POSTED BY

Joel Johnson

AT 10:37 AM
Tuesday June 16, 2009

Industry • Phones and Wireless • Politics • Progress and Optimism

at&t • consumers • iphone • iphone 3g s

Senators wonder aloud if only AT&T should be able to sell the iPhone

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Four senators have sent a letter to Michael Copps asking the FCC Commissioner to decide if wireless carriers having exclusive partnerships with phone companies is fair to the consumer, in anticipation of a Commerce Committee meeting this week.

Translation: Should AT&T be the only carrier that gets to sell the iPhone?

The notion is actually the byproduct of a petition from the Rural Cellular Association, a group of small carriers that service the parts of the country the Big Four wireless companies do not. By not being able to offer customers the phones of their choice, they argue, it makes it difficult for them to compete with larger carriers when their markets overlap.

It's certainly fair to consumers to have the most choice, especially when carriers have created a false economy to force customers into long-term contracts through the sale of "subsidized" phones. But it might be a sticky for the manufacturers of the phones—would Apple, for instance, be forced to make different models of iPhone that worked with other wireless standards like Verizon's CDMA?

There's much going on here, and I've been trying to research a similar vein ever since the iPhone 3G S was announced last week. (I even have been in touch with the office of Senator Amy Klobuchar, one of the signers of this letter to the FCC, but getting an answer back from an official's office when you write for "Boing Boing" is sometimes tricky.)

Not sure this was prompted by the announcement of the new iPhone on AT&T? Check out this section of the letter:

Whether exclusivity agreements place limitations on a consumer's ability to take full advantage of handset technologies, such as the ability to send multimedia messages or the ability to "tether" a device to a computer for internet use;
Photo: Jason Morrison

7 Comments

Anonymous Anonymous

#1 – 2:01 PM June 16, 2009

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa

Sorry


US is so far behind the rest of the world, because everyone else standardised on GSM, but the US carriers were forced to adopt differing systems because a common standard smelled too much like a cartel, so users were locked in, and manufacturers were forced to play second fiddle to the networks.


Now some networks can't get the (GSM) iPhone and that's anti-competitive - too, too funny.

Tell me the one about paying for incoming calls again....

ryuthrowsstuff

#2 – 4:06 PM June 16, 2009

Actually, last I heard there was already a federal law in place stating it was illegal to lock a phone into a particular carrier. When the original I-Phone was first announced as locked into AT&T I remember this law being touted a lot.

Now I never looked into it much myself so it may not be a true. A quick Google search didn't come up with much. I do remember the claim was it was a law passed by congress (not FCC regulation). I also vaguely remember it hearing it long before that as well (I always figured that would be during debate/passage).

retrojoe

#3 – 4:24 PM June 16, 2009

Lived in Europe and I've lived (living) in the US. I've had cell phones in both places. US has been far and away better, not behind. Cheap for a quality phone and cheaper to use it (unless you're a 16 year old girl and text 400 times a day).

strider_mt2k

#4 – 6:47 PM June 16, 2009

Wondering aloud,

Will the years treat us...well?

Mike Overbo

#5 – 9:12 PM June 16, 2009

I'm from Minnesota, scant minutes away from her office.

She's usually pretty good about responding to email, though perhaps not on the timeline you'd like.

Let me know if I can help.

JohnLarsen

#6 – 5:20 AM June 17, 2009

ryuthrowsstuff: No, the "law" you speak of is the DMCA now legalizes your right to hack a phone to a different network once your contract is up.

Hannes S.

#7 – 4:30 AM June 19, 2009

@retrojoe
The question is where in Europe did you live? For sure not in Austria, which is one of the most competitive markets in mobile phones of the world. HSDPA is offered by all carriers, iPhones by two, Blackberries by all and 15GB Data runs for € 20,- a month. Call plans are practically flat for most users and in the same range, most phones for free if you take a contract for 24 month (I guess a Euro is almost free for an iPhone).
In my perception and experience the US are way behind, sorry.

What troubles me most is the pervert addiction of so many US politicans to mess around with the thing the US are most proud of: free markets. When politicans can overrule the contract made by two companies, free market is f.... How much do they get paid by Verizon or whatever? It is pure greed when politicans start to mess with markets....

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