>>> If you buy a cellphone and contract for service for that cellphone
>>>> with a licensed carrier, then that carrier's license covers the
>>>> operation of the phone you activated with that carrier. You can't
>>>> then go out and use other phones under that contract without the
>>>> carrier's consent.
>>> An interesting theory, although clearly nonsensical with GSM phones.
>> With GSM phones (if not locked), you would be contractually allowed to
>> use any compatible (i.e., proper band for the country at issue) GSM
>> phone with the SIM chip from your carrier.
> Well, as it happens, I have a GSM phone from Cingular, and the
> contract says only that I am responsible for the installation and
> operation of my phone, and that they may reprogram the roaming table.
> It doesn't say anything about being required to use the phone they
> provided or anything else along those lines.
But doesn't the very absence of any contractual language requiring you to use a Cingular-provided handset itself constitute Cingular's consent for you to substitute other handsets? The original posters weren't claiming that you could never substitute equipment, only that you could not substitute equipment unless your carrier consented to it. By failing to tie you contractually to a particular handset, it seems that Cingular has thus given you all the consent you need.
Bob Goudreau Cary, NC