The Library of Congress, in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, had ruled unlocking smartphones illegal. We recently covered the progress of a White House petition against it and the response from the government. In addition to all these developments, AT&T has assured its customers that the ban won’t affect them.
Naturally, the carrier is out to score some points with the customers. In a recent blog post, the company has assured its customers that if they are in good standing, they wouldn’t be affected by the ban in any way. Such customers can apply to AT&T to have their phones unlocked.
The customers with ‘good standing’ have been defined as those whose accounts have been active for at least 60 days and who have fulfilled all agreements according to their subscription. If you are an AT&T customer and fulfill those requirements, you can apply to have your smartphone unlocked. The application shall be granted, given that AT&T has the unlock codes for the phones in question.
As for such customers who are still on contract, the company offers that they can pay early termination fee and get the unlock codes likewise, if they are available with the carrier. To further reaffirm this stance and for the convenience of the customers, AT&T has set up a site for the sole purpose. Once customers have their phones unlocked, they can switch to other carriers.
Interestingly, the company didn’t tell exactly what should a customer do in case he has a ‘good standing’ and yet, the unlock codes for his handset are unavailable with the carrier. In that case, shouldn’t the customer be at liberty to unlock the phone on his own?
Source: AT&T
Courtesy: CNET
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