The cell phone wall

I learned to my dismay that cell phone carriers have a little known wall that prevents customers from transferring their cell phones from one carrier to another.

When I attempted to transfer my cellular phone service from Verizon to AT&T, AT&T said that I would need to ask Verizon to unlock my phones so that they could transfer over to AT&T.

The Verizon representative said they do not unlock phones. "Verizon cell phones are programmed to work only on the Verizon network."

I was stunned. I don't remember reading that in the fine print. (I have to admit that I did not read all of the pages of online fine print when I renewed my contract two years ago.)

He explained how some phones are only made for certain networks, like when the iPhones first appeared they were only available on the AT&T network

I remembered that, but didn't realize what that had meant.

Another Verizon representative explained that Motorola made a number of cell phones just for Verizon - like mine. They also explained that other phones may be cross platform capable, just not yours.

In the end, I did not switch to AT&T as purchasing new phones made the benefits of switching less desirable. For now, the carriers have won.

PC Magazine has a great article that explains why cell phones cannot be transferred between carriers.

http://www.pcmag.com/