Off-contract Dell Streak is still SIM-locked to AT&T, wrongs still being done in the world
By Darren Murph 
posted August 12th 2010 11:25AM
posted August 12th 2010 11:25AM
posted August 12th 2010 11:25AM
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If you are locked to one network, you are doing it wrong....
Oh wait....
@Madcat
$299.99 if locked to ATT. Isn't it?
@azdude I mean... on ATT contract... right?
@Madcat
Dell, you are on my personal "buyer-beware" list...
@Madcat
Seriously what's wrong with US carriers? You clearly own the device so why are you forced to use their service? How is this legal? I mean if you buy an iPod you don't have to get you mp3s from iTunes!
@fais
You don't have to get them from iTunes but you sure as $#!t need it to get the mp3's to your iPod LOL.
The ass-backwards, proprietary nature of american carriers is remarkably irksome.
THIS is why I never buy a phone from a carrier. I like my freedom to leave when I want (no ETF) and I'm free to use whichever GSM carrier I choose.
@Madcat
A Dell CSR just told me that the 549$ Streak was unlocked. I specifically asked: "If I choose not to activate it on AT&T is it still locked to that network? Or is it unlocked". She answered: "It will not be locked to a network".
@Madcat use a rebel sim makes it open to all networks
@spartandre217. Except in America there is no where to leave to....
@Heavy Metal Machine
lmfao, I can switch between t-mobile and at&t in addition to whatever other small carriers exist on a whim. Regardless, it'd be for the best if they stopped this carrier locked shit if the phone is bought off-contract. TBH I'd prefer the carriers be dumb pipes
@dhomas
That rep is misinformed it seems, which is common in a call centre environment. Still, I think Lionel's words are more solid than some random rep.
What's mind boggling though is that they're seriously selling this thing at full price and locked to AT&T... I just can't get over that. What makes it even worse is that it won't be available in AT&T stores!!!
So... *chuckles*... let me get this straight... they're following what Google did with the Nexus One BUT making it worse by locking it to a carrier at FULL price and...... expect better results???
I think that lines up with the definition of insanity.
@supermanjason No it doesn't I know I tried. I got a crap response from the company as well when I asked for assistance and eventually sent it back and I'm still waiting for my refund. Think twice before opting for the Rebel sim unlocking system, read a lot of blogs and you will find that it allows 2g in some instances but not 3G. I wanted to use a 3 network sim in it and it would not allow any connection I tried an Orange sim as well without success. There is a YouTube bid showing a T mobile sim in a Streak but in my experiance it didn't work.
@fais Its pretty simple actually. Back in the early 90s if you wanted a pager or cell phone in California you paid full price, there was none of this mamby pamby subsidized crap because there was a law on the books that said it was illegal. So a alphanumeric pager could run you $289. When in other parts of the country they were giving them away with a 2 year contract. Being the stupid sheep people are they got the law overturned and wala the last state in the nation fell to the shackles of subsidized contract pricing. The thing is back then the prices were more in line with the technology. Right now the $549 price for a Streak is well padded for something that surely costs Dell less than $185 in hardware costs. So yes, the people are stupid and fall for marketing tactics that lead to stupid ways to gouge you like paying for a device AND getting locked into a 2 year contract.
Bahhhahahhh
@Plazmic Flame Here is a copy of the chat I had with the CSR: http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/2959/streakunlocked.png. I almost ordered it based on this information!
@Heavy Metal Machine
"Except in America there is no where to leave to...."
You got it exactly right. With incompatible 3G frequencies and the inability to go Sprint Verizon, the only thing a carrier unlock is good for is for overseas use.
The US is the worst for carriers.
@etwashoo2
Why Verizon and Sprint still use CDMA is beyond me.
The 3G issue will go away in a few years with LTE being used to boot
@dhomas record the call, buy, charge back through Visa
@Madcat
So it's ONLY available online through dell's website, and then again locked to AT&T. Talk about bad strategies!
I am so ready to hurl my iPhone 4 against the wall because of consistent dropped calls but I need something on AT&T with great web browsing and texting. Dell, you idiot!
@AbhishekVerma may I suggest the Captivate?
@supermanjason
Just bought an O2 Streak off ebay to use on Fido in Canada. Rebel doesn't work. They sell it, saying it does, but no luck...
@Madcat Well I just saw it at my local Media Markt with a Case and Klipsch Headsets for €549 with of course no Sim Lock at all will be putting my 1and1 All net Flat sim card with 7.2mb mobile internet flatrate(full speed to 10gb 200kb after that) for only €39,99 pre-paid in it enjoy AT&T
@dhomas
That may be so, but I bet that a Dell executive will know the real deal over a $10/hr CS rep.
@TheOne klipsch headset: S4i or S2m? Nice deal if it's S4i.
@etwashoo2
"The US is the worst for carriers."
You haven't been in Canada have you?
@spartandre217 You don't have to get mp3s or any music from iTunes. You don't even need to use iTunes to put them on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Air Sharing Pro qnd other apps allow you to download them directly into that app and play them back just fine. Apple doesn't restrict you to iTunes only for music.
@etwashoo2
I think you got it backwards, the US is best for carriers, worst for informed consumers.
@NextGen The S2M's come with it still good I think anything would be better then the stock buds, from what I understand the the S4i mic does not work properly with the streak since it was made for the Iphone but I could be mistaken.
@AbhishekVerma Well i wont go out calling dell names, probably ATT requirement. I don't see why you will pay all that money for a phone and it still comes locked. the whole point to buying a device out right and paying full price is that it belongs to you and you have the right to use it however you want. not cool
@fais
I know how ticked you are. Guess what? AT&T offered as a courtesy (corporate language: MORE MONEY FOR US!!!!!!) to give users of unlocked phones a required $15 (or so) plan for unlimited data. This is even though users bought an unlocked phone from AT&T. Stay away from them unless you want to suffer for two years. This is only if you want Android of course.
I'm bringing my 9mm to the ATT store and my Streak is getting unlocked today.
@mmurfin87 Let me know how that went in 10-15 years.
@mmurfin87 Don't drop the soap in jail!
@mmurfin87
I am just gonna wait till an unlocking guide is available
@mnhthebest
You keep waiting on that one.
If you people just complained to the FCC or whoever is in charge of regulating cellular service in the US I'm sure this whole carrier locked BS would end.
Let's be realistic here, it doesn't work like this anywhere in the world bar japan and maybe china.
@mmurfin87
Then I predict a future for you that involves a lot more locks.
@Lemmiwinks
Most creative.
If this was running a relevant version of android, I might actually have been disappointed.
I'm sorry if i don't understand this, i'm from Europe.
But why doesn't Dell just send a bunch of these Streaks to electronics stores so they can sell them the way they came out of the factory?
@GGG
What i mean is: just where does AT&T enter the equation and why does Dell feel a need to be affiliated with them in this way?
@GGG I think because they've made a deal with AT&T to be exclusive to them.
@GGG $
@GGG Phones don't sell like that in America. Everything needs to be bound to a company. There are no unlocked phone sold in a best buy here. It is quite disappointing.
@(Unverified)
Dell needs to guarantee sales of this device. Choosing a carrier helps this especially since the subsidized price can help. Just throwing into electronic stores will take the risk of making it two much work to buy it then go to a carrier to use it.
Also, when Dell uses a carrier, the carrier will pre-purchase a certain amount of devices. This shows up as instant sales for Dell whether the phone ever really sells well at ATT.
@GGG
http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/10/confirmed-apple-and-atandt-signed-five-year-iphone-exclusivity-de/ ?
@GGG
I'm from America, and I never understood it.
These companies don't reflect the general ideologies of the people.
@GGG
but what's the point of exclusivity? It just means the carrier has to be extra lucky to get a deal for the right phone. if there is no exclusivity all carriers can sell all phones which certainly makes their lives easier. and it gives consumers a choice.
@GGG
You'd think that'd be for the best but it seems the general american populace is not educated to the fact that they're getting shafted by carriers here.
I live here and it is far and away the most irksome thing about owning a cell phone.
I can't fathom why they would think this sort of behavior is OK.
@GGG Without competition, they get exclusive deals that bring customers in so they can keep higher monthly charges. Essentially, they go into bidding wars on these things because it keeps their margins higher, they get to charge more for service while getting the phones in to attract customers. The U.S. market needs a lot of help in this area if they want real competition, what the carriers do is borderline collusion in this and other regards.
@GGG
It hasn't really been explained very well yet, so let me give it a go. The thought of exclusivity is that customers will switch networks to get the phone. If you can only use AT&T and you want the phone bad enough, you'll switch networks. Phone networks know this so they invest a lot of money into the manufacturer, effectively "buying" exclusivity. This is an effective business model, but it only works with the highest profile phones (iPhone, EVO, Droid...). I doubt the Dell Streak has that appeal, but maybe more people than I think want a phone the size of my face?
@GGG It wouldn't be half as bad if it was T-Mobile, they at least carrier unlock any of their devices after 90 days. Good luck getting a cheap LG flip phone unlocked by AT&T.
This is why it's factory unlocked for me...or bust. Yet another way the Nexus One is [ or was :-( ] our savior.