Sprint Nextel has agreed to provide departing Sprint PCS customers with the code necessary to unlock their phones. Of course, an unlocked Nextel iDEN phone won't do you much good. But at least Sprint's CDMA phones can be used on the Verizon or Alltel networks.
Sprint made the offer to settle a California class action lawsuit and an Alameda County Superior Court judge has given the settlement his preliminary approval. A final approval hearing hasn't yet been scheduled.
Sprint said it will share the unlocking code with all current and former subscribers once their phones are deactivated and their bills are paid. The company also will add information about the locking software and how to obtain the unlocking codes in the list of terms and conditions of service given to new customers, and instruct its customer service representatives on how to connect a non-Sprint phone to the Sprint network.
The settlement covers customers who bought a Sprint phone between Aug. 28, 1999, and July 16, 2007.
T-Mobile is facing a similar class action lawsuit in California. Users of the iPhone, which is locked to the AT&T network, filed two separate lawsuits last week against the carrier and Apple Inc., claiming its use restrictions and a software upgrade that disables unlocked iPhones constituted unfair business practices.
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