Court approves T-Mobile unlocking lawsuit

The US Supreme Court has refused to review the two lower-court cases filed against T-Mobile, officially allowing the case to continue. If T-Mobile were to lose this case, it could make Californian cell phone carriers obligated to unlock customers’ phones if requested. If this case is successful, it could lead to higher priced phones, and even a sliding scale termination fee, which would mean lower fees to customers who stay with the carrier longer. This decision also undermines the T-Mobile terms of service, which requires “aggrieved customers to submit to binding arbitration before a neutral mediator. T-Mobile said the service agreement also bars them from filing class-action lawsuits.”

It’s not clear why the phone prices should go higher. You can have very legitimate reasons to unlock your phone, for example to use a foreign SIM card while on a vacation. In the past, I got T-Mobile and Cinglar to unlock my phone without any problems. I haven’t tried since they were bought by AT&T, but may be I’ll do that next week and see what happens. If you tried to get customer service to unlock your phone recently, could you share your experience?