cell-phone-unlockingBack in 2013, there was a brief period in time in which unlocking your cellphone would be considered an illegal act. This is because a provision in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act had lapsed, although thankfully there are some in the government who worked swiftly to address that issue.

Now about a week ago, a bill to allow the unlocking of cellphones was passed by the Senate, although if there was one thing that it still needed was the President’s signature, which he has recently announced that he will be signing very soon.

According to President Obama in a statement, “The bill Congress passed today is another step toward giving ordinary Americans more flexibility and choice, so that they can find a cell phone carrier that meets their needs and their budget.” He later adds, “I commend Chairmen Leahy and Goodlatte, and Ranking Members Grassley and Conyers for their leadership on this important consumer issue and look forward to signing this bill into law.”

For those wondering what the big deal is, imagine if you were to buy a phone from a carrier like AT&T. However once the contract runs out and you want to swap to a different carrier, you can’t because the phone is locked, but by unlocking it, it would be usable on another carrier’s network. Of course there are some caveats and conditions before a customer can unlock their phone, but at least with the bill being passed and signed, it would no longer make it illegal for them to do so.

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