Stupidity Exposed!

On December 12, 2013, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless committed to adopt a set of principles to allow consumers that OWN their smartphones to unlock the phones, allowing the consumers to sell their phones (to offset the cost of an upgraded phone?) or switch to other carriers while being able to keep their existing phone.  You can read the “Carrier Unlocking Voluntary Commitment” letter here:

Carrier Unlocking Voluntary Commitment

Sounds nice in theory.  Not so easy in practice.  I called Sprint today asking about unlocking the iPhones currently on our account so they can be sold to help pay for new phones.  At first they were reluctant to even acknowledge that phones could be unlocked.  I asked them about their “unlock” policy which is published here:

Sprint\’s Unlock Policy

Once I pressed them, they acknowledged that the 2 active iPhones on the account did satisfy the conditions under which Sprint would provide the MSL (Master Subsidy Lock) Code and they gave me the codes for the 2 phones.  (It’s still not clear how I use the MSL?)

After I hung up the phone, I was reminded that we had a 3rd iPhone on the account that has since been upgraded already, so I called Sprint back and told them I’d like the MSL for the 3rd phone.  The customer service rep immediately tried to tell me that they don’t give out iPhone unlock codes.  Oh, really?!?  I informed him I just received MSL codes for 2 of my phones, and just wanted the code for the 3rd phone.  He put me on hold… (they’re good at that!)  When he came back,  he conceded that I was allowed to have the MSL code but had to track down which phone it was for.  He put me on hold again.  When I was taken off hold, the rep on the other end was someone else (a supervisor?) who proceeded to tell me “We don’t normally give out the MSL codes, but since you’ve already gotten 2 of yours, we’ll give you the third”.  I said “Excuse me!  Don’t make it sound like you’re doing me any favors!  Sprint’s own policy spells out under what circumstances we can unlock our phones, and our iPhones satisfy all your requirements for unlocking.  So why are you making it sound like you’re going to do me a favor?!?”.  He said “I’ll provide you with the code”.  I said “OK, but don’t make it sound like you’re doing me a favor!”.  He did give me the code, but he certainly didn’t want to make it easy!!  Why should a customer have to fight with “Customer Service” to get the service they deserve????

There seem to be conflicting stories about how iPhones get unlocked and what you can do with them once they are unlocked?!?  Half the articles state how the carrier (Sprint in this case) must submit the request to Apple directly, and then Apple will unlock the iPhone somehow.  If you ask Sprint, all you need is the MSL – you provide that code to the “new” carrier and they port the phone to their own network.

I’m still not clear how it’s supposed to work, but I know I got plenty of pushback from Sprint just for asking for my 3 iPhones’ unlock codes!!

Apparently, Verizon Wireless does not acknowledge the CTIA Carrier Unlocking Voluntary Commitment, at least not yet.  A Verizon Wireless customer told me that he contacted Verizon Wireless to ask about getting his iPhone unlocked, and while they were pleasant on the phone, the customer service rep was unable to find any reference to customers being able to have their phones unlocked, even after asking around to several departments.

Want your phone unlocked??  Good luck!!

I recently updated Java on my Windows machine.  Probably won’t be happening very many more times.  Now when I connect to my (old) webcam or web addressable UPS, I get the following threat from Java:

Really?  “Running unsigned applications like this will be blocked in a future release”?!?  Who are you to FORCE me to have “signed applications” on all my devices?  How am I supposed to get my old webcam upgraded to have signed apps?  Who’s going to convince my UPS manufacturer that they have to hire some engineer to sign their apps??  Until you can promise me that all my current equipment (that I trust with unsigned apps) will get signed apps before you assert your mandatory block of said apps, stop threatening me!!