the seamy side of WNP
Being able to switch carriers is a boon to consumers; it finally allows unfettered freedom of choice in the US wireless marketplace. But one added cost to switching no one's made many bones about yet is an environmental one: disposal of your old handset. Carriers with the same network technology (e.g., CDMA) use differing encryption schemes, dispensing upon a hardcoded handset little more than tchotchky status once you've, say, switched from Sprint to Verizon. This means tons more phones into landfills or refurbished into overseas markets, where disposal policies are even worse than the US'. For someone who's got the extraction capabilities, I sense several growth moneymaking opportunities here, from contact synching to materials recycling to, of course, yet more listing fees for ebay.
One question this article didn't answer for me but I presume to be true: if I've got an "unlocked" multi-band GSM handset (the kind that will work with T-Mobile/AT&T/Cingular networks in the US and damn near everywhere else abroad), I can conceivably keep that phone and switch GSM carriers for years to come, right? If so, it's yet another example of how the GSM "your account on a SIM card, not the phone" concept remains elegantly superior to its rivals.