Verizon Faces Criticism For Request To Lock Phones

Verizon is facing criticism after sending a waiver request to the FCC in an effort to erase the policy that allows people to change phone providers after 60 days. Until recently, the company was allowing customers to unlock their Verizon phones after 60 days and switch the device to a different carrier. Now, however, Verizon wants the phones to be locked beyond 60 days.

In a statement to the FCC, Verizon said fraudsters are taking advantage when the phone is unlocked during that time.

Why is Verizon making it harder for customers to switch providers?

“Recent industry experience shows that even a lock of 60 days does not deter device fraud – a huge and growing problem in the United States — and instead enables trafficking in devices that are illicitly sent to foreign marketplaces,” Verizon said in the waiver request submitted to the FCC, per The Street. “This is why the industry standard for providers not subject to the Unlocking Rule is a minimum of 6 months or longer.”

The company adds that there is a clear advantage to low-income customers when thieves take advantage of the 60-day policy.

“Waiving this rule will benefit consumers because it will allow Verizon to continue offering subsidies and other mechanisms to make phones more affordable, lower upfront costs, and enable customers to obtain the latest and most innovative devices,” Verizon said in its statement.

What are customers saying about Verizon’s effort to make it harder for people to change carriers?

One customer who criticized Verizon in a complaint to the FCC said the company is making it difficult to get SpaceX’s Starlink and other new services.

“Verizon’s argument that unlocked phones are against the public interest is just wrong,” the former Verizon customer wrote, per The Street. “It stifles competition by making it harder to vote with your wallet and switch carriers. I recently left Verizon because of a record amount of price hikes within a single year. It certainly would have been much harder to switch carriers if I had to buy a new phone each time. I bought my phone. I get to decide what carrier I want with that phone.”

Advocacy groups are also urging the FCC to stop the company from waiving its unlocking requirement.

“Maintaining and enforcing the 60-day unlocking framework will promote consumer welfare, strengthen competition, and reduce regulatory confusion,” the groups wrote in a complaint to the FCC. “Any modifications to unlocking policy should be addressed through rulemaking, not via individualized waivers that would only exacerbate existing inequities and market distortions.”