Steep subsidies allow Americans to buy the latest mobile handsets on the cheap. But the discount comes at a price: GSM-network phones are locked into a single cellular carrier. Now a consumer-rights group is suing Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless, and T-Mobile USA in an effort to get the industry giants to set cell phones free. We asked Cingular vice president Jim Ryan why he won't let mobiles work the way they're supposed to.
WIRED: First, carriers fought number portability. Now you won't unlock our phones. Why shouldn't I be able to take my handset from Cingular to another carrier?
RYAN: It's about user experience. If you had a T-Mobile phone and switched to Cingular, you could run into problems getting mobile browsing and picture messaging working. Cingular's customer care may not be in a position to know exactly how a T-Mobile phone is configured, and vice versa.
It doesn't seem to be an obstacle in Europe.
It's true that there, you can still go to the Carphone Warehouse, buy a Nokia phone, and put in whatever SIM you like. But you also will pretty much pay full price. What we've been told is consumers would rather get a better deal on their phone. Europe is moving toward our model.
I sign a one- or two-year contract to pay for that deal. Why make me sign a contract and lock my phone?
In a perfect world, I'd agree, but a legally binding contract and the costs to enforce it are two different things. It's Cingular's policy to unlock your handset if you've fulfilled your contract. It just tends to be a cumbersome process.
Cellular firms are great at inventing sexy features. Why is basic service still so bad?
People want a phone that works all the time, never drops a call, the battery never dies, and it'd be great if it was free. That's all nice, but this is complex technology. If you look at any statistics about quality of service, all the metrics are going in the right direction.
How long do we have to wait until wireless is as reliable as landline - 10 years?
I think it'll take longer than that, but it's this side of 100. It took landline 100 years. It won't take us that long.
- Lucas Graves
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