TracFone Finally Agrees To Allow Phone Unlocking 85
jfruh writes: While most Slashdot readers probably enjoy the latest and greatest smartphones and heavy-use data plans, millions of Americans use low-cost, prepaid featurephones, and many of those are sold under various brand names owned by TracFone. Today, after much pressure from the FCC, TracFone admitted that its customers also have the right to an unlocked phone that they can port to a different provider, including those low-income customers who participate in the government-subsidized Lifeline program, widely (though incorrectly) known as "Obamaphone".
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a drudge report myth
Weak troll. And citation needed.
How about this link, which is at the end of the article that is here on slashdot? [gawker.com] It plainly states
the top link on the Drudge Report led to a YouTube video in which an Ohio woman said she's going to vote for President Obama because he gave her a phone.
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If you're upset that Obama is giving "freeloaders" gratis cell phones paid for with your tax money, don't be. Firstly, Obama had nothing to do with the Lifeline program: the "Obama phone" narrative is a myth that both liberals and conservatives have fallen for since 2009. Secondly, Lifeline isn't paid for with tax revenues. Rather, Lifeline is funded with a pool of money, called the Universal Service Fund, which is paid for with revenue donations from telecommunications providers. Some of those providersâ"like Verizon, for instanceâ"pass off that cost to their customers with a Universal Service fee, but the government doesn't mandate that the money come from citizens, meaning it's technically not a tax.
...
It is sort of sad that the woman in Drudge's "Obama phone" video has no idea that her free cell phone has nothing to do with Obama. But conservatives who would try and hold her up as an example of a liberal president gone wild with handouts are just as sad and ignorant, and more cruel by a large margin.
It would appear the weak troll is you, who couldn't bother to follow the link that slashdot provided. The surprise here though is that slashdot is actually countering - rather than propagating - something from drudge report. The latter is far more the standard m.o. around here, especially when samzenpus is involved.
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ObamaPhone.com is not affiliated with any department of the US government, the FCC, or the Lifeline phone program
Did you not bother reading to the bottom of the page?
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an independent Slashdotter
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I've never felt like there was a conservative or liberal majority on Slashdot, but a very well represented (albeit oft-trolling) pool of each. Occasionally each side is well represented with intelligent discourse, but not as often as I'd like.
an independent Slashdotter
It is a little bad if you are an actual Libertarian and have to fend off the Republicans who are ashamed of their party so they have co-opted the party and made it seem as if we are lunatics. Most of us Libertarians are (were?) quite far left of the representatives of the Democrat party. I, for example, support single-payer health care - not because I am a lovey-dubey caring individual (I really am, sort of) but because it costs less for the society as a whole and makes a better business environment.
I shall
Re: Are you OK, samzenpus? (Score:2, Informative)
It may not "technically" be a tax, but it sure is "effectively" one. The USF is levied on all phone providers, including VOIP ones and there is nothing voluntary about it despite the use of the word "donation" in the parent post. The current "contribution factor" (tax rate) for this quarter is 17.1%. Whether the phone company decides to show that as a separate line item or not, the end user is still the one who is going to pay it.
https://www.fcc.gov/encyclopedia/contribution-factor-quarterly-filings-univ
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there is nothing voluntary about it
You can opt to not use a cell phone. There are other communication options. Civilization got along just fine for thousands of years without them, and will continue to go on without them.
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Re:Are you OK, samzenpus? (Score:4)
>> It is sort of sad that the woman in Drudge's "Obama phone" video has no idea that her free cell phone has nothing to do with Obama.
OK, I'll bite. Yes, one part of the conservative complaint is that the federal government shouldn't be in the business of providing free cell phone service*. However, the larger part of the complaint is that local political operatives DO advertise government perks like this as Democrat largesse. In other words, when the woman said that her phone was an "Obamaphone" she was probably just simplifying a version of this well-worn campaign slogan:
"Vote for [Democrat Leader] (Obama) and other Democrats and you will continue to get free or reduced price stuff (like this phone). Don't vote for Republicans because they will cut off your stuff."
>> conservatives...are...more cruel...
Yep, it looks like you're on the same page.
* = Conservatives are mixed on whether A) there should be NO subsidy, or B) a subsidy is OK but it should come as part of one cash handout, which has the duel advantage of teaching people to budget with real money and reducing the number of bureaucrats needed to "manage" these programs. (I'm a "B.")
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The only time I remember hearing about the "Obamaphone" was from Republican politicians against it. I never heard any Dems bring it up.
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Citation is linked in the original comment.
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Weak troll is weak. One need only reach as far as "conservative majority on Slashdot" to realize it's a troll post.
So your contention is that there isn't a conservative majority on Slashdot? I will direct you to the comments on any article that even vaguely hints at a social issue as evidence to the contrary.
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Dude, seriously... if you want evidence, see this article [slashdot.org] , and notice that the modded-up posts are mostly *not* conservative in ideology. While you're at it, see the posts about AGW.
Personally, I find /. to be center to center-left, depending on the subject.
QED: GGP's Weak troll is still weak.
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Re:Are you OK, samzenpus? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think I see the problem:
conservative-libertarian
To put it bluntly, there's no such thing. The two ideologies' interests do overlap in places, but the libertarian ideology also overlaps with the liberals on others.
Basically, the libertarian mindset is socially liberal, fiscally conservative, combined with a strong distaste for governmental interference of any non-critical type. Their main goal is to take over the government, then promptly get the government out of everyone's way.
HTH a little.
IOW: TracFone Finally Agrees to Obey the Law (Score:1)
Gee, what news...
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As a guy who uses Net10 (TracFone's parent company), I can tell you that the phones they sell aren't exactly top-of-the-line. Most of the models are the really low-end stuff: Huawei, ZTE, some-off-brand-or-other, and on the Net10 side, obsolete models of Samsung and LG. The Net10 side does have a couple of flagship phones, but those are prices way out of the reach of their typical customer. this is a typical list of phones we're talking about here. [tracfone-orders.com] Many of these phones (in spite of being overpriced IMHO) co
No, America Movil/Telmex is the parent, not Net10. (Score:2)
...and I believe that America Movil is owned by Telmex, the Mexican telephone monopoly.
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That's not a subsidy. Instead, it's bundling the monthly rental fee of the phone with monthly phone service charges.
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This argument by any provider is absolute bullshit even when you ARE using a subsidized phone. If you leave the contract early you are charged an early termination fee and/or full price for the phone. EIther way the fucking thing is yours and you can do absolutely anything with it that you please.
textnow (Score:2)
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byowireless unlimited texting is $15, not $5 (Score:2)
In considering "unlimited" services, I do realize that byowireless has a $15 unlimited texting plan. However, byowireless is limited to 3g Verizon devices, and the $19 textnow/sprint plan seems a far better deal if you can tolerate the coverage.
It seems that most everyone tries to get the Moto G 3g prepaid Verizon phone onto the 3g mvnos, and this can be rather tricky. The textnow option is a lot less headache.
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I use T-Mobile's pay-as-you go, and it's $3/month for 30 mins or texts. They require $10/3 months, so that's not too bad.
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Yes, I am throttled to edge speed after 100MB LTE, but it is fast enough to listen to Pandora and use navigation at the same time (not fast enough for Netlix, but I have wifi everywhere but the car & I don't watch TV while driving
Best part is these are no
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I pay $45/mo, no contract on Net10, I get unlimited data**. I bought my own damned phone already unlocked (the LG G2 GSM phone I bought a month or so ago cost me something like $215 brand-new off of Amazon.)
It only costs me $755/yr my way ($45/mo plus $215 for the GSM/international phone I bought separately) with no ETF at all...
I have a tracfone (Score:2)
I had a line on a OnePlus a few months ago, but passed because I could find no definitive yea or nay on the plan thing.
For my use, the $100/1200 minutes/1 year plan is just right.
tracfone byop (Score:4, Informative)
...my last byop phone is a Note 2 sch-i605 (Score:2)
...I had hoped to run Cyanogenmod, but Verizon has installed a fascist bootloader. The phone remains capable of running the DN3 and Alliance touchwiz alternative roms. I am on Alliance.
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Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding, Obamaphone remix [youtube.com]
TracFone is Great (Score:2)
TracFone is great for what it does. It allows us to have a simple emergency phone in our vehicle. Nothing fancy. Cheap fixed cost annual plan. Easy. It cost us about $100/year. The phones are essentially free. ($0 to $19). If the phone gets lost you call up TracFone and they transfer the minutes to another phone. Easy-peasy. We've had ours for about a decade.
Why so expensive? (Score:3)
Here in the UK I bought an emergency phone for 10 pounds along with a 10 pound prepayment. The Sim will expire if I don't make a call at least once every three months, but other than that if I don't use it it won't cost anything.
Cellular explained with a car analogy (Score:2)
What's the barrier to choosing a different brand of car?
In this analogy, there are several road owners, and each road rejects all cars that lack a subscription to that road's owner. This means each of the major road owners owns a set of parallel roads that serve each destination.
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Net 10 does something similar here in the States, you buy a card it last for 3 months or until you use all the time on it... when I had one for my wife it cost us like 7 dollars every 90 days, though its probably more expensive now, its been at least 5 years since we used it
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How is that better than T-Mobile's $3/month pay-as-you-go plan? 30 mins/30 txts per month.
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For what I want it's fine. I have an emergency smart phone that I travel with (two SIM slots - 1 US, one international). I don't use cell data, only WiFi, and they've not nickel and dimed me at all. I buy $10 cards at the grocery store and refill every 3 months.
We'll see (Score:2)
tech support is awful (Score:2)
Yea.. you do that (Score:2)
Companies making statements like this simultaneously humor me and infuriate me. This is the equivalent of buying a house and having it for 3 weeks when the builder shows up and says "I'll let you arrange your furniture the way you want it." He can state it all he wants, but its already done. He is pretending he has authority over something that is no longer his. Fuck this and everything about it. When I pay for it, technology is mine. I'll unlock it and do whatever the fuck I want with it and there isn't a
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I'm a SlashDot reader + pay-as-you-go customer (Score:2)
>> While most Slashdot readers probably enjoy the latest and greatest smartphones and heavy-use data plans, millions of Americans use low-cost, prepaid featurephones
I'm on a low-cost prepaid plan along with my family. We currently have 3x sub-$100 Android phones and pay about $60 a month (total, not each) for about 600 voice minutes (which we never completely use), 500 texts (ditto) and about 3GB of data (which is mostly me streaming music between wireless zones at my home and office).
Though I've bee
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Your payback time on the cheaper service will be under a year to switch to Republic, and if you really use that little data, it will be more like 4 months after the new plans go live.
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I moved from a 20gb AT&T plan to Cricket's $35 for 2.5gb plan. Couldn't be happier. I've ran over my data allotment just once in over a year and even then, it was just slowed and still usable.
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I am elated over this. (Score:2)
I've found a straight talk (Tracfone) is the only way to go as I see it. No contract, no free phone either. But I do have a MyTouch that's contract was fulfilled and given the number to use a different carrier.
Why is it so important to me, I can add a HOSTS file to it for one.
Google for one didn't care if one unlocked their "stuff", my Zoom tablet was rooted (I do hope the same as unlocking) and the ad blocking programs usable, as well as so much more ability, like changing ROMs on a whim.
net neutrality addressed mobile phones (Score:2)
I wasn't interested in them so skipped those sections, but did gather they are to stop screwing their customers.