Back in June, the CRTC announced a ban on locked cellphones and unlocking fees for personal and business customers in Canada, effectively ending the practice of smartphones being sold ‘locked’ and tied to a specific carrier.
Starting December 1, 2017, all wireless carriers in Canada will be required to sell unlocked devices and also unlock phones for free when requested by customers, instead of paying a $50 or so fee as it stands today.
Now, it appears Rogers and Fido have started selling unlocked smartphones ahead of this December deadline, reports a forum member on RFD, who claims the wireless provider started the policy earlier this month on September 1st, unlocking all of the phones for his family on Rogers/Fido.
A Rogers representative we spoke with on the phone confirmed the internal policy states any outright purchased and activated phone as of September 1, 2017, will come unlocked. No word whether we’ll see a price increase on outright pricing to reflect “free” unlocks.
As for the RFD user who managed to unlock his devices, that was apparently a “one-time” incident, we’re told, which is not normal policy. But of course, you could try calling into Rogers or Fido and asking as well.
…more to follow, refresh for updates
