yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
I don't think we should have to pay, obviously. That being said I would pay 25-50$ easily. I don't think they will do it though. I think the office that you emailed is going to ask the department that OK's that idea and they will shoot it down for some bull **** reason.

I honestly hope it works though and I would be one of the first to pay trust me. Not only that if you get them to do that open a paypal cause I'm going to donate to you cause you'll make my day buddy.

Good Luck.

Watch out, some moderators in this forum don't seem to like progress and think we should shut up and be happy with out locked devices.....kinda surprised me hearing that from an XDA mod...
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] KaM1KaZ3:
I would donate $25 that would be a reasonable price for anyone to pay chances are slim for unlocking but if it can be done count me ?
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Hobart!:
A one time $25 fee. Otherwise I am going sewhere else.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] -somebody-:
$25 and void full warranty, $50 and maintain partial warranty such as water damage, cracked screens, etc...
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
I talked to a mod before posting this. It got approved, so as long as trolls stay away, we are good.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Zixx:
I would pay $5 I mean it sounds okay , since we are already paying for a device (s5 on VZW) that in other carriers is unlock, and they are just being greedy. But again Money talks these days
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] V0latyle:
I really hope this isn't a troll thread.

I don't think we should have to pay anything for a bootloader unlock when OEMs like HTC do it for free. That being said I would be willing to pay a minimal fee, no more than $25, to unlock my existing device.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] wrongway213:
I'd pay $50 even though I don't believe in it in principle. I believe bootloaders should be unlocked to begin with, but I want an unlocked bootloader enough to say to hell with my principles and spend the money anyway. Truth be told, I love Verizon service in my area, so paying for an unlocked bootloader on Verizon would be a better option for me than getting one from say, Sprint, as it comes, for free.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
Just so everyone knows the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act prevents someone from totally VOIDING a warranty. Verizon/Samsung could only deny to warranty something if they can prove something you did cause the issue. Anything that has nothing to do with what you did still has to be under warranty. If you LCD started to lose color or get dead pixels that would still have to be covered because that has nothing to do with bootloaders and flashing ROMS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson–Moss_Warranty_Act:

"The federal minimum standards for full warranties are waived if the warrantor can show that the problem associated with a warranted consumer product was caused by damage while in the possession of the consumer, or by unreasonable use, including a failure to provide reasonable and necessary maintenance."

I learned about this when I was going to get my truck lifted. I was told if I did it would VOID my truck's warranty. After looking into it further it didn't actually VOID anything. But for example if I went in to get my suspension fixed because it broke they could argue that the lift kit put stress on the suspension and that's why it failed so they would not have to cover it. But if my motor exploded because it was made out of cheese it would still be under warranty, the entire warranty can never be voided. Only damage caused by what you did. Food for thought guys.

If anyone has anything to add please do.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] KaM1KaZ3:
How would we pay for this if it does happen by phone call? Are a walk in retail store?
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] bad bone:
I'd have to say it would depend on how old the device is how much I'd be willing to pay. $50 is reasonable for a "newer" device if you ask me and for $100 I should be able to get insurance.

http://bit.ly/1brshoa
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] btonetbone:
Like a lot of other voices in this thread, I believe it should be free. We bought the phones already. However, realistically, I'd probably shell out $25 if they offered it...and grumble at the same time.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] VelosterM14:
I tend to be pretty ideological about a lot of things, and my sentiment about this is that I really shouldn't HAVE to pay for an unlocked bootloader. FFS aren't they getting enough $$$ out of us for a 2 year contract and no unlimited data plan? The Android platform would be "just another option" in a sea of proprietary gadgetry if it weren't for all the open source community work that they take advantage of to sell us a phone with thousands of apps available for it. (and a contract...)

But realistically, I would be willing to pay something for an unlocked bootloader. As long as it is unlocked PERMANENTLY, or easily unlocked again with a simple procedure if an accidental OTA kills it or something and I don't have to pay an unlock fee again to fix it.

Again, it is ridiculous in my idealistic mind to have to pay extra for that, but I would be willing to pay $25 to avoid all the finagling I've had to deal with for the last week and a half to get my S4 the way *I* want it because of a locked bootloader.

Any more than a $25 upcharge for this "privilege" just reinforces the notion that you are greedy corporate fascists looking for another feature to sell us along with that contract.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
Something else to think of....

If you all remember HTCdev didn't fully unlock your phone. You could flash to a few other spots on your phone like boot. It still wouldn't let you flash new radios. I didn't mind that really. I hope verizon knows that if it's something like the radios their worried about they can still keep that off limits. I would rather be ABLE to flash a radio if I wanted but if that's the deal breaker keep that locked. I know carriers seem to be very concerned with what they think is possible to do if we messed with the radios(and I'm sure other useless spots on the phone.).
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] gsciullo17:
As all of you have said, I believe it should be for free, as the only thing that could happen for Verizon is a lot of customers moving from AT&T since their S4s are still locked. If Verizon does release a service for unlocking the bootloader, I would pay $25 to get it unlocked, no questions asked, even if the warranty was voided. That's how desperate I am to get this thing unlocked. My vote is $25. Hopefully this post gets us somewhere. I hate to see the devs on here working so hard and getting little to no progress. We shouldn't have to be working hard. It should be done for us.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
The reasons the bootloaders are locked, to my understanding from what was said, to prevent normal users from wrecking the phone from seeing something on the internet and not knowing anything about it. They also do it because some people abuse unlocked bootloaders and root. It isn't to prevent developers from working on Verizon devices, but it does hurt it since it takes longer for people to figure out how to get around the bootloader.

And no, this is not a troll thread. I really did e-mail Verizon, and I really did get a call from the office of the main VP. It has gotten patched through to marketing into the idea pot. Also, I am not the first to mention something like this; however, from what the guy was saying, I am the first to really have any sort of plan of implementing it. All we can do now is wait and see what will happen. This thread was made in case Verizon wants to see how many people would be interested in the idea of a developer program.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] anthonyg45157:
Awesome idea. I'd be willing to pay 25 for unlocked bootloader.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Exleh:
I really don't want to pay to unlock the boot loader, but I would if it was completely necessary. Lol. They should give the option to unlock for us that know what we are doing. They should also lay out all of the consequences: voided warranty, etc clearly. I want to experiment. I want to go back to being a flashaholic. I want to try out CM and MIUI on my S5.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] awal1987:
$25
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] mailjasons:
I have att, fully bought phone, so I feel I should be able to do whatever I want to at my risk (as MY device). I would reluctantly pay up to $50.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] PetersDrue:
I like this.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] scootier:
I would pay up to $50 for an unlocked bootloader.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] twizzlejr:
I'd pay 5 I like the idea and it would be even more interesting to see how big red would do this would we take it to a store and just pay the fee and boom they would unlock it or would we have to send our devices in and have them do it and be without our devices for days or something like I said interesting very interesting lol
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Bait-Fish:
I agree. Tiered options would be good.

My answer, $50.

I paid outright for a Samsung Dev Edition GS4. $50 is much cheaper. However, my reason to go with the Dev Edition was also to keep my unlimited data. The rub, newer GS4 Dev Editions came essentially locked with newer, current firmware. Older versions would lock if flashed with an official OTA or KIES. Not good on a device that's supposed to be unlocked. Also, no official OTAs. That would lock the phone anyway, the way things are...

I can see the carrier's point keeping things locked while on a subsidized plan. A prorated-ish sliding or stepped fee depending on how much time you've completed on-contract makes sense.

Just signed up with a brand new expensive top of the line phone? You pay more. Seems realistic. As much as free unlocking would be nice, I don't think it will ever happen.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] swieder711:
I would pay $100
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] sinner822:
Possibly getting to close to an unlock already? If so maybe a diversion to stop us from finding an exploit. For whatever reason they sure wouldn't be doing it for our benefit. IMO we pay to much for service anyway. So I would say $0.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] VelosterM14:
Yeah, good point. Not sure how close we really are though.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] sokrboot:
$25...$50 maybe.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] chrisbass:
I'm on an edge plan and even tho I'm paying full price (unless I trade up) for my S5 I'd still drop $50 real quick to have it unlocked.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] joshua.justice:
I'd pay $25, I haven't voted yet and is the VP going to look at this and decide whether to implement it or not?
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] :
Same here but like others I would like to keep the hardware insurance in case I accidentally break the screen or something other than software.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] griff22usmc:
Up to $50
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eheinzeiii:
$50.... gladly
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Lpfan83:
Would gladly pay 25$ for a full unlock. I came from the rezound and I miss CM, liquidsmooth, and all those other roms I used to flash
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
So when you spoke on the phone with the VP what information did he give you? Any time frame? Any idea when they might know if they will move forward with your idea? Anything at all?
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
The guy that called me (wasn't the VP, but it was someone from his office) said that there were other customers who had called with similar concerns. He patched through to marketing, and said that all I could do was wait. He liked the idea though, so maybe it has a slightly better shot at getting approved? I'm not entirely sure though.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
Would you be interested in giving me his email so I can also send bascially the same message. I'm not looking to step on your toes, I just want them to know your not the only one interested. One way or another it would be nice for them to see first hand that indeed we are more than a few.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] joshua.justice:
Go here to email him http://about.verizon.com/index.php/about/Contact?execname=Roy+H.+Chestnutt&e=139&h=8b
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
I just sent another email asking...
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
Let us know what they say
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
I don't expect to hear back, my intention was to let them know that others are interested and I think I conveyed that.

I think it's one thing for a guy to call and say many people want an unlocked bootloader

It's another for many people to call and say I want an unlocked bootloader
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] :
Having owned an S4 and a Note 3 and now the M8 I would shell out 5 or 10 bucks to unlock my boot loader. But only because the current (free) exploits no longer work. Sunshine for HTC devices charges 25 per device. IMO that's just ludacris as I already paid 700 for a phone the should have an unlocked bootlaoder to begin with. Plus I am paying my monthly bill. Even subsidized if you figure it out you are really paying 2 to 3 K to own a phone and have service over the life of your contract. I do understand where BigRed is coming from about device/network protection and warranty claims would go through the roof due to inexperience. But let's face it we as consumers pay good money to own our devices and they are ours and should have the freedom to do as we please with them.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] LiLPurP:
Ok guys i understand the need for this, but you have to remember that shelling out more money will work, but we shouldnt have to pay for our device, then pay again to own it on a software level. That would be outrageous for any device. The issue here is, unlocked devices are sold from factory, there is your for sure moddable device, the retail edition is just that, retail, no extras, no from the store mods, all they provide is ota updates with bloatware and a pretty price tag thats slightly less money than the unlocked version. I find it interesting that verizon even considered marketing roots and mods ect. But if enough demand i guess the money speaks for itself. But id much rather donate to someone who cares about the community, than pay the carriers who locked the phone in the first place, and then more than likely receive no type of support or troubleshoot for the service they offer due to the warranty becoming void. Thats the reality
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] waiters:
Doesn't really matter for me anymore. I'll buy a on contract iPhone 6, sell it to some idiot for way more than its worth. And buy a non Samsung/unlock able device.

Sadly I'm done with Samsung.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] landshark68:
I don't understand why so many people keep blaming Samsung when Verizon and AT&T are the ones who requested the bootloaders to be locked on their variants. The Sprint and T-Mobile variants of Samsung phones do not have locked bootloaders.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] joshua.justice:
Everyone needs to go do it, if high enough up people realize it they'll do something! I filled it out.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] o0BlacknesS0o:
Personally, I'd be open to a ONE TIME fee of any amount you have listed, but personally I feel that if you pay the monthly insurance fee for the phone than you should be able to unlock without extra fees
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] wrongway213:
This.. If I was still a sprint user this thread would be irrelevant to me, and not because their was one like it in the sprint section.. Our carrier is 100% to blame.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] shootind5nukes:
I think this developer program should be something along the lines of an account you login to on the Verizon Site. From there you should be able to enter your phone model and IMEI and agree to some stuff and then get an unlock for that device. I also think that each person should only have to pay the fee once. If I pay the 50$ to get a Verizon Dev Account so I can unlock my GS5 then when the GS6 comes out I shouldn't have to pay again.

---------- Post added at 09:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 AM ----------

eragon5779

You should put the link from joshua.justice's reply in post #63 into your first post. Maybe ask everyone to email them in a polite manner explaining why they should let us unlock our bootloaders. I would ask that no one be rude as that won't help our cause. Let's show them there is definitely interest in this program.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] :
This is a great idea! I agree entirely. Way to think outside the box!
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
Done. Thank you again!
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] joshua.justice:
How many people have emailed him so far?
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Crooke356:
My VZW Moto X Dev Edition is unlocked and receives updates the same time the retail versions do. OTAs do not affect the bootloader and it's still covered under warranty. It was easy to get. No running out of stock or any of the issues that plague the Dev S5. The OEMs could provide us with what we want.

I'm not trying to troll. If I understand correctly, you want them to allow any device, even those purchased at a subsidized cost, no matter the OEM, to be unlocked? If so, OEMs would still have to participate. Create an unlocking program similar to Motorola. This would require a lot of work for VZW, for very little return at the prices you have listed.

However, rumors of the Android Silver program sound very similar. If VZW said they were already looking into something like this, I can't help but wonder if they will charge to purchase on the Android Silver program. I've also heard a rumor of a supposed Moto S. Basically the Nexus for VZW. This whole thing could be a good way for VZW to see how they could profit the most, from Android Silver, a service that is already on its way. (Obviously, this paragraph is all based on rumor at this point)

As of right now, I wouldn't pay. I just can't imagine giving VZW more of my money for something that should be free. That said, if they had a device that I wanted and it was locked down and all I had to do was give those greedy.. give VZW $50, I would probably do it.

Again, I'm not trying to troll. I think it's great to see you taking steps to try and secure us "tinkerers" with a method to be able to do as we wish with whatever device, on the VZW network. While I think that pushing the OEMs to offer Dev programs like Motorola would be best, I can see the allure of being able to purchase on contract at a significant discount. Thank you for your efforts.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] BigBot96:
Samsung does. It's called the Developer Edition.

Verizon and Samsung offer a Developer Edition of the S5 (and most modern Samsung devices). If they were to offer a "developer program" and unlock devices for a fee, this would make the "Developer Edition" obsolete and they would lose money. The whole idea of the developer editions is to offer an unlocked device at full cost to the buyer with limited warranty/support. If you don't want to pay full price, then they offer a subsidized retail device and must abide by their rules.The retail devices are sold at an extreme subsidy on contract. Something you agreed to when you signed and bought a retail device. So, demanding that the carrier unlock a device that they subsidized is senseless, especially considering they already offer an unlocked variant.

Now: what the OP is proposing would make sense for any new phones from this point forward assuming they no longer offer a developer edition. Then it would make sense to offer an unlock at a fee, and probably a void of warranty (because in all fairness, we all know there will be those who don't know what they're doing, unlock, tinker, then break it, THEN want Samsung to fix it for free.. So a void of warranty would make sense).

With all that said:

For my current device:: I wouldn't pay anything. I chose a retail device for a subsidy. If I wanted an unlocked device, I would've gotten a DevEd.

For future devices (assuming they no longer offer the DevEd device):: I would pay an additional $50-$100 for a permanent unlock that can still receive and survive OTAs, depending on the final retail cost.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
[MENTION=4549354]MrHyde03[/MENTION], thank you. You explained it pretty well. It's also for people who can't necessarily afford anything but the subsidized phone. That is the boat I am in.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] BigBot96:
What you could do (and what I thought about doing), was sell the retail device (you could get a pretty penny for it), then put those funds towards a DevEd.

If you sold it right after you purchased it for $299/$199/$$$, you could have sold it for approximately $550, considering it's full retail value is $599. Then tack on another $50 and go buy a DevEd. So in the end, you could have spent ~$350 for the DevEd.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Wulfpk:
I bought the device therefore I believe I should get support for it free. However I would be willing to pay $25 for unlocking rooting service etc.

Sent from my xt926
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
I'm a high school student. Otherwise I would. My work is kinda spotty, and my parents take half my pay anyways. And I am saving up for stuff for college.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] bad bone:
I see your point but that money is going to Samsung not Verizon so in essence this will put that money back into Verizon's pocket there's their incentive;)

http://bit.ly/1brshoa
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] joshua.justice:
I messaged the lady on there and she told me there's nothing that they can do.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
What lady?
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] joshua.justice:
A representative from his office
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] eragon5779:
That's odd. They never emailed me back, but they called and the guy liked the idea. Not sure why they said that
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] Dennisg34:
As to this bootloader issue, please read up on research. They make it harder to crack because they have government contracts and need the security. I'm not even sure 1% use Verizon and hack their phones. Probably less than a half percent. If you really have an issue change carriers or phones. You know full well coming onto Verizon and Samsung they're going to be tough to crack.
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] KaM1KaZ3:
I emailed them 2 days ago never heard anything back I just got a little curious to see what would be said I know there against it but not everyone wanted to wait for a dev edition I as well I understand what the goal is in this thread but chances of getting keys for unlocked vs saving an buy our whole family dev edition before we get the keys I'm happy with my locked device if it was unlocked even better like I said before I would pay $25 IF they did let us unlock
[Verizon Galaxy S 5 General] DozenMadder:
Corporations and government desired a locked down feature. Instead of paying for it exclusively, the cost of the R&D was passed directly to everyone who buys the devices and we have all received this "wonderful feature" whether we want it or not.

Now that they took our money and spent it on a metaphorical knife, they would like a consensus from us regarding how much we would pay to have that knife pulled out of our backs?

The organizations that wanted that feature should have paid to fund the project themselves. I've never had an interest in it.

I, myself, would prefer to donate to an upstanding, independent developer rather than a crook even if it means waiting longer.