@owl @resist1984 @rysiek the problem is that most of the people want to change phone every 1-2years. Even if they're are forced to take a loan for that or they take a subsidised phone from the carrier. You don't have to have law for everything until you have to manage a mob.
@Br0m3x @rysiek @owl The OCD phone upgrading disease that inflicts many Americans is separate problem, which happens to hide the problem of designed obsolescence. Belgium solved the OCD consumption problem by banning the practice of locking phones to plans (which encourages ppl to upgrade needlessly at the end of their contracts).
@Br0m3x @rysiek @owl But the problem remains that manufacturers will offer 1 or 2 Android OS upgrades, and then quit, leaving users with a phone that has just fine hardware, but AOS is too old. I have an android that's trapped on AOS 2.3. Since the drivers are proprietary, I can't just upgrade it myself.
@resist1984 @Br0m3x @rysiek @owl
Mmmh, mobile plan providers in Belgium are still pushing hard so people subscribe to a mobile plan when buying a phone.
Example with an iPhone at Proximus, where the price drop from 800 to 200 € as long as you subscribe to a 24-months data plan costing 25 €/month.
@meduz @owl @rysiek @Br0m3x I believe the rules changed in Belgium. They banned phone locking, at which point Belgium was the most expensive place in the world to buy an iPhone. Then a few years later there was a law change that enabled contracts. I'm not sure if the locking became permitted, or if the contracts are somehow in force without locking.
@resist1984 @Br0m3x @rysiek @owl “Joined offers” (it’s how they name it at Proximus) are not the only available option: people can still subscribe to plans or buy phones separately. But every providers try to push them.
I don’t know at which point these practices are encouraging people to renew their phones, but I think this behaviour is rather still a thing in Belgium. 🤔
(Mine is now 5 years old. 😎)
@meduz @resist1984 @rysiek @owl If you have no money for Iphone buy a cheaper phone w/o plan. If you want a subsidised phone pay and cry. There is no free dinner. Basic mathematics is at elementary school. People claim that they have no money, they are concerned about climate but they have brand new iphones, samsungs etc.
@owl @rysiek @Br0m3x In Belgium, they don't have the problem of OCD phone upgrades that are consumer-driven. If you look around there, you'll see people using phones so old that the finish has worn off the plastic so the milky colored plastic is showing, and that's a good thing.