UK cellular carriers will be forbidden from celling phones locked to their networks, reports the BBC. The law comes into force in a year's time and results from continued shenanigans by carriers making it too hard to unlock phones after they've been paid for.
"[It] will save people time, money and effort – and help them unlock better deals," said Ofcom's connectivity director Selina Chadha. … according to a study by Ofcom, about half of all those who try to [unlock phones] experience difficulties. These can include facing a long wait to receive the code needed to trigger the process, as well as then finding that the code does not work. The regulator added that some owners do not realise their devices are locked in the first place, causing them to suffer a loss of service when they try to switch.
A classic example of good regulation: they give the market a chance to solve an ethical or legal problem, watched it instead scream "Fuck you!" while wringing customers for every last penny, then solved the problem for them for good.
