office approved 6 exceptions to the DMCA "anti-circumvention" restrictions.
While there is nuance to discuss, and attorneys will appear on both sides, one of these exceptions clearly included provisioins allowing consumers to unlock their cellphones "for the sole purpose of lawfully connecting to a wireless telephone communication network."
"For the sole purpose" is the key phrase here. It indicates that you, for your personal need to use your iphone on a communication network other than AT&T's, can circumvent protections AT&T has embedded into its phone. On the other hand, you will not likely see a bunch of unlocked phones on Ebay in a few days, since circumventing technological protection measures in order to make them available for sale would not be viewed as for the "sole purpose of lawfully connecting..."
That said, there is a key grey area that will likely decide the future of unlocking your iphone. This is the concept of whether it is legal to distribute, for free, the code that allows users to unlock there phones. There will be a great deal of disagreement on this subject, but a good argument from attorney Bart Showalter suggests that if the software is narrowly focused on busting the network lock, it would likely fit into the anti-circumvention exception to the DMCA. In other words, if the Copyright Office granted users the right to unlock their cell phone for certain reasons, it would be an illogical contradiction to then say that distributing the means (software code) to exercise those rights is illegal. At the very least there is a basic argument to be made(though some IP lawyers will scream secondary liability a la DeCSS) that anyone distributing this is certainly not directly circumventing Iphone firmware, and is simply making available software that allows users to do something that the Copyright explicitly permitted.
Either way, the unlocking of the Iphone is proof positive that consumers demand networks that allow them to use the technology and software of their choice.
Check out these links as well
They don't call me the "world's greatest consumer" for nothing. Well, perhaps they do. But that's an entirely different story and only tangentially related to my decision to take a personal plunge into buying a new wireless phone and service. On July 23rd, I took four hours one evening to take a safari into the wilds of the cellular jungle. While this is a purely anecdotal account of my shopping experience of that night, I share it in the hopes that it will be helpful for those of you currently shopping for wireless service.
Preparation for the Virtual Safari
My guide for this safari was UCAN's handy-dandy free Mobile Phone Fact Checker. It gave me the ammo I needed to protect myself against confusing and misleading wireless companies.
I made a concerted decision to make the safari a virtual one, so I set up camp in front of my computer and did all of my shopping on-line. I didn't want to risk dealing with the mall "kiosk" salespeople who make used car salespeople look honest, by comparison. And in my personal crusade to save gasoline, I didn't want to consuming unnecessary carbon driving around to various storefronts around San Diego.
My objective: to buy a "family plan" service for two people and to purchase two new phones. One of the phones had to be a Windows Mobile OS smart phone and the other needed to be one of those "cheapo" free phones. My budget for the Smart Phone - not to exceed $300. As for the phone service: I needed a two-phone plan for 700-1000 minutes per month and one of the phones had to have an unlimited data service that would allow me to access the Internet and e-mail via the smart phone.
At 6pm on that evening of July 23rd, I made a list of the four national carriers that serve San Diego: Cingular, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile.
I created a small matrix below used to fill in the data that I got from each of the companies' web sites. See chart and read more.
On July 19th, VOIP provider Sun Rocket (www.sunrocket.com) announced it was terminating its service. Consumers fumed.....especially those that had plunked down up to $200 for a prepaid annual contract of low-cost VOIP service.
To the company's credit, it arranged deals with other VOIP companies to take over the contracts of its customers. While some customers reported losing VOIP service, the majority appeared not to have suffered loss of phone service. However, quite a few customers reported that they'd prepaid for an annual contract and these new service providers were not honoring those contracts. They were angry and felt ripped off.
The closure came without any warning. Even people working at the company report being surprised by the news. Many didn't find out until the day they reported to work and noticed that the phones weren't ringing at their office: the company's call center had been shut down but the CSRs weren't told! Yet, people in the industry knew that Sunrocket was struggling to find a buyer and had been repeatedly failing.....in part because of the liabilities posed by the annual contracts that had been prepaid.
The good news is that for those customers who paid the annual fee and now have nothing to show for it, some credit card companies are agreeing to refund the money for the unused service. Chase, in particular, is reported to be crediting customers' account. It is likely others will as well. There's some good information about what former Sunrocket customers can do to get their money back and/or switch to other VOIP providers. In particular, check out:
http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/r18686213-SR-Bankrupt-Recap-What-T...
Verizon is currently offering a "Customer Appreciation Service Credit" to its landline customers. The credit is for $40 ($10/month over 4 months) for customers in California, as well as other states (see list below). All you need to do is call Verizon at 888-226-0799 and tell them you are aware of the promotion. They may try to sell you some DSL/DirectTV package. Just tell them "no thanks" and let them know you are happy with your phone service (it should speed things up).
There is a mailing for the promotion, but you do not have to receive it to take advantage of the offer. If you run into any roadblocks, call again, and repeatedly tell the customer service rep the name and details of the promotion. You might also try calling 800-483-3000 (don't press or say anything, just wait until you get a representative).
The promotion should be good for the following states (let us know if you hear of any more):
CA, FL, ME, MD, MA, NY, NJ, OH, PA, TX, VA, WV
If you're driving on San Diego's busy freeways or highways and have a mechanical failure, help is now a quick call away. The Mobile Call Box Program is now operational for cell phone users. Just dial 511 for roadside assistance.
The publicly funded program was recently launched by the San Diego Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies (SAFE).
After one of our UCAN staff had a rather disappointing experience with purchasing a Netflix gift card or subscription for a loved one, we looked into the details of Netflix's Terms of Use to determine what restrictions are involved with purchasing gift subscriptions. After reviewing the Terms and contacting Netflix to clarify some details, we found a few things we thought buyers should be aware of.
But before we get started, I realize some of you Clint Eastwood fans reading this might be thinking to yourselves, "wait a minute, why is ‘The Ugly' first when the title of Clint's greatest flick is ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," not ‘The Ugly, the Bad, and the [Decently] Good?'" Well, don't fret mon frère, here is your answer: unfortunately, we found more ugly and bad aspects of the Netflix gift card subscription service than good. See what we've found here or listen to Carter discuss Netflix on the UCAN.ORG podcast 
.
AT&T has recently rolled out a bundled cable TV and high-speed Internet package in San Diego. Still in its infancy, AT&T U-verse is available in only 21 cities with a grand total of 30,000 subscribers. Nonetheless, it represents direct competition for Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable in San Diego. And when there is competition, consumers gain instant leverage. Below are some tips for using your AT&T U-verse leverage to get a better TV/Internet package, as well as a comparison of services.
High-Speed Internet Provider Comparison
| Company | Downstream |
Monthly Cost |
| AT&T | 1.5 Mbps | $20 |
| 3 Mbps | $25 | |
| 6 Mbps | $35 | |
| Cox Communications | 768 Kbps | $17* |
| 1.5 Mbps | $27 | |
| 7 Mbps | $42 | |
| 12 Mbps | $57 | |
| Time Warner Cable | 768 Kbps | $27 |
| 5 Mbps | $50 | |
| 8 Mbps | $60 |
* Cox is currently (as of 8/3/07) offering this for $9.95/month with the purchase of a digital phone plan
Digital and High Definition Television Provider Comparison
| Company | Channels |
Premium Movie |
Monthly Cost |
| AT&T U-verse (with 1.5 Mbps Internet)^ |
50 (Family) | --- | $44 |
| 100 (U-100) | --- | $59 | |
| 190 (U-200) | --- | $74 | |
| 240 (U-300) | 2 | $94 | |
|
300 (U-400) |
4 | $119 | |
| Cox Communications (with 1.5 Mbps Internet)^^ |
1 Digital Package | --- | $88 |
| 3 Digital Pakages | 2 | $113 | |
| 4 Digital Pakages | 4 | $138 | |
| Time Warner Cable (with 5 Mbps Internet)# |
140 (Intro) | --- | $87 |
| 160 (Value) | --- | $92 | |
| 180 (Value Plus) | 2 | $113 | |
| 200 (Everything) | 4 |
$161 |
* Cinemax, HBO, Showtime, and Starz
^ All AT&T plans have a $50 installation fee. Current promotions
include: HD free for 12 months (normally $10/month), HBO and Cinemax
free for 2 months, and free service for the first two months of U-300
and U-400 plans.
^^ Activation fee of $55
# Time Warner Cable does not provide any cost information regarding installation or activation fees on its website.
Effective March 15, 2007, Verizon Wireless increased its $0.40 administrative charge to $0.70 per line. Due to a clause in the Verizon Customer Agreement, customers may be able to use the fee increase to terminate their service and avoid the usual $175 cancellation fee. Read more
T-Mobile said that its new rate increase on pay-per-use text messages will be regarded as a "material change to the terms and conditions of its subscribers' contracts", therefore allowing customers to cancel service without incurring early termination fees.
There may finally be a way around those nasty early termination fees levied by the major cell phone providers. Cellswapper.com gives users the ability to literaly swap cell phone contracts with other users. Think of it as the cellular contract equivalent to Ebay. Users can "sell" their phone contract without incurring a cancellation fee and "buy" contracts from others without paying an activation fee. This is a great solution if you are looking for a short term cell phone plan (contracts are availbe for as short as one month) or if you're stuck in a plan that isn't meeting your needs. Two other similar sites include: CellTradeUSA and Resellular.com.
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