Unshackle Your Smartphone From The Clutches Of Your Carrier-Unlocking Is Finally Here...Maybe!

February 11, 2015. Thats the date the Cellular Telephone Industries Association (CTIA) set as the deadline for the major U.S. carriers to implement all six of the voluntary requirements that allow users to request a sim-unlock for their off-contract/contract-free smartphone without hassle or delay. Up till now, most carriers locked cell phones to their network to insure that the device remained on their network till at least when any contract is fulfilled. They did so to insure that they recoup any subsidy they provided when the smartphone was purchased at a discount price. For example, when you pay $199 for a new Apple iPhone 6, Apple actually gets paid a total of $650, the full retail cost. Your carrier "subsidizes" the $450 for you in hopes of recouping that amount in the two years that you remain a subscriber on their network. If you choose to leave early, most carriers will hit you with a $350 early termination fee (ETF) to recoup the subsidy. This is common practice in the industry with most post-pay carriers.

But what about phones that you pay outright full price for? Shouldn't they be unlocked? Absolutely. Are they? Not in all cases. Today, each carrier has its own policy on unlocking phones sold for use on their respective network. With the industry now moving away from subsidized phones to phones that are purchased on installments, contracts are becoming less prevalent. But with phones on installment plans, the carrier still locks those phones to their network to insure the device is paid in full. Most carriers will now gladly unlock any iPhone purchased and paid for in full with a fulfilled contract without hassle or delay. The exception to this is Sprint. They claim only phones sold after February 11, 2015 can be fully unlocked. Devices sold prior to this date can only be unlocked for international use. While most carriers implemented all six provisions of the CTIA agreement for unlocking over six months ago, Sprint is the only one who refused to implement them till the last minute--and did so with caveats.  (The industry decided to adapt the CTIA provisions to avoid having the FCC write rules that forced them to unlock--that action was imminent had they not voluntarily offered to provide consumer relief).

While Verizon and Sprint both use CDMA technology where most world carriers including AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM, Verizon and Sprint phones are not always if not ever interchangeable. In other words, a Sprint phone may not be usable on Verizon, or vice-versa. Yet both Sprint and Verizon phones should be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile, although not 100% with data given the different frequencies and bands used. Most AT&T or T-Mobile GSM phones are interchangeable on each others networks, but neither AT&T nor T-Mobile phones are compatible with Sprint or Verizon since they don't have CDMA radios needed to access those networks. Yet Sprint and Verizon phones had to add GSM radios to their devices so subscribers can take their smartphone overseas and be able to access international carriers or insert a foreign carrier sim that is compatible with the GSM carriers worldwide.

So what are the major players doing given the new rules? Verizon decided over two years ago (since the launch of the iPhone 5) to simply sell their handsets completely unlocked. Any smartphone you buy from them is already unlocked and usable on any compatible network.   Older Verizon handsets require a call to Verizon customer service to request an unlock. My experience unlocking with Verizon is virtually pain-free.

AT&T will allow you request an unlock online if your device is off contract, account is paid in full if closed, and you don't owe a balance on some installment plan. Your request is supposed to be fulfilled within 48 hours if all stipulations and obligations are met.

T-Mobile locks their handsets and will also allow you to request an unlock by calling them. Within 48 hours, they will email you the unlock code and instruction on how to unlock. Again, you must be contract-free, not owe any EIP (Equipment Installment Plan) and the device must not have been reported lost or stolen, and the account it was attached to must be paid in full. Requesting an unlock from T-Mobile is also straight-forward without hassle once all the requirements are met.

Lastly, Sprint has finally fallen into the fold after insisting on waiting till the last moment, while the other carriers complied with all of the CTIA provisions almost immediately. Sprint today says that all devices sold after February 11, 2015 can be fully unlocked. However any device sold before that date can only be unlocked for international use.  This shortcoming flies in the face of the whole spirit of the CTIA rules and pretty much tells former Sprint customers to go pound sand. It's no wonder Sprint keeps bleeding subscribers (not to mention having the worst network and abysmal customer service).

Sprint says that it too will unlock devices when they are contract free, have no account balance due, and are not under a finance contract. It's not clear if you still must have a current active Sprint account to get an unlock, which was also a requirement to get an international unlock before the CTIA rules became fully effective.  If this rule is still in effect, this means you should request your unlock BEFORE you quit Sprint.  No other carrier has this requirement.  Again, a pain no one should have to endure.

So why would you want to get your device unlocked, and why should you care?  Many reasons. First of all, so you can take your device across the street to another carrier if you so choose.  Or if you travel overseas and want to use an international sim from a local carrier,  you'll want your device to be unlocked.  And the most important reason is that it adds value. A carrier unlocked device will fetch more money than a locked model of the same if you decide to sell it to buy a new model--anywhere from $15-$100 more depending on the device.

Cell phone unlocking is a long time coming, and now that unlocking is no longer illegal (it was for a couple of years), it makes sense that your fully paid-for device shouldn't be tethered to one carrier. Ask for an unlock as soon as your device is eligible--why wait till you need it?  It makes sense to be ready for any upgrade or travel without having to worry if your device will work when you need it to with an alternate carrier. The device is yours, just make sure you're not beholden to any carrier Kids!

How Do You Become The Nation's Largest Retailer Walmart With Management That Is All But Clueless?

I hate shopping Walmart. There. I said it. I used to loathe K-Mart, well before they became Big K-Mart, and even more so after they merged with Sears. But how Walmart ever became the nation's largest retailer I'll never know. With so many employees that show they couldn't care less about the customer, much less their jobs, or are merely there in body but not mind, I shudder at the thought each time I need to enter a Walmart for any reason.  It's one thing when employees are clueless about simple company policies, but when even supposedly carefully trained retail managers at Walmart don't know their own company policies, you begin to wonder how they even stay in business.

I don't normally shop Walmart, I'm a Target kind of guy.  But I do have a Sam's Club business membership alongside my Costco Wholesale business membership. Sam's Club is owned by Walmart.  Sam's Club tries their hardest to compete with Costco on price, selection, and quality, and for the most part succeed,  but when it comes to competing on customer service, both Walmart and Sam's Clubs fail when compared to Target and Costco. I suspect it is the wage differential. Sam's and Walmart pay mostly minimum wage. Costco starting pay is around $12 an hour, more than $4 an hour than Sam's Club, something that attracts better candidates and ultimately, workers with better work ethics.

Yesterday I visited a local Walmart location to pick up a few Walmart gift cards. The cashier at the first location I visited was steadfast that no-you can't buy a Walmart gift card with your credit card. Huh? I've been buying Walmart gift cards for years on my Amex or Visa cards. In fact, I bought a few myself last month without a problem.  Since when can't I buy them on my credit card? She said, it's ALWAYS been that way. Uh, no-it hasn't!  I buy Walmart gift cards all the time to use at Sam's Club because they only accept Discover and Mastercard, and I sometimes prefer to pay with Amex or Visa to get bonus points or miles offered by those cards, so buying a Walmart gift card at Walmart with my Amex or Visa gets me the points, and allows me to pay for my Sam's Club purchases with the form of payment suitable to me, not what is suitable to Walmart.

After going back and forth with the cashier,  she rudely walks away, apparently to go speak to a customer service manager whom she insisted agreed that I can't use a credit card?  The manager also insisted "cash only for gift cards-even Walmart gift cards!" Oh my God I thought.  No!  I insisted, I've always bought them on my credit card for years without a problem. The manager wouldn't budge.

Not wanting to waste more time, I left that store and headed off to another Walmart I would pass on my way home anyway. They couldn't possibly be as clueless there right? WRONG!  Yet another clueless cashier was dumbfound that I was trying to use my Amex card to pay for my gift cards and also decided to seek a manager's opinion when I tried to charge them. Remarkably yet another Walmart manager gave me the same spiel--no credit cards can be used to buy Walmart gift cards. I told her that I understood I couldn't buy say a Prepaid Mastercard on my Amex, but Walmart gift cards I can buy all day long.   Her clueless response and analysis? "No you can't.  What if someone had stolen your credit card and came in to buy gift cards and ran it up to it's limit?"   Ummm well so what?  If you guys aren't smart enough to verify the buyer's ID, it might very well happen. But what difference does it make if they fraudulently used my credit card to buy gift cards or to buy a 60" HDTV? She replied, "most likely they'd buy gift cards on a stolen credit card, not a big TV--it's easier to get cash for gift cards later". This not only sounded ridiculous, but it was absurd to think a credit-card scammer would care what he was able to buy with the stolen card as long as he could walk out with something of value.

During our conversation, yet another manager came along and joined the discussion. She too concurred with the first manager--cash only for any gift cards, including Walmart gift cards, and that if I had a problem or complaint about the policy, I should call 1-800-Wal-Mart to inquire, this was Walmart's long standing policy on gift card sales.  I disagreed with both of them and said, no, this isn't Walmart's gift card purchase policy for buying Walmart gift cards.

I promptly pulled out my phone and called the number right from the store, and amazingly enough, I got someone on the line who was actually helpful and courteous. She listened to my complaint and then put me on hold a few minutes to research their policy on gift card sales. A few minutes later, she came back on the line and read me the gift card purchase policy. Indeed I could purchase Walmart gift cards up to $1,000 on each gift card on my credit card.  There was no limit on how many gift cards I bought as long as I could pay for them--cash or credit card. Certain gift cards were cash only like Amex, Visa, and Mastercard debit cards.

I asked her if she would kindly explain to the assistant store manager the policy she had just read me? She agreed to do so.  I told her because in fact there seems to be confusion amongst a number of managers and personnel at multiple stores since this is the second store that I'd been to and turned away. She remarked that apparently there is some confusion between buying debit Mastercard gift cards which requires cash, and buying other branded gift cards.  I walked over to the the manager and handed her my phone so she could be schooled on the correct gift card sale policy.  She was told that the Point Of Sale would reject any payment that isn't acceptable for each gift card type sold at Walmart (Mastercard, iTunes, Starbucks, Walmart, etc.) so there was no need to police this and her staff needn't be concerned what form of payment is used. If a form of payment unacceptable for a particular gift card, the system would reject or block it.

Yet another example of employees and management making up the rules as they go along instead of doing their job. I bought my gift cards and walked out. Amazing what one has to go through to buy a simple gift card Kids! This shouldn't have be so difficult. No wonder I hate shopping Walmart.

Retail Store Price Matching At Best Buy Is Nothing But A Waste Of Time

Retail store managers just don't get it--most especially at Best Buy stores. And price matching policies are nothing but false come-ons that end up being a complete waste of time and are not worth pursuing. Most larger retailers have some kind of policy to match competitors sale prices to gain your business. But getting a retailer like Best Buy to honor competitors prices apparently requires an act of congress.

My latest escapade involves an overzealous Best Buy blue shirt employee who instead of trying harder to make sure you buy from the electronics giant, ends up working against the customer to make sure they don't. The whole purpose (and spirit) of price-match policies is so you do one-stop shopping and forego visiting, much less shop the competition. This concept is lost on most store personnel, sales associates, and store managers at most retail outlets. Even with the newly implemented policies matching online stores, there seems to be an inherent attitude that consumers are trying to "scam" lower prices via false or fabricated competitors ads. Sure it happened earlier this year at Walmart, but most simple price match policies would catch such slight and not honor those prices.  

So fully armed with a current Target advertisement, a printed email announcement, and displaying the online web discount percentage on my iPhone showing the EXACT SAME make and model iPad 2 Air Target was advertising for 15% off, the Best Buy associate almost immediately insisted that the discount was only good on WiFi iPad Air 2 models, not WiFi models equipped with 4G LTE. And despite there being a laundry list of models that were specifically excluded from the offer (iPad Mini, iPad Air 1, iPad 4, 3, 2 and 1), she insisted there was no PROOF that the 4G LTE models were included in the sale. So what part of where the ad that says "Get 15% off ANY iPad Air 2 16Gb, 64Gb, or 128Gb" are you having trouble understanding? Apparently the word ANY was the problem and excluded iPad Air 2 Wifi with a 4G LTE radio option in her opinion.

Not satisfied with her almost dismissive attitude, I thought calling what appeared to be a rookie manager would help, but it turned out to also be a waste of time as he added another 20 minutes to the 30 minutes I had already spent waiting while the sales associated (SA) conducted her so called price investigation. He too felt the need to waste more time on the computer trying to figure out if he should honor the discount. Throughout the whole time he was doing his so-called research, the SA kept repeating to him out loud that 4G LTE models were not listed as part of the sale. The manager finally gave up and told the employee to call the local Target store to verify they had stock of the same exact color, capacity, and capabilities and walked away with nary a comment to me. Seriously now? 30+ Target stores in Metro Detroit and you want to check stock on a high-end iPad Air 2 maybe 1 in 1,000 shoppers would be looking for? Sure enough! "They must have it in stock and readily available for purchase in order for us to match it" the SA insisted. Thats how our price match policy works.

Never mind that I had already told the SA that I just walked out of a local Target store having verified the same item being in stock and available for sale at the discounted price. I prefer to buy at Best Buy for my reward points and interest-free financing on my Best Buy Credit Card over the 5% discount I get on my Target Redcard.  The SA finally gets someone on the line at Target who verified the item in stock and on sale, but said he wouldn't/couldn't confirm the price over the phone. She hangs up and says to me in an what amounted to a happy voice, "Sorry, I can't match the price-they won't verify the price over the phone." she muttered. So let me get this straight: The online price wasn't good enough. The fact that the item is in stock wasn't good enough, now you found another reason to deny the price match? 

I was done. After an hour of time wasted, I told her she can keep it, I'm going back to Target to buy it. Her smug response? "Ok, have a nice day." Really? You should feel proud you cost your store an $800+ sale. Never mind the $300+ other items and high-margin accessories I intended to purchase along with this iPad. 

On my way out, I went back over to where the same clueless manager was standing, explained to him that his all but empty store on the last Saturday before Christmas just lost what amounts to over a $1,200 sale thanks to the rude and not so helpful SA, and how ridiculous it was that not only did I spend over an hour in-store to try and get a price match, but I had also spent over 25 minutes on hold with his Best Buy Store PRIOR to coming out there to verify stock and price (no one ever eventually answered) all the while,  listening to their repetitive recording telling me over and over again about how I can "BUY WITH CONFIDENCE" from Best Buy given the Best Buy low price guarantee and their price matching policies. Yet I come in the store and they do everything to make sure they don't match a local competitor's advertised price. Some guarantee. PATHETIC!

I promptly departed the store and the left the few other items I had gathered to buy and drove back to Target where I purchased the same exact item (iPad Air 2 4G LTE 128Gb Gold) at the price I was trying to get them to match it at $705.00 (15% off the regular price of $829.99. 

The sad part about this whole story? Best Buy had offered the same exact iPad 2 Air 4G LTE model only a week earlier for almost the same price at $100 off $729.99--which only made this deal about $24 about cheaper than that price--so it wasn't like they were giving away the store had they honored the price. Plus with margins of 50% or more on accessories, they would have easily made up the difference. Instead they lost it all.

Bottom line, they lost an iPad Air 2 sale, PLUS, a number of other items totaling about $300. Their loss. Next time I won't even bother to ask for a price match, much less make it to their store.  I'll simply buy where it's cheaper and save myself the aggravation. Live and Learn Kids!