153d7180__Analyzing_Carrier_IQ_Profiles__Content
[Author] BernardSwiss Dec 24, 2011 3:17 AM EDT [Content] 
They consider the phone theirs -- not yours. I was just on the phone earlier today with FIDO (one of the larger carriers here in Canada) about unlocking an old phone (Motorola Razr v3) that a relative had originally acquired through them on a contract. To make a long story short, even if my relative -- the original owner -- asked, himself, they would still require $50 to unlock the phone. They tried to fob me off with techno baffle-gab about how much effort it made for them to unlock the phone. When I pointed out the flaw in this BS (they need merely look up the unlock code associated with the phone's IMIE number, they switched to arguing that it was expensive to look that up. When I pointed out that the credit-card industry handled much more complex look-ups every time someone makes or verifies a credit-card transaction, at an amazingly cheaper price, they argued that they had sold a subsidized "FIDO phone". When I pointed out that the phone was paid off and no longer subject to contract "concerns", and not their property anymore, etc, they ran out of excuses. Even when I pointed out that it appeared the only justification left was that they seem able to get away with such nonsense, it didn't matter. I figure I could probably buy a better phone outright, for the same price -- and this experience did not fill me with good feelings for the company or optimism about dealing with them, I made it clear that as far as I was concerned, the final result was that they had ensured that I would not consider them as a future provider of my phone(s) or service -- my business will definitely go elsewhere. Of course, they are probably not remarkable in this regard. And I wasn't really surprised -- just slightly stonkered at the complacent attitude displayed by even the customer service staff. These days, Ernestine doesn't just work for the (cell-phone) company -- she's the CEO !
LXer: Carrier IQ profile on my phone: Analyzing Carrier IQ Profiles
Content