Telus will unlock cell phones

[Tony The Bot]

Telus will unlock cell phones
Posted via Canadian Content

Canada's third largest mobile telecom has recently indicated that it will start offering its customers the option of unlocking their cell phones for a fee. The plan will take effect on February 15, 2011 when it says customers will be given the option to unlock their own cell phone for $50.

The move will give Telus phone owners the option to swap out their SIM card and replace it with something compatible in other countries or, if the hardware is a fit, the possibility of moving to a rival Canadian provider such as Bell Mobility.

The new Telus policy could come because of irate International travellers who, instead of paying exorbitant roaming fees, might prefer to use a local SIM card to cut both data and voice usage charges.

Previously, cell phone owners would have to go to grey market retailers or 'unlockers' to gain the full freedoms of a cell phone without a carrier lock.

Telus says that new customers won't be able to immediately have their phone unlocked, instead having to wait for atleast 90 days from the purchase of the phone. This is expected to stop non-payers with subsidized phones with a new contract from moving to a rival provider.

Some devices under exclusivity contracts with various hardware manufacturers, such as the Apple iPhone will not be available for unlocking under the new scheme.


Original Article: http://www.canadiancontent.net/commtr/telus-unlock-cell-phones_1059.html

 

[Andem]

Why bother paying $50 to get your phone unlocked when you can go to Pacific Mall and get it done for so much cheaper? On top of that, there are tons of online unlockers who do it for much less! This is probably Telus trying to get a piece of that pie.

 

[petros]

You just have to yell at the kids working the booth in the mall and they will unlocked whatever you want.

 

[Praxius]

Well, welcome to the 21st century and the rest of the world.

It's a start, abeit a very sad start.

When my wife first came to Canada, she was looking around to find a place where she could get a SIM card for her blackberry she has with a phone company back here in Australia..... and surprise surprise, the only company that sold SIM cards in Nova Scotia was Rogers.... and they wouldn't sell it to you unless you A) were a customer of Rogers or B) bought a phone from Rogers.

So she had to suffer through roaming charges just like the rest of us Canadians.

Why?

Because the cell phone companies in Canada are corrupt, money grabbing, suck-holes, that's why.....

Frig, kids in Africa get cell phones cheaper then Canadians do, and with more bells & whistles..... here in Australia, cell phones are cheaper and have better deals then LAN phones.

And only in Canada will the government allow cell phone companies to keep an additional charge on your bills for helping build reception towers that was supposed to be taken off in the late 90's.... just by simply changing the name of the charge on your bill. I believe they're calling it a "convenience fee" these days.

Not very convenient if you ask me.

Now Telus is tossing a bone with allowing unlocking of their cell phones..... but not until you pay them $50 and not for at least 90 days..... wow..... whoopty frigity dooo.......

why?

Because they fear those people might head off to a competitor.

*COUGHCOUGHBULLSH*TCOUGHCOUGH*

Last I checked, besides pay as you go plans, everybody else from every other cell phone provider in Canada still slaps you with a 3 year contract..... or a two year contract if you'll accept being charged more..... and thus, if those people decide to break their contract and go to another provider, they get dinged for even more charges and penalties then it's worth...... so that excuse is a load of crap in a bucket.

As Andem mentioned and as the original article mentioned, all you need to do is go to "grey market retailers or 'unlockers' " to get this done and for less then $50.... so Telus isn't doing anything great or profound here...... and it's not like these unlockers are mobsters in the back of a pool hall who'll gut you and drop you in the harbour with concrete shoes....... as Andem said, Telus is just trying to get into that market and try and get some more money..... while others will just think unlocking their phone will be too much and end up getting dinged with roaming charges..... so they still win.

Let me look out the window here in Australia and see if the cell phone providers here are having huge issues with their customers running around with the competition......... nope...... because they all have unlocked cell phones here and allow everybody to put in all sorts of SIM cards right from the get-go..... and nobody has gone out of business because of it....... so that argument is also a crock-pot of crap.

The sooner all the cell phone companies in Canada stop treating their customers like child-minded idiots, the better off everybody will be (the customers and the providers)....... but people still accept all of this, so they have no real incentive to change..... thus they'll still keep treating their customers like child-minded idiots, all the while they continue to rake in all the profits.

All the cell phone providers in Canada are a lot like the gas stations and politicians..... it's a collective monopoly shared amongst the few. They all get together and have a good ol laugh, eat their 'kaviar, drink their cham'pagen and think of ways to further screw their clients...... then they turn around with their two-face attitudes to us all and play the good cop/bad cop routine, while the majority of us suck it all in like gullible little guppies.

But then again, what else can we do?

We need the gas for our cars and they're the only providers, so we have to pay what they demand.

We need to vote in the same clowns into our government(s) because they're the only options to choose from and any other options to vote for are just throw away votes....... or so they say.

We need to deal with these cell phone providers because there aren't any others to choose from.... and we need our cell phones..... otherwise how else will we crash our vehicles due to distraction....... how else will we be able to have every single person on the planet be able to contact us instantly because we and they are so god damn important that we have to stop whatever we're doing to talk to them or txt them about what we ate at KFC???

....... Heaven forbid that they actually call us on our home phones and leave a damn message to get back to them when we're not out doing something else...... cripes, grandma could have fallen down the stairs and wasn't able to get up!!!!

You just never know....... oh the worry of it all!

My precious little babies might get snatched up by some pedophile outside of their school, or one of their school mates might pull out an automatic SMG and gun them all down........ I'll need to instantly be called by them just as they get shot so I can hear them scream and agony and take their last breath over the phone..... There's not a damn thing I can do about it, because by the time I get the message and know what's going on, and by the time I get there to the rescue, it'll all be done and over with........ the best I can hope for is to get that call, hear them scream HEEEELLLLPPPP as they're shot or kidnapped, distract the crap out of me that I veer into the other lane of the highway during rush hour, crash and die!

Bravo..... *clap clap*

What's my point here?

I like stories.

 

[Kreskin]

I canceled my cell phone. Biggest waste of money on the planet. If people paid themselves half of what they pay these corporations for gadgets they could retire early.

 

[Gforce99]

50 @#%$ing dollars to unlock a phone??? COME ON TELUS!! Just when i thought you were starting to come to your senses.. i read this Bull$hit. You can lick my Ball$$

 

[Praxius]

50 @#%$ing dollars to unlock a phone??? COME ON TELUS!! Just when i thought you were starting to come to your senses.. i read this Bull$hit. You can lick my Ball$$

Just look online for a program that does it for you..... I don't know much about the inner workings of cell phones, but I'm sure it's not hard.

ok apparently all you need is a data cable and a software program found online to do it.

 

[petros]

I canceled my cell phone. Biggest waste of money on the planet. If people paid themselves half of what they pay these corporations for gadgets they could retire early.

Mine is in the ditch somewhere between Regina and Moose Jaw. It's been there for about 7 years of peace and quiet now. Everyone else has one so I just use theirs if I need one. If I'm not at home message manager works just fine and I can access from anyone eles's phone for free.



I hate those ****ing things....

 

[Kreskin]

Mine is in the ditch somewhere between Regina and Moose Jaw. It's been there for about 7 years of peace and quiet now. Everyone else has one so I just use theirs if I need one. If I'm not at home message manager works just fine and I can access from anyone eles's phone for free.



I hate those ****ing things....

The way I look at it, if my life is so complicated that I can't wait to get to a landline then there is something wrong.

 

[Praxius]

The way I look at it, if my life is so complicated that I can't wait to get to a landline then there is something wrong.

Agreed, which is why I never once owned a cell phone while I lived in Canada (among other reasons)

Though now that I'm in Melbourne, I am looking at cell phones.... not just because the deals and contracts are better and not a screw over..... but I'm going to need something to tell me where the hell I am when I get lost

It's just a wee bit bigger then Halifax, lol.

 

[petros]

Frig, kids in Africa get cell phones cheaper then Canadians do, and with more bells & whistles.....

They sure do. It's Canadian technology being used for the networks too. Same goes for the Chinese rural phone system. Canadian tech as well.

Sometimes it's even used stuff.

 

[damngrumpy]

I have a Telus phone but it is four years old and is an LG flip phone best damn thing I
have owned. this little phone has even been run over by tractor and a bin fork and it
still works with no problems at all. All around me, there are people unhappy with their
upgrades and model changes. This thin never gives me a problem and they try to get
me to upgrade. Not a chance, all these current offerings are mere rip offs. The over
all idea of manipulating the market is enough to make a preacher cuss. Usually I say
keep Canadian services in Canada, but these companies have formed a little club and
all of them together are taking the rest of us for a ride. Look at the internet business
they planned for us. Shaw and others got access to the main company networks for
phone service and now they are trying with their competitors to dictate everything to
customers. I think the companies need to make a profit and the regulators are sitting on
their hands while we get ripped off. If they can't create an even playing field and fair
competition, then let the outside competition come in and create competition.

 

[Joanie]

I only reallly need a cell phone when travelling awy from home. When I visited the UK last year, I bought an unlocked phone for the equivalent of $6.00 and SIM card for a minimum $15 dollars. It has been great - stays charged for ever and was able to use up the unused balance on subesquent trips. Could never understand why the same thing wasnt available here at such a low cost - we have to lock ourselves in to long contracts, at high prices. It is frustrating because when in home territory I rarely use my cell phone, it's there just as an insurance for emergencies so it irks to have to be held to ransom due to the Bell/Telus/Rogers oligarchy. I hope by the time my contract expires Canada has a better set of options!

 

[masterresetcom]

it's about time Telus does unlocking, But $50 is a rip-off. They should do it free like Wind does after 3 months of service paid. I can't figure out why the Big "3" need keep screwing customers over and over again. I guess, if they didn't screw customers, there would have been no room for Wind mobile or Mobilicity to walk in into our market.

 

[JLM]

Telus will unlock cell phones
Posted via Canadian Content

Canada's third largest mobile telecom has recently indicated that it will start offering its customers the option of unlocking their cell phones for a fee. The plan will take effect on February 15, 2011 when it says customers will be given the option to unlock their own cell phone for $50.

[/URL]

As an old codger this thread has got me totally confused. I have a cell phone which I can lock using a four digit number and unlock doing the same. So how would I be in a position where I'd have to pay someone to unlock it? :smile: OR AM I JUST PLAIN DUMB? :lol: