A blog all about cell phones!

Beginning with the proposal from AT&T to buy T-Mobile, both companies have eperienced many ups and downs, and not without affect on the customers. To avoid the confusion, and the uncertain future, rather than renew contracts, get the freedom of unlocked cell phones.

When the merger was first proposed, T-Mobile halted many of its practices, some of which benefitted T-Mobile customers, like getting rid of their collections department. Of course, they’ve also stopped practices that would better service (for example, unless you have an unlocked cell phone, iPhone 4S isn’t on T-Mobile).

For AT&Ts part, the governments no vote on the merger has made them act a little crazy. The largest network, trying to shrink to a permissable size meant selling off spectrum, i.e., your phones service & roaming quality.

Furthermore, if the deal doesn’t go through, AT&T, per the deal, has to give even more spectrum to T-Mobile, as well as billions of dollars in penalties.

If you’re a customer of either company, it would be well worth while to switch to an unlocked cell phone that you can take with you if service tanks, the company sells into unfavorable terms, or something new and (probably) worse happens.

Unlocked cell phones also give you the ability to exist without a contract, meaning you can walk away easily. With the current ups and down the leading and third leading mobile companies are going through, the freedom of unlocked cell phones is doubtless worthwhile!

Stick together...if the DOJ lets you!

Now that the DOJ has sued AT&T over its planned merger with T-Mobile, they’ll head to court later this month to try and prove why the merger would be good for cell phone users.

Will it?

If you use unlocked cell phones, the merger matters a bit. One of the joys of unlocked cell phones is switching between GSM networks (networks with a sim card) to find the right data, text, and minutes plan.

With fewer US carriers on GSM networks, then the merger would be a bad thing. While competition between the two companies may be colored by other things (apps like skype, google or facebook chat, and free wifi in many places) the bottom line is that unless you want to go pre-pay, or wifi only your unlocked cell phones need to be on some sort of a plan.

There are other concerns besides the merger. Many manufacturers and carriers are choosing to sell “unlocked cell phones” directly to consumers, in an attempt to keep them in-network. Of course, unlocked cell phones mean many things, and being able to add third party software is one of them. Not all cell phones sold by companies as unlocked cell phones meet this definition, and may still need to be jailbroken.

In any case, keep an eye on the T-Mobile merger, because it could affect not just your unlocked cell phone usage, but your wallet!

Palm is one company moving toward unlocked cell phones.

You may have heard that many carriers and cell phone manufacturers are dead against unlocked cell phones. Apple even tried to making jailbreaking the iPhone against its copyright on the phone. However, last summer, the federal government ruled that jailbreaking phones (turning them into unlocked cell phones) is not illegal, or at least not protected by copyright.

For many phones, however, it does void the warranty. Unlocked cell phones destroy exclusivity contracts cell phone manufacturers make with carriers, such as the iPhone with AT&T, and now Verizon.

But exclusivity creates a huge problem with demand—popular phones like the iPhone are wanted the world over (and certainly the US over), but carriers are not always available, don’t always provide adequate bandwidth for powerful phones like the iPhone, and don’t always provide quality service. The only answer, then, is unlocked cell phones.

But should you jailbreak it yourself? Probably not. If you do it wrong, your risk turning your expensive smartphone into a brick. Rather, buy unlocked cell phones from reputable retailers, or send them in to become unlocked cell phones by the same.

What’s the advantage of unlocked cell phones? Have the phone of your choice in the region of your choosing, on the best (or most reliable) carrier, and control what you do with the phone when you upgrade.