Unlocked

"Screenshot" courtesy of:  Cricket Wireless

We recently tried to switch from a cellular "service provider" which charged $60 a month for "unlimited everything" to one which charged $15 a month for the same.

It didn't go well or at all.

The phones used weren't originally "unlocked" though they were purchased "outright".  "Unlocking" them could be done after requesting such from the "provider" and then using an "app" to do so.

Why didn't things "go smoothly"?

There are rules:

• A cell phone purchased from the $60 a month provider must have service with them for 6 months before they allow it to be "unlocked".
• The cell phones in question didn't meet the requirements:
• The first had service for 3 months.
• The screen was broken.
• It was cheaper to purchase a new identical cell phone from the same provider than to fix it.
• The second identical cell phone had service for 5 months.
• Both cell phones were purchased "outright", without a "discount", and without a "subsidy".
• Neither cell phone qualified to be "unlocked".

Who benefits from the "rule"?  No one in this case.

Backward or "the rules are the rules".