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The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will require all phones and other mobile devices to be sold unlocked. Existing devices must be unlocked for free upon request, starting December 1st:
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced that as of December 1, 2017, all individual and small business wireless service customers will have the right to have their cellphones and other mobile devices unlocked free of charge upon request. In addition, all newly purchased devices must be provided unlocked from that day forward.
As well, updates to the trial period will allow customers who are unhappy with their service to cancel their contract within 15 days and return their device in near-new condition at no costs, as long as they have used less than half their monthly usage limits.
Definition of SIM locking and regulations by country.
(Score: 3, Informative) by vux984 on Friday June 16 2017, @10:32PM (4 children)
They'd already mandated that the carrier had to provide unlock services so we could already legally unlock them. I wasn't really expecting to see a mandate that it be done for free. That was a pleasant surprise; it's nice to see it go away completely.
(Score: 2) by driven on Saturday June 17 2017, @12:24AM (3 children)
So will they stop locking phones to begin with and avoid the unlocking cost (which they will pass on to consumers)?
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Saturday June 17 2017, @03:08AM (2 children)
First line of the Summary:
The CRTC will require all phones and other mobile devices to be sold unlocked
So... yes.
(Score: 2) by driven on Tuesday June 20 2017, @01:59AM (1 child)
What I was getting at is this: if the phones are locked to begin with then phone companies can complain that they are incurring "unlocking" costs by selling unlocked phones which they obviously will pass on to consumers. If phones are never locked to begin with (including before the customer ever gets one) then that "cost" goes away.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Tuesday June 20 2017, @03:24AM
I get that, but the CRTC says they have to *sold unlocked*. So, yes, they must be unlocked before the customer gets one, as you described.
The separate rule about 'unlocking phones for free' are only intended to apply to phones that customers already have, before the legislation went into effect, that are locked.