[Galaxy Note GT-N7000 General] Jade Eyed Wolf:
I understand that while buying unlocked isn't always a luxury that everyone is able to afford up front. Additionally, I also understand that there's a learning process to be had when buying a subsidized device and unlocking it, de-bloating it, etc. and that this can be a bit of a bonus. However, having said that, just as some people have no desire to deal with selling their old devices to buy new unlocked devices, there are also some people who have no desire to meddle around with unlocking their devices themselves; some people just want to have exactly what they want out-of-the-box.

On top of that, even if you unlock a carrier subsidized device, and do whatever with it, the carrier can still dictate what you're doing with it based on the fact that they know what kind of device it is from the IMEI they have in their database.

Case and point: I bought an AT&T subsidized Galaxy Tab (original 7"), because I knew about the hardware being identical to the international version and about flashing the international firmware to re-enable the phone functionality. For a while this worked great for me, but after about a month, I got a nastygram from AT&T telling me to cease and desist because I was using the device on their network "in ways we did not intend for it to be used." They could tell what kind of device I had specifically because they had a record of the IMEI in their system, and hence knew how to identify it. They did not intend for American consumers to have a device that fulfilled the roles of both phone and tablet all-in-one. That's bad for business. They want you to buy two devices; one for each role! And they would like it if you either payed for two separate lines for those devices, or payed for a tethering "feature" on at least one of them. More money in their pockets...

Point is, had I just spent maybe $50 - $100 more (at the time AT&T's branded Tab cost $550!), I could have had the unlocked international version. Since AT&T wouldn't have had my IMEI in their database then, the device would have been "unrecognized phone" instead, and I would have never run into the problems that I did.

This is what I mean by carriers having WAY too much control over our buying decisions in America, and our network behavior. By making their subsidies so cheap, they effectively have more control over the devices they sell to us. By having more control over the products, they then have more control over what we can and cannot do with our hardware, and by doing THAT, they can much more effectively nickle-and-dime us for WAY more than the losses they initially took by selling you a discounted phone.

AT&T: "Oh you want to do that with your device? Oh, we locked that down, sorry. Well, actually, now we've unlocked that feature, but you have to pay us more to use it. Oh and we have monitoring software that is very difficult to remove installed on your device so that we can tell whether or not you're getting away with things we otherwise would be able to nickle-and-dime you extra for. Yeah, we're price-gouging you, but you're letting us get away with it while we laugh our way to the bank. The last thing we want is an educated and informed mass of consumers. Oh and the VERY last thing we'd want is consumer revolt!"

I'm grandfathered into an unlimited smartphone plan for $30 a month in addition to my other main features. I generally go through about 5 or 6 gigs of data on average, and I tether occasionally when needed. So if I were to get with the programme so to speak, I would have to spend about $45 a month instead for 4gb of data and tethering, plus an additional $10 or $20 for overages. So that's potentially another $300 to $540 a year that I'm saving myself here. Hence, with those savings alone, I'm able to afford an unlocked device up front, because the initial cost is offset by the long-term savings.

With subsidized, it's just the opposite; the initial savings are offset by the long-term costs. Which, ok, not so bad. But I would like some timely updates please, and no carrier bloatware out of box, or CarrierIQ, or slightly different/inferior hardware, etc.

Yeah, no thanks...