Carrier locked phones banned in Chile
Wouldn’t it be nice if when you purchased a smartphone you weren’t forced to remain with a particular carrier because your chosen device is carrier locked? Well if you happen to live in Chile you are one of the lucky ones because as of the 16th of this month Chile is apparently banning the sales of all carrier locked phones.
In a move that probably the rest of the mobile world envies, according to the guys over on Phone Arena by way of The Verge, Chile has announced that as of the 16th of January all mobile phones sold in the country must be unlocked for use on any carrier.
Apparently Chile joins Singapore who was amongst the first countries to outlaw carrier locked mobile phones with Israel also banning carrier locked handsets back in 2010.
Subtel, Chile’s telecoms regulator announced their plans that are apparently part of an effort to make mobile numbers more portable in the country via their Twitter account.
Here in the UK and over in the US unlocked smartphone are available although not with every handset, and is one of the main reasons hackers use unlocking and jailbreaking. Initially the iPhone 4S wasn’t available as an unlocked device until a month or so after its initial release.
Perhaps eventually other countries will take that step to outlawing carrier locked handsets and give more freedom of choice to the customer, we can only hold that it will be worldwide eventually.
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One thought on “Carrier locked phones banned in Chile”
But will the carrier still offer discounted phones? Also, in the US, once your contract is up, usually the carrier has no issue giving you the ability to unlock your phone. The problem is that if you want 3G or 4G, usually it will only work with that carrier, although some smaller or local wireless carriers will have the same radio frequency. Then again, my local cell company refuses to allow other CDMA phones because they want you to buy their phones for 200-600 bucks. Another advantage to GSM phones. Pop your sim card in and go.