The Big Four Wireless Carriers Have Too Much Control Over Handset Choice
from the sue!-sue!-sue! dept
Back in January we had an article about a lawsuit against the major wireless carriers that wasn't particularly clear about what the lawsuit actually was about. I'm assuming that this new article is about that same lawsuit - but with much more in the way of details. Basically, people are suing because they say the four major wireless carriers (AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Sprint PCS and Verizon) have way too much power over consumers' choices when it comes to mobile phones. The various carriers force you to buy a mobile phone from them or their partners - and set up the phones so that they can't be used on any other carrier's network. It is something of a pain that certain phones can't be used with certain carriers - but part of that is a technological issue (and I'm sure the carriers will claim they need to "approve" the various phones first for the sake of quality).
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The bigger issue to me...
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If this complaint gets any traction, which I doubt, it could lead to more, not less, expensive phone costs for everyone.
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