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Simple solution for Verizon locked bootloader

I have read countless threads on this subject that range from just bend over and take it its not that bad to I'm selling my phone as soon as I get. There is a simple way of showing our dislike of the locked bootloader. It only takes a minute and it will get Verizons attention. it's not a smack on the head with a bag of nails but it will sting the big red bully enough to eventually act.
Go to the verizon mobile web site "my verizon" click upgrade device pick any phone click quick look click read reviews click write a reveiw and the phone you currently have wille come up and ask you to write a reveiw. Give it the lowest amount of stars Most importantly be polite, factual and don't bash Verizon (save that for the XDA forums)
This is the most efficient way a few can get their point driven home in an acceptable and respectable manner. When all the phones on its web site have only 2 or 3 stars they will definately be effected. This is the most effective civil way of letting Verizon know they are doing their customers wrong.
What do you guys think?
Press thanks if you think this will help...and because it boosts my XDA cred :laugh:

Yes at this point Verizon needs a wake up call and realize out not for its they would not have food on the table. Every one of these ways people come up with help.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

you're not going to matter to Verizon. Not trying to be a **** but the amount of customers that want an unlocked bootloader is minimal compaired to their total customer base. Yes it sucks balls and i feel for you verizon guys, but there isn't much you are going to be able to do about it.
Best option would be to call their customer service and tell them you want to cancel your account and when they ask why just say you guys refuse to unlock bootloaders so i am taking my business elsewhere. With the phone being new to the market and in high demand i would just sell it on ebay or craigslist for 500 and switch to a different carrier.

When is the developer edition of the VZW SGS3 going to be available? I think a lot of people are trying to sell their VZ S3's on eBay for $549 or $600 to buy it outright from Samsung. As long as you don't take advantage of VZ's subsidized pricing on a new device you can keep your unlimited data plan when you activate it. I'm considering that option.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

mburke178 said:
you're not going to matter to Verizon. Not trying to be a **** but the amount of customers that want an unlocked bootloader is minimal compaired to their total customer base. Yes it sucks balls and i feel for you verizon guys, but there isn't much you are going to be able to do about it.
Best option would be to call their customer service and tell them you want to cancel your account and when they ask why just say you guys refuse to unlock bootloaders so i am taking my business elsewhere. With the phone being new to the market and in high demand i would just sell it on ebay or craigslist for 500 and switch to a different carrier.
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Click to collapse
If all the phones on their site suddenly had only two or three stars trust me it will affect verizon. Phones with low amounts of ratings could be affected by just one or two bad reviews. It is the biggest impact we can make with very little time invested. Calling in returning phones and all the other ideas are also excellent just not the best bang for the buck. I plan on doing all of the above.

Jugger naut said:
If all the phones on their site suddenly had only two or three stars trust me it will affect verizon. Phones with low amounts of ratings could be affected by just one or two bad reviews. It is the biggest impact we can make with very little time invested. Calling in returning phones and all the other ideas are also excellent just not the best bang for the buck. I plan on doing all of the above.
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Click to collapse
Anyone who is going to be researching a phone isn't going to go solely off the service providers website or at least they should be smarter than that. Also if they wanted they could easily just delete all the 1 star reviews.

You guys are no fun, either that or you are shills for Verizon LOL its always better to do nothing when done wrong or when faced with adversity
P.S. feel free to hit the donate button, gotta recoup for the hit im going to take selling my my S3 (they sould have named it the FU2). The hit I'm going to take cancelling my contract early, and a couple tubes of anal ease
(VERIZON left me a little raw) :crying::silly:

I think this is a great idea. Will it work? Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't hurt to try. I think it's definitely worth a try.

Might as well give it a shot

I think this is a great idea! I think that not that many people give ratings anyway so even if a small number of us do it, it should have an impact. And I do think people might not read the review but they do look at the rating
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I will leave negative reviews I am not sure it will help but I I am in to make the effort. I have been getting back at them (verizon) in my own ways like running my office and most my neighborhood of some extra lines my business account has with unlimited data in 4G areas
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Well since there arent many reviews leaving a bunch of negative ones would have a pretty big impact

I think this idea is "awesome"! No it's not the one thing that's going to sway VZW's politics but hopefully one of many to curb their abuse of the consumer....
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

This is a great idea
its diffidently a better idea then sitting on your azz
:victory:

Possible lawsuit against Verizon
I ride bike with two gentlemen who are members of a large law firm. Very nice guys considering they're lawyers :laugh: Had to put that in there for when they read this...hi guys!
They informed me that if Verizon does not post the negative reviews there are grounds for legal action (it took then about six paragraphs twenty minutes and a whole bunch of what I think was Latin to explain that to me but I got the jist of most of it) There are a few guidelines keep the reviews factual polite and dont bash Verizon. They offered thier services calling it "a very high profile endeavor"
They also reminded me Al Capone didn't go to jail for being a gangster he went to jail for tax evasion
Keep fighting the good fight

Jugger naut said:
I ride bike with two gentlemen who are members of a large law firm. Very nice guys considering they're lawyers :laugh: Had to put that in there for when they read this...hi guys!
They informed me that if Verizon does not post the negative reviews there are grounds for legal action (it took then about six paragraphs twenty minutes and a whole bunch of what I think was Latin to explain that to me but I got the jist of most of it) There are a few guidelines keep the reviews factual polite and dont bash Verizon. They offered thier services calling it "a very high profile endeavor"
They also reminded me Al Capone didn't go to jail for being a gangster he went to jail for tax evasion
Keep fighting the good fight
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah yes lawyers and hackers coming together in the search for loopholes and alternative thinking.
Sent from my Verizon S3 with locked bootloader but I would love to change my signature.

im pretty sure verizon is deleting any reviews talking about the bootloader

IAmPears said:
im pretty sure verizon is deleting any reviews talking about the bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nails in their coffin boys!
Pour it on the more they delete the stronger our case becomes, fortunately for us their disclaimer " {} I agree with terms of service " has more loopholes than their software :good:
P.S. keep an eye open for a different disclaimer
While your still pi$$ed off about Verizon being such a bully check out these other threads....I have nothing to do with them just linked them because they are ways of venting our Big V rage.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1756483
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1774849&page=4
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771335
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1759669
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1764726
Now that you are full of pi$$ and vinegar start typing make a difference :good:
.

Good idea, doing it now!

To post a review on Verizon, or not, that is the question.
Sent from my SCH-I535

How I got to keep my HOXL and got AT&T to send me a Galaxy SIII I747 free of charge

How I got to keep my HOXL and got AT&T to send me a Galaxy SIII I747 free of charge
When my upgrade eligibility with AT&T came up last spring I decided that I needed to familiarize myself with the Android operating system. Having been a long time iPhone user (iPhone, iPhone 3G and iPhone 4) with a mostly positive experience, I had always been frustrated by Apple's lack of Flash support and (at the time) their refusal to adjust their screen size. Little did I know that both Adobe and Apple were just "sitting in the corner" laughing at me when I came to this rationalization. Naturally, I overcompensated and went with the Galaxy Note, which, IMHO was probably not the best fit for an Android noob like myself. I did a little more research, and just on the outskirts of my 30 day return window, the HTC ONE XL was gonna debut. Bought it on launch day May 6th (before the embargo ruined the party). Like everyone else I had concerns over the lack of storage expansion from 16 Gigs - my previous iPhone 4 was 32 Gigs - but felt confident enough to pull the trigger since the 25 Gigs of free Dropbox space was on the table and according to AT&T was in play. Having been Grandfathered into AT&T's unlimited data plan and being a moderate user (I average 6-8 Gigs a month and have only been throttled twice) I felt as though I could transition to Cloud storage with ease.
I wanted to wait as long as possible before establishing my Dropbox account so I could get the maximum out of the 2 years. It wasn't until late September that I learned of AT&T purposely opting out of participating in the deal. I still can't fathom the rational for this, since its always been my understanding that not only AT&T, but all the Carriers had absolutely nothing to do with this promotion because the deal was between HTC and Dropbox. You would think the Carriers would welcome this since it would increase data usage, thus gaining them additional revenue. I'm sure that people, much smarter than myself, who contribute to the XDA forums, have the answer to this burning question since i'm clearly clueless.
Anyway, no worries, I'll just simply "Root", "Rom" and Voilà....Uh-Oh... As usual I'm a day late and a dollar short and I miss my window with the initial Root exploit that HTC closed ---- ( BTW this is in NO WAY meant as a backdoor insult or complaint to the Developers and their tirelessly Godlike work that they perpetually churn out on a daily basis, nor is it to the rest of the "awesomesauce" that describes the entire XDA Community!!!!) Now, I know in the back of my mind, there is an obvious workaround -- which I'm sure has been explained in this forum before - attach service to your previous phone for a day or so --- snag a WiFi connection and establish your Dropbox account and Boom instant 25 Gigs --then simply reattach service to your HOXL --- but ya know what....now I'm Pissed....time to call AT&T....
I started by calling sales not customer service too vent my complaint
1st Barrier ---- I get the initial non-decision making Dingbat ... As quickly as possible, I dispensed of this person and got a supervisor - I explained my issue and advised that AT&T did a "bait and switch" on me and strongly emphasized how ILLEGAL this practice is .....
2nd Barrier --- supervisor said he had no idea what I was talking about and that he had never heard of this "Dropbox freebie thing" (keep in mind I'm speaking with the sales department) --- this was easily refuted as I told the gentleman to try opening the box -- you know --the one with the AT&T logo on it that the HOXL comes in -- and to look at the paperwork inside --- it advertises the promotion!!!! Clearly his plausible deniability is out the window....
3rd Barrier --- "Can't help you because it's not our promotion..." No kidding -- that's the point..... I went on to explain how I was well aware that it wasn't their promotion and how it makes it worse because they purposely had to "opt out" --- emailed him the link to the Dropbox page explaining the promotion and How AT&T and VERIZON opted out (keep in mind the promotion is for any new HTC device running Sense 4.0 not just the HOXL) He continually stated that it wasn't their promotion for which I replied that I knew that and that it didn't matter whose promotion it was. I advised him, that I signed a contract with AT&T based on that information and that the Dropbox offer was used by AT&T as a selling tool to that end and that's why this is a bait and switch situation and that the practice is ILLEGAL
4th Barrier --- "How do we know that you were told about this offer and that our employees used this strategy...." I emailed him a link from androidcentral (Being that this is my very first post on the XDA forums protocol prevents me from posting the link that I sent ... but I can tell you that androidcentral was the original source for the "article" titled "AT&T HTC One X will have free Dropbox space, company spokeswoman affirms" and was dated Apr 24 2012) --- granted this is simply an unofficial "blog site" that can basically say anything they want but I advised him that this story was picked up by all the other major 'tech sites" and it has never been refuted by AT&T. In addition the "AT&T Spokeswomen" is Jackie Vettorino. Her official title is - Digital PR/Social Media Strategist for AT&T - She is basically their Top Dog when it comes to dealing with the press - She is widely known to many media outlets because of her role as the Point-man..er..Point-woman on "Throttlegate" last fall. I explained to him that because of her fairly high profile, it would be extremely remote that the story was fabricated or that she had somehow been grossly misquoted because of the likeliness of serious repercussions... but I did offer to three-way her office --- He declined. I also, again referred him to the materials that came in the box with my phone -- yes the Box -- the one produced and manufactured for AT&T with their logo splashed all over it.
5th Barrier --- "Did you purchase your phone and contract from a Corporate store or online through the official AT&T website ...." I told him that i didn't and that I used an "Authorized Retailer" (My friend works there and I wanted her to get the commission. To be honest, at the time I didn't know it wasn't a corporate store -- they only sell AT&T product and the only name mentioned inside or outside the building was the official AT&T logo all decked out in that crappy blue and orange - no offense to all you Miami Dolphin fans. It had been years since I had been in an AT&T store - all my recent dealings had been at an Apple store) He began to tell me that I would have to "take up this issue" with the store and that it was "out of his hands". I promptly asked him who my contract was with - He stated AT&T. I immediately repeated the question - he again correctly answered AT&T - I asked the question 3 additional times in succession and he scored a perfect 5 for 5. Finally, I asked him if he knew what the word "authorized" meant, as in "Authorized Retailer" and during my reading of this definition (straight from .merriam-webster.com) he interrupted me by resignedly asking me "what I wanted...."
Aah!!! ... Success. I went into this endeavor with the hopeful expectation that AT&T would credit my account the price of what I would have to pay for cloud storage for 2 years - It's soft money and almost always AT&T's go to when they screw up. Well after almost 90 minutes on the call, I quickly rethought my position and like any successful Rep will tell you "Ultimately, you always have to ask for it". I told the supervisor that there were 2 options:
1) AT&T could release me from my contract without penalty and refund my full purchase price for the phone...not something AT&T wants (nor did I ... again I stay because of my unlimited data plan) or....
2) Replace my HOXL with an equivalent phone that has expanded storage options at zero cost to me - of course we both knew that the only possible replacement was the Galaxy SIII
Without hesitating he asked me what color I wanted and to what address I wanted it shipped -- The phone arrived at my doorstep, Oct 2, precisely 27.5 hours from the time I ended the call. After 2 weeks and another lengthy call - this time to Customer Service - I was able to successfully argue that my contract start date should be reinstated to the original May 6th date and not the Oct 2nd citing that the SIII was not an upgrade but a replacement phone.
I created this Post not to boast or pat myself on the back, but rather as a template for other HOXL owners who may be feeling slighted by AT&T's consistently awful business practices. Hey, It doesn't have to be an SIII --- it may be a great way to offset HTC's poor decision of putting out a part deux a mere 6 months into release of their "flagship" X series. Why is it always the early adopters and loyal supporters who seem to get hosed ... but I gotta say the HOXL+ is looking mighty Dope. Although, I do question the decision of not going with a RAM increase, (can anyone confirm this?) While its not a huge hindrance, I do get a "load screen" every now and then. It just seems as though 1 Gig is really riding the line, at least with ICS 4.0.4.

That's awesome bro lol. I wish I could pull some shiz like that.
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda app-developers app

haha thats great, I'm glad you made out good

dotsquad said:
t may be a great way to offset HTC's poor decision of putting out a part deux a mere 6 months into release of their "flagship" X series.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, exactly. Let's start demanding free phones because HTC is keeping up with technology.
If this forum had a "First world problems" section, this thread would've been a sticky.
Some people need to take a long, hard look at themselves.

Great first post. Sometimes I want to tell AT&T these things. I just seem to always get a very helpful customer service rep who always make me feel warm and cared for inside. =)
After this month I'm getting pretty pissed about being throttled to 500kbps after 5GB.

whys everyone mad.... of course they gave him an s3....it's a downgrade and very likely a refurb.
Sent from my One X using xda premium

EliWay said:
Yeah, exactly. Let's start demanding free phones because HTC is keeping up with technology.
If this forum had a "First world problems" section, this thread would've been a sticky.
Some people need to take a long, hard look at themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ATT= Cash Cow
Defrauding the public = illegal
Free phone to satisfy a customer who was LIED to and keep taking their money = MORE PROFIT
No sympathy for them. First or third world. Corporations and governments take advantage of all of us in order to make another buck.
Fight the man and stand up for yourself no matter where you live. Isn't that why XDA came into existence in the first place?
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

I would of asked to not be throttled anymore =)

Great first post! Great story! I really felt like when u are watching a tv series that ur addicted to and cant stop watching! Really entertaining!! And congrats on demanding ur rights, thats the way to go!
Sent from my One X using xda app-developers app

c5satellite2 said:
ATT= Cash Cow
Defrauding the public = illegal
Free phone to satisfy a customer who was LIED to and keep taking their money = MORE PROFIT
No sympathy for them. First or third world. Corporations and governments take advantage of all of us in order to make another buck.
Fight the man and stand up for yourself no matter where you live. Isn't that why XDA came into existence in the first place?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know what else for-profit companies do? They pass their expenses down to their customers. They aren't going to eat the expense of giving out free phones like this. You're not "fighting the man". Its nice to think idealistically like that, but it really doesn't work that way. The cost gets handed down to us in the form of higher device costs, higher service costs, etc.
Their was likely no "defrauding of the public". Bonus offers like the one for Dropbox almost always come with a disclaimer that the terms of the offer can be changed at anytime, and without notice (including rescinding the offer itself). And AT&T opted out of the offer a long time before September. Just because a piece of paper has been sitting in the box since May, doesn't mean the offer is still valid.
If AT&T wanted to keep a customer happy, I can see letting him switch to another phone, if the One X is so "unacceptable" due to low storage. But it would have made the most business sense to demand the One X be returned. Otherwise its just motivation for people to game the system and get free phones.

c5satellite2 said:
Fight the man and stand up for yourself no matter where you live. Isn't that why XDA came into existence in the first place?
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Click to collapse
No. XDA developers came into existence because we believe that if we bought a device, it's ours to reverse engineer or do whatever we want with it.
What you are doing is trying to game the system to get free stuff. It's SHAMEFUL.
redpoint73 said:
You know what else for-profit companies do? They pass their expenses down to their customers. They aren't going to eat the expense of giving out free phones like this. You're not "fighting the man". Its nice to think idealistically like that, but it really doesn't work that way. The cost gets handed down to us in the form of higher device costs, higher service costs, etc.
Their was likely no "defrauding of the public". Bonus offers like the one for Dropbox almost always come with a disclaimer that the terms of the offer can be changed at anytime, and without notice (including rescinding the offer itself). And AT&T opted out of the offer a long time before September. Just because a piece of paper has been sitting in the box since May, doesn't mean the offer is still valid.
If AT&T wanted to keep a customer happy, I can see letting him switch to another phone, if the One X is so "unacceptable" due to low storage. But it would have made the most business sense to demand the One X be returned. Otherwise its just motivation for people to game the system and get free phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Couldn't have said it better myself.

IMHO and no disrespect to the OP, after spending so much time talking to their customer service, I would have been very upset if ATT tries to compensate me with an S3, I would have preferred an HTC One X+, too bad is not available yet.

OP, I need to give you props for your effort. In your particular case, I think you did the absolute right thing in complaining to AT&T about the whole issue. You getting the S3 for free is just a bonus in my eyes. IMO, this isn't defrauding a company; it's a situation where the customer was promised something and wasn't delivered by the company and the company made things right.

Congrats on the phone. Although i prefer the one x, gs3 is easier to work with for roms.
I'm surprised AT&T finally gave in. I guess they realized you were persistent and it wasn't worth it.
P.S. 6-8GB isn't moderate use by any means. You're lucky to be on unlimited data.

Great job dotsquad. Maybe others will get the same results.
As for the two that think this is shameful and wrong, ATT doesn't care about you. They only want your money regardless if their products or service work as advertised. And losing dotsquad as a customer costs them more than giving him a new phone and keeping him. Higher costs would be passed on if he went to another carrier.
Give customer a new phone, less than $250
Lose the customer, lose $1000+ per year. They don't really give you anything other than the next monthly bill.
And remember Randall Stevenson CEO of ATT lost the company 4+billion dollars with the failed T Mo merger, and then received a 22million bonus. 4 billion in costs passed on to customers.
If you really want to complain about something, that might be a better start.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

c5satellite2 said:
Great job dotsquad. Maybe others will get the same results.
As for the two that think this is shameful and wrong, ATT doesn't care about you. They only want your money regardless if their products or service work as advertised. And losing dotsquad as a customer costs them more than giving him a new phone and keeping him. Higher costs would be passed on if he went to another carrier.
Give customer a new phone, less than $250
Lose the customer, lose $1000+ per year. They don't really give you anything other than the next monthly bill.
And remember Randall Stevenson CEO of ATT lost the company 4+billion dollars with the failed T Mo merger, and then received a 22million bonus. 4 billion in costs passed on to customers.
If you really want to complain about something, that might be a better start.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well played sir. I agree 100%
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda app-developers app

Awesome!
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

You know I may try something similar to this. Although not talking about DropBox I genuinely thought that the HTC One X had 32GB of space (and it does). I didn't know the At&t version, or as I know now the HTC One Xl only had 16GB. And the thing is I remember asking the sales associate at Wal-Mart (which is also authorized reseller as you may know) "How much space does it have" and she said "32GBs". I was like yesss, because I have a bunch of music, take a lot of video and photos and of course fill up on apps. Now I have to constantly clear things up. And I didn't notice it only had 16GBs until my return period was up (I was too amazed at android and didn't really download many apps until later on, I switched from iOS ).
So what do you think my odds are at getting a device with 32GB?
----------
And yes I tried to make it work but I just can't. I haven't complained about the space issue but here recently it's beging to be a real problem.

All I need to say is 'good work'
Sent from my HTC One XL using xda premium

McMichael96 said:
You know I may try something similar to this. Although not talking about DropBox I genuinely thought that the HTC One X had 32GB of space (and it does). I didn't know the At&t version, or as I know now the HTC One Xl only had 16GB. And the thing is I remember asking the sales associate at Wal-Mart (which is also authorized reseller as you may know) "How much space does it have" and she said "32GBs".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Improper research before buying a device. And I wouldn't trust a Walmart employee to give me any correct information on phones, or an AT&T rep, for that matter. That part was clearly the Walmart employee's bad. But in the future, just do your own research. How hard would it have been to just read the box, before purchasing?
This is the exact reason that this thread is a poor precedence. Now people are trying to get free phones, for their own mistakes.

Petition to revert libary of congress decision making it illegal to unlock phones

Hi all not sure if this is the right place to post this post but was just browsing around some android sites and came across this artcle on android authority
http://www.androidauthority.com/mak...al-petition-needs-38000-votes-12-days-155279/
And was just wondering if anyone know if its legit seems to be and if so hope it gets enough signitures
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

owlmastser said:
Hi all not sure if this is the right place to post this post but was just browsing around some android sites and came across this artcle on android authority
http://www.androidauthority.com/mak...al-petition-needs-38000-votes-12-days-155279/
And was just wondering if anyone know if its legit seems to be and if so hope it gets enough signitures
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually not really sure how I feel about them making it illegal; I don't really benefit from unlocked phones, as rooting takes care of all I need. Seems like they're not really planning on going after individual violators, anyway, but rather places that sell unlocked phones for profit.

suppose the way I Look at it is if you get a phone on contract why shouldn't you be able to unlock it and get as much as you can for it once your contracts up it also gives options to buy a phone that your carry doesn't carry that you might like thats still good or use abroad by just buying a prepaid sim in that country
just a taught
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

I think this is the wrong route to people getting what they want.
It's fair enough to get yourself locked into a stupid contract - if the carrier is subsidizing the phone, why shouldn't they be allowed to lock it in ?
What customers need to do is demand more options or put their money towards products that represent what they want. Buy unlocked if it's important to you - the option is out there, just like the option to not get locked into a contract is.

i agree with you pennycake you buy a phone on contract at a discounted price the phone company has a right to lock the the phone to their service but don't you think once your contract is full filled and the contract is up that the person should be able to unlock said phone if he/she so wishs considering that by the end of the contract you've paid full price and then some for said phone
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

I'd agree with that, and many carriers do too - some don't even make you wait the entire contract term.
It's another case of "put your money where you support the policies". If people keep buying into things they hate, the carriers will just keep doing it.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

White House Petition

Yes I know it's a long shot. But since the White House is getting more technologically advanced these days I figured it was worth a shot. Here is a petition to make it illegal for the carriers to control the software on a device you own.
http://wh.gov/layx4
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

I totally agree with this, but the problem is when you buy the device on contract, you don't technically own it until the end of the two years since you're paying it off during those two years.
But if you buy the device out right off contract I think they should have some form of removal.

I know. I phrased it as consumer owned devices so those who bought the device out right or payed their ETF would qualify. Those still under contract are at the mercy of the carrier. I figure once the contract obligations are met they can unlock the bootloader for the customer similar to unlocking it for use on other networks.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

Well I'll sign it either way but this would be a massive legal undertaking

Oh yeah. But since the courts ruled jail breaking was legal this would seem like a common sense extension. Maybe some legal firm wants to make a name for themselves and will take up the cause.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

I also think of it this way. Imagine if Ford told you that you could only put Ford approved tires on your vehicle even though it was paid off and you held the title.
Then they claimed it was to keep other Ford drivers safe. However, if you bought the the same Ford in Canada then you could put whatever tires you wanted on it. Doesn't make much sense does it?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

I'm starting a petition to stop other petitions from being petitioned especially ones that have been tried before with the same results.

There is 0 chance you get the 100,000 signatures you need in 1 month. It was a nice try, but it simply won't happen
Sent from my AT&T Galaxy S4 Running AOKP 4.2.2

I don't know, I kinda liked the one where Texas petitioned to secede. I signed it, but then again, I'm not from Texas...
As to the OP, best of luck, but I don't think 'long shot' even begins to describe it.

Yes. It will fail. People will take 30 seconds to come here and whine and [email protected]#ch about it but won't take the same amount of time to sign it. Apathy at its finest.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

I think its just a majority don't want to "Register" anything with the government.
Most of the people on these type of forums and similar forums are hackers/moders (good and/or bad doesnt matter)
They just wont simply register an account with the government to sign the petition.

Bingo...my thought exactly.

Guys, this doesn't make any sense. Don't get me wrong, i feel your pain, but you have to understand the fundamentals of business before you start asking a restructuring. When you buy a phone on contract, you are SUBSIDIZING a phone. By definition, a subsidy is: "A sum of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive" In this case, its not the government but a corporation, that is funding you so you can purchase a commodity or service. You are taking a good, using a service, subsidized, and have to oblige to their guidelines. It's like if you asked a movie company that sells DVDs to remove copy protection, or a car manufacturer to not lock the car at 230km/h.
As long are you are being subsidized by your carrier, you have to follow their rules. In a carriers head, having an unlock bootloader mean user can fiddle with their phone, use them above their OEM specs, and potentially break them. How many people have bricked, or even fried their phone because of a failed flash or bad OC? A lot, and that in terms mean A LOT more $$$$ for the carriers to replace your phone, because we can all agree if you bring them a phone that is not water damaged, or physically damaged, they will almost certainly just swap it for a refurb one and they will deal with that later.
It sucks, but its not only their right, it's also understandable. If users took a little more precaution when playing around with roms, maybe this would not be the case. So until then, buy unlocked

Thermalwolf said:
I totally agree with this, but the problem is when you buy the device on contract, you don't technically own it until the end of the two years since you're paying it off during those two years.
But if you buy the device out right off contract I think they should have some form of removal.
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This is not true at all. A subsidized phone still belongs to the customer.

Thank you polish_pat for explaining that. I don't know how many times I've tried to explain that to someone.
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RedIronCrown said:
This is not true at all. A subsidized phone still belongs to the customer.
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it does, but that doesn't mean you can do what you want with it. It's yours, but with "strings attached"

I really wish something like this works one day.

polish_pat said:
it does, but that doesn't mean you can do what you want with it. It's yours, but with "strings attached"
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Actually, you can do what you want with it. You can sell or modify it as you see fit with no more consequence than if you had bought the phone outright without a contract. There is literally nothing you can do with a purchased phone that you cannot with a subsidized phone.
The subsidy is to get you to sign a service contract, which obligates you to pay for their service for whatever the contract term is. Nothing to do with the hardware.

Which is why I phrased it as a consumer owned device. If gives the carrier an out while you are paying off the subsidy. However, once you paid off the device, At&t should have no say in what goes on the device. Providing an unlocked bootloader at that point would be what we would be looking for.
Remember at one time Jail breaking was considered illegal, but the courts ruled in favor of he consumer.
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Yes you can sell the phone, but you are still locked into 2 year plan. It's not like after selling the phone you can get an upgrade on the same line right away with discounted price. AT&T doesn't care what you do with your phone as long as you are not eligible for an upgrade on discounted price. You can sell it and don't use the phone, still you need to pay them the monthly bill until your contract is over. People who paid full amount without any contracts from AT&T, they have full right to make the petition about this issue.
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Verizon Wireless Developer Program

This is for any Verizon device, not just the Samsung Galaxy S5. Please spread this to other device forums!
Recently, I came up with an idea of a developer program. What this program would do is allow people to pay a fee to have their bootloaders unlocked, regardless of the device. This would allow people the freedom to modify their device or develop for it without any issues. I did a little research and could not find anything similar to this (besides developer edition devices). So, with this idea in mind, I sent an email to the Executive VP of Verizon. Twenty minutes later, I received a phone call from his office. Long story short (there was a lot of talk about rooting and unlocking), the guy who called me put my idea through to marketing. However, since only about 1% of customers root their devices, there is concern of the interest in this.
What this thread is for is to see how many people would be interested in this program.
What would you be willing to pay to customer service to have your bootloader unlocked?
$0
$5
$25
$50
$100
Please use only one of those five prices, and no other prices.
You may discuss this in further detail in this thread. However, arguing, trolling, slandering, bickering, and anything else that will clutter this thread and overwork the moderators WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. This thread is not the thread to argue with others over the details since the idea is already in marketing. If you wish to argue or troll, please take it somewhere else. And, as always, please follow the forum rules. Thank you for looking at this thread.
For those who are concerned with the warranty, please read this. Huge thanks to @shootind5nukes for this info.
Just so everyone knows the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act prevents someone from totally VOIDING a warranty. Verizon/Samsung could only deny to warranty something if they can prove something you did cause the issue. Anything that has nothing to do with what you did still has to be under warranty. If you LCD started to lose color or get dead pixels that would still have to be covered because that has nothing to do with bootloaders and flashing ROMS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson–Moss_Warranty_Act
"The federal minimum standards for full warranties are waived if the warrantor can show that the problem associated with a warranted consumer product was caused by damage while in the possession of the consumer, or by unreasonable use, including a failure to provide reasonable and necessary maintenance."
I learned about this when I was going to get my truck lifted. I was told if I did it would VOID my truck's warranty. After looking into it further it didn't actually VOID anything. But for example if I went in to get my suspension fixed because it broke they could argue that the lift kit put stress on the suspension and that's why it failed so they would not have to cover it. But if my motor exploded because it was made out of cheese it would still be under warranty, the entire warranty can never be voided. Only damage caused by what you did. Food for thought guys.
If anyone has anything to add please do.
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​
Here is the email of the VP I emailed if you want to email him about the developer program. Again, thank you @shootind5nukes for this idea.
http://www.verizonwireless.com/aboutus/leadership/executive/profiles/david-small.html
IF YOU DO EMAIL HIM, BE POLITE AND RESPECTFUL PLEASE.​

eragon5779 said:
What would you be willing to pay to customer service to have your bootloader unlocked?
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$0. I am a firm believer that the devices I purchase should be fully open for customization.

At this point I would be willing to pay a one time fee of $25. It makes sense it would be a charge since the dev edition has to be bought at full price.
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Verizon has alot of customers 1% is alot of people.

Great program, if implemented. Kudos for the idea AND getting a response! I would pay up to a hundred bucks for an official unlock like this, but I have ATT...

25 is fair, but I'd pay up to 50, if it included some insurance for the device. Is also say, that as an ATT customer, a service like this would tempt me to switch to Verizon

$25
From my SCH-I545 on HD15

I'm on ATT as well but would pay upto $50. But my question is if they give a way to unlock it, it would be universal thru all phones. So why wouldn't i just tell my friend. If they would do this why wouldn't they just charge an extra $50 on every phone and have every phone unlocked. No more hassle. Why are they so greedy? If it's only 1% that care about there freedom what would they loose? They would make tons more money.....
http://i.imgur.com/0OBoXTC.jpg

I agree w/ @Cat McGowan, devices should be open for development. And therefore would like to pay $0, but a $5 fee isn't too bad...

According to this there are 107.7 million Verizon wireless customers. So if 1.077 Million people (1%) root there devices on Verizon Wireless and are willing to pay $5 for a bootloader unlock, If everybody pays $5 to unlock there device Verizon would make 5.385 Million Dollars

Long time lurker. Signed up just to post to this thread.
I voted for $50 because that seems reasonable but at this point ive been looking to buy a $200 device that is unlockable so i would really probably pay more for a clean, official unlock. I agree that the spirit of Android should be open and therefore unlocked for free but its obvious that OEMs dont feel this way and Google isnt likely to "pull an Apple" so to speak and tell OEMs to leave their devices unlocked.
How wonderful would it be to not have to risk bricking devices and staying one step ahead to keep root and ROM?!
If Big Red is talking about this then its a milestone indeed. For so long the official position has been to shut it down. Maybe all of our annoying voices are finally breaking through?
I for one, constantly post on their facebook page, email and frequently call just to bug em about this. Keep it up and step it up! Maybe we can get somewhere?
Edit: Which VP did you email? haha. Seems like everyone on their site is a VP of something or another. Maybe we could all make our voices heard together?

I'd pay $100 if i had to, but $50 is more realistic. If it was $100 i feel like that would dissuade enough people from spending that type of money to the point where community development is lacking , just like it is for locked down devices with only DevEd's as an option.
I really really hope something comes from this. TMo is just looking too good these days but i don't want to give up this network.

I would be comfortable with $25.00.

I'm with big blue, would pay 25 bucks in a heartbeat. 50... ehh, I'd be hesitant. This is the first device I've owned where I wasn't hellbent on unlocking the bootloader
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joshuabg said:
According to this there are 107.7 million Verizon wireless customers. So if 1.077 Million people (1%) root there devices on Verizon Wireless and are willing to pay $5 for a bootloader unlock, If everybody pays $5 to unlock there device Verizon would make 5.385 Million Dollars
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Click to collapse
I voted for $100, but all of these choices seem reasonable to me. Obviously being able to do it for free would be optimal.
The quote above really isn't a great way of looking at it. Sure, $5M sounds like a lot, but taken in context it is a rounding error at a place like Verizon. That $5M isn't enough to move top line revenue by a single basis point, and therefore wouldn't be enough incentive to the bottom line. Even $100 for the 1.077M people would only add 10 basis points to top line revenue.
All that said, money can't be the sole factor for getting them to let us unlock the bootloaders. They would have to look at the goodwill it would create, and the new customers, as evidenced above, that they could steal away from the other carriers.

Personally I believe we should pay $0 as I paid for the device and should be allowed to do as I please with it. Realistically tho $5-$10 wouldnt be terrible
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I'd be willing to pay up to $50. I would think Verizon could easily steal some customers away from other carriers by offering something like this. However, I don't see any carrier offering any kind of warranty on a device that has had its bootloader modified. It would be very easy for a newb like myself to brick my device and then try to get another under warranty...

$25

Cat McGowan said:
$0. I am a firm believer that the devices I purchase should be fully open for customization.
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Click to collapse
This. All of this.

$25
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