unlocking - Android Community

AT&T will unlock your mobile phone

By Robert Nelson
on 8 Mar, 2013

The topic of mobile phone unlocking has been rather hot since it became illegal back on January 26. Regardless of how many people actually plan to unlock a phone, it seems that this is a topic that is not ready to go away. We have seen everything from a petition to the White House to talk from the FCC chairman and even the Wireless Consumer Choice Act. Basically, it seems that everyone wants this decision to be reversed. In fact, we are now hearing from AT&T on this very subject.

Wireless Consumer Choice Act aims to make cell phone unlocking legal

By Robert Nelson
on 7 Mar, 2013

For those who may have missed the news, it became illegal to unlock your smartphone as of January 26. That change in the law came as a result of tweaks that were made to the DMCA back in October 2012. Of course, since the time when this became illegal we have seen everything from petitions to talk coming from the FCC chairman.

White House responds: It’s time to legalize phone unlocking – and tablets

By Cory Gunther
on 4 Mar, 2013

This afternoon the White House has responded to the ongoing debate regarding unlocking our smartphones for use on other carriers. Their official response shows support for the consumer to have the choice should they please once they're no longer on contract, and the White House even mentions tablets. For those worried that unlocking cell phones is now illegal, read on for more details.

FCC chairman talks cell phone unlocking and current ban

By Robert Nelson
on 1 Mar, 2013

As of late January it became illegal to unlock your phone. This came as a result of some changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that were actually put in place back in October 2012. Basically, as it stands now -- you are not allowed to unlock your phone. That simply means that you cannot buy a phone for one carrier and unlock it for use on another carrier.

Petition to make unlocking phones legal hits goal – now up to Uncle Sam

By Cory Gunther
on 21 Feb, 2013

Back on January 26th, it officially became illegal for phone owners to unlock their phones and smartphones for use on other carriers. Well, it's illegal to do so without the carriers consent and full cooperation. After the law went into place many were upset and a petition was started to make it legal again, today we're happy to announce the petition reached its goal of 100,000 signatures.

Petition to make unlocking phones legal again ends in 7 days

By Cory Gunther
on 15 Feb, 2013

Back on January 26th we reported a story where unlocking smartphones has now become illegal. Not rooting, jailbreaking, or things of that nature, but unlocking a device to be used on different carriers. This exception to the DMCA was what made this legal, and that ended back on the 26th of January. For those looking to do something about it, read on below before time runs out.

PSA: Unlocking your phone is illegal starting today

By Cory Gunther
on 26 Jan, 2013

In case you haven't heard, starting today it will be illegal for users to unlock their phone. Yes a device you've actually paid for. While this has absolutely nothing to do with root, jailbreak, and tweaking phones like we all love to in the Android Community, it's still a shame. Thanks to some edits and tweaks made the the DMCA back in October it's now illegal to unlock a phone without carrier consent.

LG Optimus G for AT&T and Sprint successfully unlocked

By Dave LeClair
on 19 Nov, 2012

If you've been on the fence about grabbing an LG Optimus G because of concerns about the device being unlocked, you can stop worrying. The folks over at XDA-Developers have been hard at work, and they have figured out a method for unlocking both the AT&T and Sprint versions of the device. However, the unlock is a private beta, so for the time being, it is only being distributed to a selected group of testers.

New DMCA rulings on rooting leave us scratching our heads

By Eric Abent
on 26 Oct, 2012

Ah, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. There have been plenty of confusing rulings and laws centering around the DMCA ever since it was introduced back in 1998, and we're sad to say that things aren't getting any less mind-boggling. The Librarian of Congress handed down its latest exemptions to the DMCA this week, and it's safe to say that we have no idea what anyone was thinking with this new set of rules.

Motorola has no plans to unlock older devices

By Cory Gunther
on 22 Aug, 2012

Sadly I'm not really surprised with the news that just landed in our tip box this afternoon. Motorola has just released an informal statement over on Twitter regarding the bootloader unlock process they've recently released. Today they've confirmed that older devices will not get their bootloaders unlocked.