US carriers still stink at unlocking phones, analysis finds

A consumer rights activist who led the charge against restrictions on phone unlocking has graded the four major US carriers and found three of them aren't fully complying with commitments they made to the government. The CTIA Wireless Association promised the Federal Communications Commission that carriers would meet six conditions. But Sprint hasn't met three of the conditions, T-Mobile fails on two of them and possibly a third, while AT&T meets five but possibly not the sixth, reports Sina Khanifar, who was credited by the White House for starting the petition that helped (temporarily) legalize phone unlocking.

A Summary of the findings:

• Sprint and T-Mobile have failed to fulfill half their own voluntary commitments.
• Verizon may only have such a liberal unlocking policy becuase the Federal Communications Commission required it as part of their 700MHz Block C auction.
• AT&T has met almost all their unlocking commitments.
• The voluntary measures are missing a critical criteria: interoperability.
• Third-party unlocking is still critical. Long overdue reform of the DMCA's anti-circumvention law is the only way to protect a consumer's right to unlock.