The legality of unlocking cellphones has been a hot topic ever since it was revealed it would be considered illegal for US citizens to unlock their devices after January 26, 2013. We’ve seen support come in from the FCC Chairman as well as the US government, and today, one major carrier is throwing in their support for the unlocking of devices.
The consistently low-ranked in customer service AT&T has taken the debate whether or not customers have a right to unlock their devices public. AT&T’s VP of Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh says “the ruling has very little impact on AT&T customers.” Marsh took the opportunity to reiterate the company’s unlocking policy: “if we have the unlock code or can reasonably get it from the manufacturer, AT&T currently will unlock a device for any customer whose account has been active for at least sixty days; whose account is in good standing and has no unpaid balance; and who has fulfilled his or her service agreement commitment. If the conditions are met we will unlock up to five devices per account per year.”
That sure is a lot of stipulations in order to get your devices unlocked, which we’re sure the customer service rep you’ll be calling in order to have your device unlocked will find a fault somewhere in your account in order to deny the procedure.
Filed in . Read more about AT&T.