The California Supreme Court has recently ok’d a class-action lawsuit against T-Mobile. The plaintiffs in the case are T-Mobile customers, and they are seeking two things:
- To prevent T-Mobile from charging a fee for early contract termination (currently the fee is about $200)
- To require T-Mobile to unlock cell phones if customers decide to switch carriers (so that customers aren’t forced to purchase a new cell phone)
Practices such as charging early terminations fees and locking phones are standard among major carriers (such as AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint Nextel), so if T-Mobile loses this lawsuit, major changes to the relationship between carriers and customers could result. For instance, carriers might have to do away entirely with early termination fees, or might be required by law to unlock phones when a subscriber requests it.
But carriers claim that locking the phones is the only way they are able to make a profit — that if they are forced to unlock phones, consumers will have to start paying a lot more to purchase cell phones. So who knows — if the plaintiffs end up winning, the decision could end up being a bad thing for some consumers.
Here are some other blog entries on the T-Mobile class action case from Ars Technica, Slashdot, and iPod Observer.
P.S. – Several weeks ago, a separate (but similar) class-action lawsuit was filed against Apple regarding software locks on Apple’s iPhone.