California Settlement Enables Sprint Customers to Unlock CDMA Phones
As part of a settlement in a class-action settlement announced over the weekend, customers of Sprint Nextel's CDMA service in California and parts of Florida will be given the code and instructions needed for them to unlock their phones from the Sprint network.
The extent to which Sprint plans to share unlocking code with its customers is in question, however, as different press sources have given conflicting information. BetaNews awaits clarification directly from Sprint representatives on this issue, and we'll give it to you the moment we have it.
Obviously, the plaintiffs in the California class-action suit will be given unlocking code, and the Associated Press reports that Palm Beach County, Florida residents will also be covered by the settlement, even though their case is in another jurisdiction.
But while some sources are reporting Sprint will eventually offer the code to all former and current customers upon their departure from their contracts, others that appear to have actually read the settlement terms say only California-based customers between August 18, 1999 and July 16, 2007 will receive unlocking codes.
The deal will reportedly not apply to Nextel customers who are on the iDEN network, and will of course only aid customers in switching to other CDMA networks, which would include Verizon Wireless and Alltel but exclude GSM network carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile.
A symbolic dam appears to have broken though, with the only dispute being how soon the rest of it will erode. The California suit had charged Sprint with unfair business practices, on the theory that while all customers had the right to terminate their contracts, doing so left them with rather expensive paperweights.
A judge's final decision might have set more of a legal precedent, but nonetheless, similar cases continue on behalf of T-Mobile customers in California, and AT&T's iPhone customers in California and Washington state, making very similar claims.