To The Honourable [Name of Representative],

When wired telephones were the novelty, the US courts made it illegal to plug
anything into your phone-jack that wasn't approved specifically by AT&T. The
"safety of the network" was used as an excuse, but in reality AT&T simply 
wanted to own the market. It was only until AT&T began charging rental
fees for our telephone equipment that the courts finally came to striking it 
down.

Wireless carriers today have unfortunately taken advantage of technology to
ensure that only carrier-approved equipment is used on their network. Many
carriers blacklist ESNs (Electronic Serial Numbers) for equipment that is not
sold directly through their company. This has created an anti-competitive 
monopoly which has pushed out the prospect of competing third-party phone 
equipment and has unfortunately hurt consumers in many ways. In order for 
roaming to work, only a few mobile phone standards have been used in the
United States and any phone manufactured to a standard (CDMA, TDMA, GSM) will
function on any network using that standard.

Verizon Wireless is one of many carriers that has recently taken their 
anti-competitive agenda to the next level and aggressively disabled many 
features in newer handsets that are considered "normal" features by most other 
carriers - simple features such as the ability to privately (e.g. not through 
the network) transfer phone numbers and pictures to consumers' laptops or to 
other phones. This not only violates the privacy of many consumers by 
forcing them to use the public network, but many believe this has been done
so that the carrier may force consumers to use their pay-per-use and
subscription services for these operations, to generate revenue. In an 
interview with Verizon, they openly admitted this.

When the AT&T ban was struck down, we saw a new market emerge for
third-party phone equipment, which generated billions of dollars in revenue
and ended up benefiting the carrier. As my respresentative, I am asking you
to introduce and/or support a bill that would protect consumers from this
kind of anti-competitive abuse. Please consider a bill similar to the laws that
have been passed in other countries banning the practice of locking mobile
phones for a particular network and make it illegal for carriers to blacklist 
blocks of manufacturers' electronic serial numbers - requiring that carriers 
honor any third-party handset on their network. 

Today's phone equipment is much more sophisticated than those of the past.
Consumers are paying hundreds of dollars for equipment that is no longer a
phone, but a portable computer. As a result, consumers expect a certain
level of functionality out of these products and the same level of privacy
they would receive if they purchased a laptop computer or PDA.

If a bill like this is introduced and passes, it will help open up the
market to new and better products, and ultimately benefit the consumer by 
providing them with equipment that has not been crippled for the sake of 
profit. You might consider calling it the "Wireless Telecommunications 
Consumer Protection Act". I look forward to your thoughts and comments on this 
issue.

Sincerely,