A timely rant: Time for SIM-free phones.

[Andreas Kostyrka]

* Dean Collins <Dean at cognation.net> [070226 18:16]:
>    Sure not a problem but when you are finished `papering' please explain to
>    all the consumers why the costs of their $49 (or free) handsets just
>    doubled or tripled to full retail/manufacturing costs.

Well, that's bullshit. In Germany you get usually non-simlocked phones
with your contract, and that's it. In Austria, other tradition, you
get usually simlocked phone with contracts, but it's relativly cheap
after the contract expired to get the network operator to unlock it.

The relevant bit here is, that the thing that allowes the operator to
offer the lower rates is the contract, not the simlock.

One last interesting thing, non-supported phones when sold by the
operators in Austria are priced quite high, AND do include the simlock.

And it's obviously legal to unlock it anyway, because some discount
operator has been recommending 3rd-party unlock services ;)

Andreas