2:06 PM

Keep Your Cellphone When Switching Companies:

Consumers Union is asking the Federal Communications Commission to investigate and take action to stop the practice by many cell phone companies of artificially locking� wireless handsets, which prevents consumers from using their cell phones when they change cell phone companies.

The only reason wireless companies install these locks is to try and hang onto their customers by effectively holding their phone hostage, said Chris Murray, legislative counsel for Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports. While the locks take different forms with different technologies, they all have the same effect — putting another roadblock to competition in the wireless market.

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Eliminating the artificial locks also will have a positive impact on the environment, as Americans discard millions of useful phones each year, equaling 65,000 tons of trash that includes toxic materials such as arsenic, mercury and lead.