is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Verizon can keep phones locked to its network for longer after the Federal Communications Commission agreed to waive the carrier’s 60-day unlocking requirement, as reported by Ars Technica.
Following this decision, Verizon must follow a looser set of guidelines set by the CTIA wireless trade group, which says carriers should only unlock a customer’s postpaid phone after their contract is up, when they finish paying off the device, or following the payment of an early termination fee. Meanwhile, the CTIA’s code says carriers should unlock prepaid phones “no later than one year after initial activation.”
The change comes after Verizon asked the FCC to waive the 60-day unlocking requirement last year, arguing that it “benefits bad actors and fraudsters.” The FCC began requiring Verizon to unlock phones faster as a condition of its purchase of 700Mhz spectrum licenses in 2008. It later granted Verizon permission to wait 60 days until unlocking customers’ phones, a policy the carrier extended to Tracphone following its acquisition.
“Today, criminal networks are specifically targeting Verizon handsets due to the company’s unique unlocking policies,” the FCC’s filing says. “In total, the Commission’s current rules cost Verizon hundreds of millions of dollars each year in deadweight loss — money which could have been invested in network upgrades or consumer friendly deals.”
Now that the FCC has lifted the unlocking requirement, you might have to wait longer to switch to another carrier after activating a phone with Verizon. The FCC’s filing says the changes will go into effect at Verizon one day after the release of its order, adding that it will remain in effect until the FCC “decides on an appropriate industry-wide approach for the unlocking of handsets.”