I would love to have the phone number in that letter and speak to this jack-off personally. Specifically asking him if he's ever heard of the Nexus on his network. It would be great to say something along the lines of "Why do the RAZR, Rezound, and Nexus have locked bootloaders?" to which he might reply with this garbage statement, at which time you could clarify that you neglected to mention that the Nexus IS unlocked...then play a sound-bite of crickets in the background as he tries to offer up credibility to his bogus reasons he JUST stated 30 seconds prior. Give me his number please ;-)
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Verizon Clarifies Their Policy on Locked Bootloaders in a Letter to the FCC
- Thread starter dgstorm
- Start date
Better yet, why not reach out to the person that Verizon sent the letter to? Show them the letter that VZW sent in, and then show her the Galaxy Nexus and how it is unlocked, and ask her how both can be true at the same time? If VZW's defense is network security and a consistant customer service experience, then why is VZW the exclusive retailer of the unlocked Nexus phone?
She can be reached here:
Agency Contact:
Sharon Bowers
Acting Chief, Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Div.
Federal Communications Commission
Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, 445 12th Street SW.,
Washington, DC 20554
Phone:717 338-2533
Email: [email protected]
^ excellent - i was too lazy to find her contact info ;-)
It is definitely worth sending her an email and seeing if anything comes of it. If that fails, there is always a phone number...
I wonder if someone (me?) were to draft a response email to this and we took a few days to massage it and make sure it didn't sound like whiney kids, if this would be something worth doing....thoughts?
It is definitely worth sending her an email and seeing if anything comes of it. If that fails, there is always a phone number...
I wonder if someone (me?) were to draft a response email to this and we took a few days to massage it and make sure it didn't sound like whiney kids, if this would be something worth doing....thoughts?
I just sent her the following:
"I am sure that this is not the first email that you have received on this topic. However, I recently read a letter that was published that showed Verizon refuting a complaint about locked bootloaders from a consumer.
I read their "defense", and if I did not know any better I would have concluded that their argument of network integrity and how "unlocked bootloaders can hinder the customer service experience that their customers expect"... Until I recalled that Verizon is the exclusive retailer of the Samsung Galazy Nexus, an unlocked Google phone.
So if I understand this correctly... Verizon claims that they require locked bootloaders for the above reasons, and yet they paid premium money to get the most anticipated and most widely sold UNLOCKED phone on the US market for their network?
Am I the only one who sees through their bogus argument?
The truth is that Verizon gets paid a lot of money to pre-load "bloat" software onto the phone whether consumers want it or not. They also load up a lot of their own bloat software to try to coerce you into using their peripheral "paid" services rather than the cheaper or even free alternatives that the open market provides.
Android is open-source. Verizon's attempts to lock down an open-source OS to prevent or at the very least coerce customers to purchase their services or block althernatives is something that needs to be looked at.
If they want to load up the phone with all sorts of stuff in the same manner that Dell does, so be it. But I am paying hundreds of dollars for the phone. I should be allowed to uninstall or change the things that I want, to use *my* phone in the manner that I see fit. If I have gone with the Galaxy Nexus, I would be able to do just that.
Thank you for your time.
David Nixon
Atlanta, GA"
Larry_ThaGr81
Active Member
For now I really don't care what Verizon's stance on locked boot loaders might be. My Verizon Galaxy Nexus is unlocked (came with the option to be unlocked) and does what I need and under two year contract. So until I am ready for a new device and looking to stay once again with Verizon I don't care what their opinion is on the topic... lol
VZW needs to just deal with it because if they really wanted to put an end to unlocked bootloaders, they can stop carrying Android products. But Verizon isn't going to do that because that would just be shooting themselves in the foot. So as a already stated, they need to just suck it up and deal with it.
Sent by my Bolt powered by Thunder
Well said - but I think she needs a few dozen emails in her mailbox for her to read on friday lol
What i DON'T want are a bunch of horribly written, whiny sounding, easily dismissible emails that she will simply delete without thought...
I feel a better approach is to draft emails and have users add input before we send it their way. Poorly placed pop-shots won't get us anywhere, i don't believe.
Just my opinion.
I will post my message to her for others to use if they want to steal some of my content - as we certainly want a unified voice in this.
liftedplane
Gold Member
Petition: Verizon Wireless' continued locking of bootloaders: Allow Consumers full control of their android devices | Change.org
lets get some signatures on this... any ideas for the letter are welcome
then we can not only forward this but we could all email her
lets get some signatures on this... any ideas for the letter are welcome
then we can not only forward this but we could all email her
Very easily. I don't want to go into too much detail and give anyone with bad intentions ideas, but locked bootloaders prevent kernel level changes; and there are plenty of things one could do with the underlying Linux kernel that could potentially have a negative impact on the network. And the user of the kernel would be none the wiser.
The Nexus isn't unlocked out of the box. You have to do that manually in which we all know voids the warranty.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums
VZW isn't the exclusive retailer of the Galaxy Nexus though.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using DroidForums
I'm all for unlocked bootloaders and wished my bionic had one, however Verizon could use the claim that the unlocked bootloader affects the actual cell phone service of the device. If you look at any of these forums you will see that Motorola devices get for praised having the best cell service and it just happens to be that they are the only company with a locked bootloader. This might not be a viable excuse, but I can see it being mentioned in their defense.
First of all...At this point we all know Verizon isn't going to unlock bootloaders unless some major management shift happens. So when we upgrade our phones and put ourselves in a 2 year contract, we go in knowing our phones are going to be locked down. Nasty words and impotent rage, no matter who they're directed at, will do no good.
Second, We all know that the sole reason they don't want to unlock bootloaders is because it makes it too easy to do things like wireless hotspot and tethering of all varieties, which in turn will use more data than they care to give out, and this is the "negatively impact the network" they refer to in the statement.
The only thing you can do is leave VZW. I'm not endorsing or asking you to do this as some sort of "end the argument, shut up, i can't stand you fighting" thing. It's just how it is.
VZW's biggest strength is their network. It's why we put up with locked bootloaders and assembly line customer service. If you aren't capable of negotiating a large corporate contract, they aren't going to listen to your complaints.
I will say, if you're out of contract and looking for an upgrade, the biggest message you can send is buying a phone from a non-Verizon source, and letting them know you did so to avoid getting locked into another 2year. You will either have to pay full price for the phone, buy used, or go with last year's tech, but that's money out of their pockets.
Second, We all know that the sole reason they don't want to unlock bootloaders is because it makes it too easy to do things like wireless hotspot and tethering of all varieties, which in turn will use more data than they care to give out, and this is the "negatively impact the network" they refer to in the statement.
The only thing you can do is leave VZW. I'm not endorsing or asking you to do this as some sort of "end the argument, shut up, i can't stand you fighting" thing. It's just how it is.
VZW's biggest strength is their network. It's why we put up with locked bootloaders and assembly line customer service. If you aren't capable of negotiating a large corporate contract, they aren't going to listen to your complaints.
I will say, if you're out of contract and looking for an upgrade, the biggest message you can send is buying a phone from a non-Verizon source, and letting them know you did so to avoid getting locked into another 2year. You will either have to pay full price for the phone, buy used, or go with last year's tech, but that's money out of their pockets.