> claiming that locking phones to a carrier's network makes it possible to provide cheaper handsets to consumers
Weird, because they seem to have the same prices as Verizon.
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Weird, because they seem to have the same prices as Verizon.
So yes they do offer "cheaper phone prices" but of course you are locked to their expensive plan for years.
Google wrote to the FCC and made a binding commitment to bid at least $4.3 billion if the final rules included certain open access rules. The FCC then included those rules, thus guaranteeing they would get at least $4.3 billion.
Verizon outbid Google and so got that spectrum along with those open access requirements, which included no SIM locking.
In 2018 Verizon, citing fraud concerns, asked the FCC to relax the no locking rule. The FCC agreed, allowing a 60 day lock.