Score one for consumers: Wireless carriers can no longer lock your phone

If you’re like many people, you have more than one old cell phone stuffed in a desk drawer somewhere in your home.

This might be the case because you've upgraded to a new phone with the same carrier to get the latest bells and whistles. Or, frustratingly, it might be because you've switched carriers and your old phone won't work on the new carrier's network.

Late last month the U.S. Copyright Office issued rules that address this second situation. Carriers, for at least the next three years, will no longer be allowed to “lock” your phone to prevent the device from being used on another carrier’s network.

Wireless services providers have reportedly used these software locks to keep customers, who were under contract, on their network in an effort to recoup the cost of offering discounted handsets to new customers.

But in many cases these locks were not lifted even after contracts were fulfilled. According to other reports, some services providers were more lenient. T-Mobile unlocked phones for customers who were 90 days into their contract if the customer made such a request.

The Copyright Office’s ruling looks to be a boon for consumers, but some vendors have a different take.

Reseller Tracfone Wireless filed a lawsuit to reverse the decision in U.S. District Court in Florida, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Tracfone, along with trade group CTIA Wireless, filed comments to the Copyright Office after the comment period closed.

Tracfone, which is said to be the largest pre-paid wireless service provider in the United States, says that the rulemaking impacts its business plan and also could put large swaths of phones in the hands of criminals and even terrorists.

For consumers, the ruling will enable them to use devices they own on another provider’s network. But not any network. For example, a consumer cannot take a phone issued by Cingular Wireless and use it on Verizon Wireless’ network because Cingular supports GSM and Verizon supports CDMA, which are not interoperable technologies.

Industry watchers also warn that even when trying to use a phone from wireless service providers such as Sprint and Verizon that support like technologies, consumers could lose some features and applications that are specific to each provider.

But for some customers, the loss of a few applications may be a small price to pay if it means being able to take a device they paid $200 for to another provider that might offer better customer service or network coverage.