T-Mobile Wins Cases Against Pre-Paid Traffickers

...hmm.

🤨

u sir are a lost case!

So you can't read the news? Why don't you grow up? Plus your so called insults do not even make any sense whatsoever. "I bet your mom reads the news"? So his mom is more educated than you are. CONGRATULATIONS! You must be so proud of yourself. Epic failure on your part.

The comment about his mom was uncalled for. Grow up. You dont even know if his mom is alive and well. Why do grown adults act like idiots? 😳 👿

🤣 Reminds me of this thing kids are doing now where everything corresponds to your face.
For example if you are telling them about a hair dryer their response is...YOUR FACE IS A HAIR DRYER! Or if you are talking about cell phones their response is...YOUR FACE IS A CELL PHONE! Anyways, you get the picture.

Thank you, I think you are close to what the true meaning of this thread was.

Your face is a thread!

Well, what do you know...it is kinda fun. 🤣

I'm so happy! You are not as serious as the sad sad majority of people on here.

I'm 14, not an adult. It's sad to see you stoop to my level. Most mature people would ignore this thread but not you. Oh, and this whole thing is called sarcasm, it's funny how many took it serious.

Talking about others moms is NOT funny. The only idiot I see is you. Maybe when you grow up or lose someone you love you'll stop the dumb "your mom" stuff. I was just simply stating that you don't even know if he recently lost his mom or not and to make a comment like that was just uncalled for. Grow up or go to myspace.com.

Once again you find my posts and have to "disipline" me. Boy you have really showed me. I know that this sort of site is your life and everything, becuase you don't have a real social live. I'm really sorry you take it so serious. Maybe you should go outside, step away from your computer. Maybe you should get knocked up so you can have your own kids to yell at and disipline... You're right, you'll never get layed. You're just a geek like everone else on this site, this is your only interaction with people. I bet you feel real tough writting your stupid comments in your basement behind your safe computer screen. I have pitty for you. If if makes you feel better you can call me inmature and tell me to grow up. I'm fine with that, but I would l...
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I think you are the only one that understands me. Thank you. I really think that T-Mobile is just out for money. I think this whole phone thing is an ok deal. I was taught to buy low and sell high. What's wrong with that?

Drunk, they ARE doing something illegal. They're hacking the phones, offering the phones without the warranty the phones came with, and selling the phones at a higher price while pocketing the subsidies that are supposed to go to the customer. This changes the company's image to the customers as it makes T-Mobile look like the problem. If that isn't a legitimate reason to sue then I don't know what is.

The phone is sold, I buy it, I do what I want with it, use it pre-paid, unlock it and use it on another carrier. I don't see the problem here. If TM's model is to hope and its a good chance they will use their subsidy on a cheap phone to use their service, fine. But if not, well too bad. No contract was signed, and no agreement made at the register. I hope these guys win on appeal.

These are not illegal activities. This type of thing happens all the time, but in other forms. Look at the dollar store? How many times did they buy junk below cost only to turn around and sell it for a $1/each? Or an electronics store buying below cost discontinued products, turning around, and selling them retail? These phones were sold on the open market and the law cannot make handset activation or a business relationship a forced requirement.

The only thing remotely questionable would be the legality of unlocking a handset. But the LoC ruled almost two years ago that it was not protected by the DMCA.

This is no different than unlocking your iPhone and peddling it on ebay, multiplied a thousand times over, and turned into a mo...
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Drunk, they ARE doing something illegal.

Really? Let's see...

They're hacking the phones,

That's not illegal.

offering the phones without the warranty the phones came with,

That's not illegal either. It's called "used."

and selling the phones at a higher price

And that's not illegal. In fact, that's called capitalism.

while pocketing the subsidies that are supposed to go to the customer.

Once again, not illegal. The subsidies DID go to the customer, just not the customer that T-Mobile intended. The resellers are the customer of T-Mobile, and they got the subsidy.

This c

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Drunk and Roadkill kinda go hand in hand. The funny thing here is that these two have no idea how the wireless industry works, but have no issue droning on about it. Don't put down T-Mobile's biz plan when it comes to their prepaid. Every company is likely doing it the same way. Also, I didn't catch if these traffickers were marketing these phones as hacked and used, or were they misrepresenting the product in a way that the final consumer would come back to T-Mobile if there was an issue. I can see how that would be a huge problem for T-Mobile.

ROFL @ T-Mob

I see, so just because everyone is doing it that must mean it's right? Fanboi protestations notwithstanding, this whole scam perpetrated by the carriers seems like a pretty shakey house of cards to me. I'm not at all surprised that people are taking advantage of their stupidity.

Nor, frankly, am I surprised that people are defending that stupidity.

T-Mob said:
Drunk and Roadkill kinda go hand in hand. The funny thing here is that these two have no idea how the wireless industry works, but have no issue droning on about it. Don't put down T-Mobile's biz plan when it comes to their prepaid. Every company is likely doing it the same way. Also, I didn't catch if these traffickers were marketing these phones as hacked and used, or were they misrepresenting the product in a way that the final consumer would come back to T-Mobile if there was an issue. I can see how that would be a huge problem for T-Mobile.

I don't care if its at&t or tm, its bull, they were stupid enough or not stupid depending to sell the phone below cost hoping and in most cases ar...
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I support you and your cause Versed. Thank you.

If you actually understood the article basically what they are doing is going into places like target and walmart, then buying out all the prepaid phones. Then turning around and selling them at an inflated price. They are not being used on that carriers network so they are basically stealing money from that carrier. Its an unauthorized resale of that carriers product.

Now with prepaid there is no contract true, but there is still terms and conditions when purchasing that phone. Most people, like the morons on here who say its not illegal, don't read them. These carriers put these prepaid phones in stores with the understanding from that store that they will be sold for prepaid use only. What your going to see is carriers setting li...
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I am still undecided exactly how I feel about this issue. I certainly recognize that Tmobile is loosing money from the trafficing.

A carrier can only enforce the terms and conditions at the point of purchase. Contract phones state that the device is not to be altered, however this requirement has been proven only to qualify for the service of their network, not the phone itself. The phone itself is a tangable product, and therefor can not be placed under terms and conditions except those that are allowed bu law. The sale of the handset regardless of how it is intended to be used, in for the handset itself, and not a licence for the handset. The software is under license, but the terms and conditions of software prohibit use of the ...
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Its because they are buying them at a discounted price under the the agreement that it will be used with prepaid service. If the phones were bought at full price then there wouldn't be an issue. But T-mobile and other carriers loose money on the phones when they sell them at a discounted price and they make the money back on the service.

Tmo Slave said:
Its because they are buying them at a discounted price under the the agreement that it will be used with prepaid service. If the phones were bought at full price then there wouldn't be an issue. But T-mobile and other carriers loose money on the phones when they sell them at a discounted price and they make the money back on the service.

Agreement? its on a rack, on a shelf, you take it to the register and buy it, you pay the money, you get a receipt. No different from buying a can of soup, a teeshirt or a cucumber.

Yeah because a cell phone and a can of soup are the same thing. 🙄 When you purchase a prepaid cell phone from target, walmart or were ever there is a sheet of paper either in the box or on the receipt stating the terms and conditions that come with the phone. By purchasing that phone you are agreeing to that. Just like if you went to best buy and bought a car stereo with XM radio. You are agreeing to XM radios terms and conditions.

I understand that Tmo looses money on the deal, and why they do. I guess im not asking my question the right way.

When you buy the phone, you are purchasing a tangeble product, not a license to use the product under certain guidelines. By law a company is not able to govern a physical product with a condition fo T's and C's. They can only govern services this way. (because you are buying a license for a specific amount of service with agreed terms)
If you do not agree to the T's and C's of their prepaid, you simply don't use the service. (wich is what they are doing) Contract phones are legally able to be unlocked and resold, so why not prepaid. Contract phones are subsidised the same way, and in california they can not charge a...
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I understand what your saying but your looking at it on a different scale. Is T-mobile going to come after you if you go into Target and buy a prepaid phone and not activate it? Probably not but you are only doing one phone. But if you went to target, walmart, and best buy and bought out all their tmobile prepaid phones then resold them. Do that serval times and its going to be a different story. And yes it is unauthorized resale because they were not authorized to sell T-mobile phones.

Unauthorized resale would only work if the company manufactured the phones. They buy them from the manufacturer, modify the software, then sell them to stores, who sell them to trafficers, who modify them again and sell them to us. They really are not doing anything more than undo the modifications that were made to the phone prior to them getting it. Their badge does not give them rights to the hardware. In an official statement they say.
Since the phones may still carry T-Mobile’s brand, consumers may believe they are purchasing handsets manufactured for T-Mobile and covered by original warranties.
So they are saying they don't even know for sure if their logo is still on the phone. (in reguards to their tradema...
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I think you are really cool and yes. T-Mobil is doing the dirty in Germany. I know they are out for money. I'm even out for money. That's the game right? He who dies with the most toys/money wins? I would like to get my hands on one of the unlocked phones. I hate getting junk I don't need on a phone and not being able to use all the features it came with. T-Mobil is a sort of Communist operation. They get rid of freedom and if someone does something they don't like they sue (that's all they can do in America, I'm sure they do worse in other countries) They are the beginnings of a cell phone Holocaust.

so it would all be ok if those purchasing the phones used the little free $10 card in most of them and activated service.....No carrier can govern how long ppl use the service...hence it is prepaid...but as long as the activation took place then it is not illegal to resell the phones then??

Exactly. A seller cannot control the use of a product once it is sold - even attempting to do so violates restraint of trade laws.

The carriers - including T-Mobile - are making a huge gamble when they subsidize these pre-paid phones. They're gambling that the people who buy them will sign up for service, and they hope to make back the subsidy through continued service.

The problem with that plan is that they cannot require the customer to activate the phone, and they cannot legally restrict what the customer does with the phone after it is purchased.

I simply don't see how this is illegal. Immoral? Eh... maybe. It's certainly against the spirit of what T-Mobile and others are trying to provide. But by no stretch of the imagin...
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And it's a stretch to say that it is a violation of trademark law, too.



Wouldn't the violation of trademark only be possible if the phones were being advertised as "unlocked GoPhones"? GoPhone is their trademark, not the make and model of the phone.
So simply removing the carrier branding, and advertising the model of the phone by model number should not constitute trademark infrindgement. (i don't know if this is being done or not... just making a case for this)

That could be - if that's what they're advertising then it seems like that should be a violation of trademark law.

If that's what's going on then the case makes more sense... too bad the press is only interested in regurgitating what others have already said. What ever happened to real reporting?

There were statues? Sweet!

Yes! And they've been polishing the one right outside my window all morning.

No joke... there's this piece of "art" on the sidewalk outside my building and there have been at least 4 people working on it all day so far. With blowtorches and everything.