How Will the Cellphone Unlocking Law (Reverse Cell Phones Legislation) Affect You?
President Obama is set to introduce a law that will legalize cellphone unlocking. This is ground-breaking news, but how will it affect the way you use your mobile devices? If citizens are permitted to Reverse Cell Phones, will it open up the proverbial can of worms?
Unlock your cell phone and you can run it on any carrier network. At present U.S.law makes it illegal to Reverse Cell Phones with carrier permission. However, the White House, numerous advocacy groups and consumers have fought to legalize phone unlocking. Even the wireless industry, who opposed the idea appear to have had a change of heart.
Reverse Cell Phones Legislation
In the last few days, a new law dubbed the ‘Unlocking Consumer and Wireless Competition Act’ has been approved by the Senate and the House. The new law will make it legal to reverse cell phones without breaking copyright laws.
So, you can reverse your cell phone, what difference will this make to you? Cell phone users must realize that certain technologies are incompatible with certain makes of cell phone. For example, an unlocked Sprint phone wont necessarily work on the Verizon Voice Network.
OK, so lets assume you own a world phone. Will you be able to use any carrier? You may and you may not, reverse cell phones have a mind of their own.
Own an iPhone? Look on the chart at MacRumors to find out which networks you can use.
Do Reverse Cell Phones work overseas? If you own an unlocked world phone there is every chance it will work abroad.
Does the new legislation apply to tablets?
Afraid not. The bill covers cell phones only, however, at some point in the future congress may consider making other wireless devices eligible for unlocking.
Can bulk unlockers Reverse Cell Phones?
An earlier bill stated that bulk unlockers would be prohibited from unlocking cell phones, this included phone resellers and cell phone recyclers. Supporters of the cellphone unlock movement voiced their displeasure and the phrase ‘bulk unlockers’ was removed from the bill, giving them the right to unlock cell phones just like any other citizen.
