[lotuseclat79]

Article here.

Any TV you buy will work with any cable or satellite TV service you have. Any PC you buy, even a Mac, will work with any Internet service provider you use. Any landline phone, wired or cordless, will work any phone company's landline service. So can you buy any cellphone you want regardless of who your carrier is? Of course. Unless you live in USA. Why? Because the FCC is a wuss and a monopoly enabler and can't even follow its own rules.

-- Tom

[Mulderator]

I am frankly much more concerned with the cost of the service. Is the US cost for cell phone usage cheaper than the places where you can you use any phone? I don't know--just asking because given the choice, I'd rather keep the phone service cheaper and the restrictions on the head set that can be used. We have a plan with four cell phones (two for my girls, two for us) that is pretty darn reasonable in price.

[Mulderator]

Just did a little research and as usual the socialistic liberal slant of the article completely misses the fact that you can get cell phones much cheaper--under the US system, you contract and they basically give you a cell phone or charge you very little for it--that's the trade off--if you open it up then you'll pay retail for the phone. As mentioned, the contracts are also extremely competetive--under ours, we got all the phones for pennies on a dollar.

Plus--I don't understand it anyway--I've bought phones off e-bay that were "unlocked" and had no problem using it with the carrier I had. So as usually, you can either get a phone for free or pay retail if you choose to use a different phone then what is being offered under the contract.

What this really demonstrates a big problem in the country--that's the "ignorance" of socialists/liberals when it comes to anything regarding economics or the economy--let these people make the decisions and we'll be like the old Soviet Union in no time.

[Bastiat]

BTW, Wino will be along shortly to tell you how to unlock any cell phone from any particular service and replace the service provider with one you want. You have to understand, Wino is from Texas and he's a cheap ba$tard, an unforgivable combination.

[BanditFlyer]

Originally Posted by Mulderator

I am frankly much more concerned with the cost of the service. Is the US cost for cell phone usage cheaper than the places where you can you use any phone? I don't know--just asking because given the choice, I'd rather keep the phone service cheaper and the restrictions on the head set that can be used.

The English language suffers in this respect. In English, the same word is used for something that is free of charge(Gratis) as for something that is free of restrictions(Libre).

Clearly, freedom from restriction is a far nobler goal than getting junk inexpensively.

Americans have the highest average income in the world, so the cost of service should be far less of a concern to us all than the restrictions placed on that service.

As an aside, the Chinese Communist party has been able to placate the gullible public into wanting less political freedom by giving them jobs and cheap trinkets. What can you expect from a people that have been accustomed to living under various dictatorships for the past 6,000 years. I would think Americans wouldn't be so easy to sell out.