alt.hn

5/21/2025 at 9:00:04 PM

Verizon tries to get out of merger condition requiring it to unlock phones

 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/05/verizon-tries-to-get-out-of-merger-condition-requiring-it-to-unlock-phones/

by coloneltcb

5/22/2025 at 7:37:04 PM

Verizon used to be phenomenal, about 2-3 years ago I noticed a decline. About a year ago it simply stopped working at my house. I filed a ticket and nothing happened in a week (I thought maybe their nearby tower died or something). Switched to AT&T and it's been great

by commiepatrol

5/23/2025 at 2:49:06 AM

Verizon has always been a bad company to get in bed with.

I remember before the iphone when they would prevent music/ringtones from being sideloaded onto phones, etc.

I also remember when they would add identifiers/cookies to all cellular web requests so your phone could be uniquely identified wherever you browsed.

Could your issue be when verizon sold off its towers?

by m463

5/21/2025 at 9:40:41 PM

Reminds me of the parable of the scorpion asking the friendly tortoise to help him cross a river = this is their nature...

by aurizon

5/22/2025 at 1:21:16 AM

Does it surprise anyone that Verizon's Department of Evil would lie, cheat, bribe, steal, or otherwise do whatever it can to not be held to account for its agreements?

I'm not surprised, just as I won't be surprised if Verizon gets their way after throwing a few million dollars in the direction of Trump's "Library" or whatever.

by johnklos

5/22/2025 at 12:57:18 AM

This applies to carrier locking, not their practice of preventing bootloader unlocking on devices sold by Verizon, correct?

by notjulianjaynes

5/22/2025 at 12:26:00 AM

I don't normally think of prepaid carriers like Tracfone doing a lot of subsidized phones, but apparently that's the heart of the issue. I'm surprised Verizon doesn't just go with the Biden plan, figuring that the other players will also not be able to subsidize devices for prepaid lines, at that point.

OTOH, I do remember once trying to buy a subsidized iphone at Walmart, and it was pretty clear that someone was buying all of them, everywhere, before actual users could get them.

by tbihl

5/22/2025 at 5:24:46 AM

Go to qvc.com and type tracfone into the search field (it's hard to direct link). There are some AMAZING subsidized phone offers there. Nothing high end, but very low prices for perfectly good midrange phones. If I need some burners I'll get them from there.

by throwaway81523