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Comment by rakkhi | Hacker News Reader

Seems like we are a bit more lucky in the UK. You can buy virtualy any model android that is not carrier locked on pay as you go or just signup to a pay monthly plan with any of the 5 major carriers: http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/mobiles/smartphones/android

In the US I can understand your points.... how is such a large market so controlled by the carriers? How is there not someone like carphone warehouse that sells all phones unlocked and carrier free? I mean here I bought even my iPhone from the Apple UK store unlocked and chose my own carrier, would do the same with an Android - no crapware any time.

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>any model android that is not carrier locked on pay as you go

That's wrong. All PAYG phones are carrier locked - they have to be for the sake of the business. You can buy SIM-free phones easily (say from expansys).

The only way to get an unlocked phone from a carrier is to get a pay monthly plan, and that's only on some carriers (IIRC, only O2 gives you an unlocked phone, and on T-Mobile you have to request an unlock code and they give it to you 28 days later). The reseller Carphone Warehouse told me that all their pay-monthly deals, regardless of carrier, come with unlocked phones.

I would respectfully disagree.

You can buy a phone outright and go on a pay monthly plan without a contract. That is what I am currently doing with my iPhone - I paid ¬£440 for the phone outright and pay £20/month on O2 for 300 minutes, unlimited text and unlimited data.

No reason why you can't do that on n an Android

That's a SIM unlocked phone rather than a "true" PAYG, and yes you can do that with Android. Actually I'm about to :)

I got my N900 from Vodafone UK on contract and it is not locked. And it is paid via contract, not bought separately. (i.e. I did not pay the full price of the phone, only 30£ or so at the beginning)

Thanks for the info. Haven't talked with Vodafone for a while because their data prices always seemed high. T-Mobile and O2 were cheaper, hence me knowing a bit more about them.

Corporations write the laws in the US. Politicians are just order-takers.

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