News: Unlocking phones now legal, Bose sues Beats, Verizon will throttle unlimited users

Today’s news is full of legalities and politics. Unlocking phones has become legal, Bose is suing Beats and Verizon is ready to throttle you!

Congress makes phone unlocking legal

Unlocking cellphones… a practice that has been alive since the old days. It may be illegal sometimes, but it’s socially accepted and the rules are not really enforced. Regardless, today marks a new era in communications as the Congress deems unlocking phones legal in the USA.

Known as the “Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act,” the bill is said to provide more competition and stimulate consumer choice. This will not be a permanent solution, though. The bill will be revised every few years and necessary changes will be made.

Opinion: Unlocking phones is something we shouldn’t even have to worry about, to be honest. I am glad to see these changes coming to the USA, where smartphone politics continue to be nuts.

Bose suing Beat

Audio giants Bose and Beats may be direct competitors, but they have steered clear of each other (relatively) until today. Bose is suing Apple’s Beats Audio, and this battle seems like it will be a long one.

Bose claims Beats Audio has infringed on 5 of their patented ideas, all revolving around noise-canceling technology.

Opinion: More details are to come. Whether you are on one side or the other, this will be one important case, so you can be sure we will be updating you on it.

Verizon to start throttling unlimited users

Verizon users grandfathered into unlimited 4G LTE plans have been living the dream. This is true unlimited service with no slow-downs, but this will end soon. Verizon has just announced the dream will end for these users, but things don’t seem horrible either.

“Starting in October 2014, Verizon Wireless will extend its network optimization policy to the data users who: fall within the top 5 percent of data users on our network, have fulfilled their minimum contractual commitment, and are on unlimited plans using a 4G LTE device.”

They also specify users will only be slowed down when using data-intensive applications, and only when the used towers are in high demand.

Opinion: To be honest, this seems quite reasonable and will only hurt a few users. I wouldn’t be too worried about it. Let’s wait and see how these tethered speeds are, though.