US import phone days coming to an end ?

[solarisx21 17]

Are the days of cheap US import phones coming to an end ?

1.US Congress just passed a law which legally allows its citizens to unlock their phones for use with other carriers, unlocking leagally => price hike... LINK

2. All major US carriers are moving away from subsidized model to full retail price model... LINK

Would like to know thoughts of gurus, and others

[st_7 138]

That law or legislation(whatever it is called) was proposed(drafted) few days go, it was just a formality for the US congress to pass it yesterday & make it a law. But it doesn't change anything what it(situation) is prevailing right now. Why?, it's because this law or legislation is only to overright or abolish the outrageous law that was passed a year or so ago by the US Congress itself. That US law makes unlocking of phones(for US consumers or users) illegal even after meeting contractual(2-years contracts that US carriers offer) obligations. So, it was illegal to unlock or get the phone unlocked from third-party services even after you completed two years contract period & paid everything and hence the sole discrection of unlocking their customer phones was left to the corresponding carrier. That's why there was huge outcry on that law among US consumers. The funny thing is that inspite of the previous law that made unlocking illegal it wasn't that difficult to get it unlocked, the carriers(like Sprint & AT&T) continued to unlock their phones for international usage for their customers if the customer who is asking has met some pre-conditions(for Sprint the phone has to be tied to their network for at least 90 days). And there were many third party sellers who have been selling unlock codes for almost all the models of AT&T as well as of T-Mobile.

So, this law brings no sweeping changes but to give the US consumer the legality to unlock their phone once he/she fulfills contractual obligations(2-years contract period). They even added the text in this bill, making mass unlock as illegal, this wasn't the case when it was proposed first.

This is my opinion, I may be wrong with my views, open to be corrected.

[::: VA ::: 531]

Ever since dollar rates reached north of 60INR I didn't feel enthusiastic about electronics in USA.

But as long as there are chances like the current boost Moto g for 89$, I think there are still some exciting products to fish.

Though I would very much appreciate if we can get cheap deals for cdma tablets from USA to work on rcdma.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2

[solarisx21 17]

Most CDMA players are shutting shop...and I am hating it, Tata is closing down, RCDMA - not profitable, MTS - dont know.

We need more CDMA players in the market

Tablets still attract 17% customs right ?

Edited March 8, 2014 by solarisx21

[::Hitesh:: 1,763]

^^^

So what you want to say ? as these companies are shutting down or not making profit etc etc, should we run away from cdma ??

and that law is nothing to do with CDMA

Its more effective for GSM

[solarisx21 17]

Nope...I am trying to say the exact opposite, hopefully because of communities like this CDMA userbase will increase and more service providers come in.

The law is applicable to Verizon & Sprint too - from where 90% of all CDMA handsets come, so it is relevant - this will increase the prices of CDMA devices which are available at good prices now - just expressing displeasure over that....

[nishsuxx 193]

Bhaiya....

This illegal unlock things was a recent thing and did not survive long. So this is not going to change the prices extremely according to me.

Agree with Baba Zeee (wich i always do) that $ rates have hurt the importers sentiments

For those who are worrying about CDMA business shutting down ... start using world phones like Razr, G2 etc .. So the day (if) when Code Division Multiple Access is killed like a dog on street ... you`ll just have to pop in a new sim

[::Hitesh:: 1,763]

I do agree with u, but only due fear that cdma service will be killed ,I am not going with world phone, it will takes years to get cdma killed!

And I am not limiting my options due to this.

And this topic of new law of locking and unlocking in us is not at all relavent to indian mobile service!

It dose not effect at all, so why these two different discussion?

For cdma life or death we have another topic .

tapatalking.....

[nishsuxx 193]

For those who are "worrying"

Aap definitely uss category main nahi aate hoo !

[st_7 138]

I do agree with u, but only due fear that cdma service will be killed ,I am not going with world phone, it will takes years to get cdma killed!

And I am not limiting my options due to this.

And this topic of new law of locking and unlocking in us is not at all relavent to indian mobile service!

It dose not effect at all, so why these two different discussion?

For cdma life or death we have another topic .

tapatalking.....

That were exactly my thoughts that I put out in my last post, I even go little far to say what I've already said in my post, this law doesn't even bring any difference to the table even for an US consumer, except for he/she can feel safe that they don't have to fear receiving any Court Notice for unlocking his/her phone after two years of paying for it!!.

[solarisx21 17]

My logic was based on the idea - now that unlocking is not illegal, lot more people will buy them within the US, this may drive up the price of bad esn devices.

Earlier - Sprint & Verizon devices used to be CDMA exclusive, but now that they are trying to adopt 4G - they need to support sim slots and gsm networks - making them compatiable with TMobile and AT&T - this has also led to increase in prices...

[::Hitesh:: 1,763]

^^^

Looks like you have very limited knowledge of cdma phones in USA, few of them are gsm compatible, but how are you going to ask cdma company about gsm unlock?

Also most world phone sold in USA don't have support for USA gsm bands, even you unlock then they wont work. Out few works but you wont get 3g or 4g .

Also bad esn case stand as it is, if u don't pay bills for one operator same phone get blacklisted on almost all operators, and there even more big group of gsm, gsm operator share a common database of blacklisted Imei , ones black listed it cannot be used for any service in USA, but few of them still work in India.

Things are not going to change for india,

We still have same options as before, our main concern is our import policy, like amount of duty or used items etc

tapatalking.....

[solarisx21 17]

^ What you said has been true I agree....but the newer 4G networks coming up in US, requires GSM bands to work, so from now on most mid ragne phones of even CDMA networks will support GSM bands. Eg: S4, G2, One, Note 3 etc

Any chance of import duty reducing in this budget ?

There policy on used items is quite vague...some people say they have no problems, others say their packages have been detained.

[joshm 818]

Whatever Hitesh said is totally correct and sums it up in totality, apart from things becoming a but more costly nothing can change as far us our cdma scene is concerned, Even if they ll Have gsm bands, it doesn't matter as far as unlocking is concerned, as cdma phone will be unlocked for cdma only as far as my knowledge goes.

But what can play havoc would be kitkat updates on the phones which are supposed to be updated and which will be labeled with it, unlocking, and flashing is getting utterly difficult JB onwards, all carriers and all manufactures are trying to plug the exploits,

Yes developers will gradually get there but it's taking more time and huge efforts. The best example is the note 3.

The duly on cellphones is 7 percent, ( that excludes shipping and handling and cess and stuff)

but the guidelines says that used bad esn and broken phones can't be imported so all phones will invite a duty on their brand new value and it's not gonna change in the near future.

Sent from my SCH-R950 using Tapatalk 2

Edited March 10, 2014 by joshm