vegetaleb
Be ready to pay your smartphones 2X more starting June 2013!
More specially HTC smartphones as it's litteraly the double between Amhaz and Microage.
If only mr Sehnaoui can control prices of bandits like Microage I am ok,but letting these **# steal us,no thanks!
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Business/Lebanon/2013/Apr-18/214152-telecoms-to-lock-smuggled-phones.ashx#axzz2QtBXPFpx
Badieh
If the revenues are going into the government treasury, I would be happy, but to make the people pay more so that they can buy private jets and mansions, then to hell with them!
vegetaleb
If they keep Amhaz prices + 10% VAT +10% customs then ok,but if they want to base prices from microage +500$ over Amhaz prices...NO!!
samer
This is not only about prices, they are affecting your freedom as an individual. They are licensing which phones you can use.
vegetaleb
What about iphones?
They don't have an official dealer here,so all incoming iphones will be blocked??
Can we bypass IMEI control over network?
samer
Businesses selling phones will need to register the IMEIs of merchandise at the customs department. It doesn't matter which brand it is or whether they have an official dealership.
yasamoka
When no more phones are being smuggled, then the official dealers will have to lower their prices so that people buy. People aren't going to buy phones at double the price, they'll just stick to what they have.
Plus phones can be imported; you just pay the associated fee for licensing the device and clearance fees for Aramex or DHL or such.
People are saving even a few dollars by buying smuggled phones, as soon as that stops we'd finally see official dealers have sensible prices again.
At least we get rid of the fake phones roaming our country.
samer
Plus phones can be imported; you just pay the associated fee for licensing the device
Has this been mentioned anywhere? None of the articles I read discussed a situation where an individual buys a phone from abroad for personal use and wants to use it locally for an indefinite period. Moreover, it would be interesting to know whether the IMEI will be tied to your name in their records, and how these records will be maintained.
With 2 million tourists a year and assuming 80% have phones, how scalable is their "fill a card" solution? Keep in mind that tourists don't come linearly throughout the year. Imagine what the summer would be like.
vegetaleb
So Amhaz can still bring phones but with paying VAT and customs right?
Also the real question is: If I buy a phone prior to June 1st,will I be sure 100% that it will not be blocked by IMEI?
I mean for example the HTC One are produced by batches like March batches,April batches...if I buy an HTC One in May with a May or April production date which will also be most certainly the same at microage in June,how customs will differentiate them?
I want to ''ezmot'' by buying in May then ;)
samer
My best guess is that they will whitelist all IMEIs that have accessed the phone network prior to June. It does not depend on when your phone was produced.
vegetaleb
Good!
So if I buy an HTC One in May and call with my sim card it will be noted as active prior to 1st June,so I am safe :)
But next year...
Badieh
Probability of people changing/faking their IMEI on their phone is?
LifeEngineer
Ok guys I work at Alfa and my friend is working on this IMEI project from Alfa side.
Today I was asking him about this issue and i wil try to respond your questions:
-All current cell phones in market, or even any phone that enters lebanon before 1st june is working and will remain working. Even if you sell it, I mean changing sim, it will still work. So this IMEI is not connected to the sim.
-Each company/buyer etc... will be declaring the IMEI of the phones he shipped to lebanon and would go on sale after June 1st.
So if you buy a licensed IMEI phone it will work.
-When importing a device from abroad, you can simply go to nearest point of sale/service of Touch or Alfa and declare the state of your phone with a receipt or anything proving that it's really imported and they will license your IMEI to work.
Now some comments from my side:
-I don't think these IMEI will be linked to your name. I highly doubt it! This is not a car or a home! There r people that change their handsets on daily basis!
-Unfortunately, I don't think official dealers would lower their prices! This is completely illogical in my opinion!
If now with all the cheap cells (illegal) and these official dealers are not lowering their prices to compete, what would they do it when the whole market is theirs?!
In fact microage for example claims he lowers some of his prices due to this reason now. Once this is gone, he can set the HTC one for 1200 $! Take it or leave it! But if you want you'll have to take it from here!
-Personally I don't see this project working! I think they will try to adopt then they'll discover as usual that it's not working and they can't control the whole market and they will drop it! That is if they even launched it!
-Also I don't think Amhaz can be stopped for example. He is maybe the provider of the whole lebanese market. I think he will find a way to legalize his devices and they will remain much cheaper than the official dealers!
-In summary, I am not so worried about this! That's my feeling!
EDIT: About changing IMEI, I think it can be done but I don't know how yet! We will have to google it!
vegetaleb
You mean using an old IMEI from a previous phone you used instead of the new one?
But then if you sell your old phone to someone there will be the same IMEI in usage at the same time which will be detected by Alfa or mtc.
Unless using an IMEI of an old phone you will never sell...
Also if you buy a phone from Europe and you benefit from Tax free aka -20% from European customs,you come to Lebanon and wana use it with your sim card,you go to Alfa and present the phone with the receipt and that's it? or you will have to pay the missing VAT and customs?
Damn now phones need registration like cars!!
Why not stopping DVD copies too?
We are a so rich as a country without economic crisis so we can buy everything at the most expensive price right?
samer
-When importing a device from abroad, you can simply go to nearest point of sale/service of Touch or Alfa and declare the state of your phone with a receipt or anything proving that it's really imported and they will license your IMEI to work.
How will Alfa/Touch keep track of how many phones you declared to them? They will need to store your name with it to make sure you're not smuggling the phones and abusing of their system. This means that your name will be linked to the IMEI and it will only be a matter of time before someone leaks that database (like it happened with phone numbers and cars).
Gamer
okay one of two things might happen, people in power might stop this, or we just accept the fate, unless they find away of canceling the exclusivity right in this country, so we can have more than one greedy supplier.
Also how stupid are these people. if they want to have control on the legal phones why not do what the rest of the world does, contract phones each phones is locked and is registered to a cell provider, more people would purchase them since they are cheaper and they are locked.
kevin
samer wrote-When importing a device from abroad, you can simply go to nearest point of sale/service of Touch or Alfa and declare the state of your phone with a receipt or anything proving that it's really imported and they will license your IMEI to work.
How will Alfa/Touch keep track of how many phones you declared to them? They will need to store your name with it to make sure you're not smuggling the phones and abusing of their system. This means that your name will be linked to the IMEI and it will only be a matter of time before someone leaks that database (like it happened with phone numbers and cars).
Not necessarily. It may be wishful thinking, but they could store your name associated with how many IMEI you have declared in the past x months. They may dissallow the person to unlock/activate new IMEIs past a certain amount without storing which IMEI have been unlocked/activated.
Probably wishful thinking.
Gamer
I can imagin the sms the cell providers are gonna send
you may be a victim of an illegal phone, click the link to see how you can pay your way out of it
m-sabra
it's an illogical move from the government,actually it's complete retardness.
instead of fighting smuggling the right way,by solving the corruption in seaports and finding a solution for people that are raping the government by taking bribe to let illegal shipments pass,we go and try to treat the issue from the result but not from the source,if they don't want phone smuggling they should focus on busting those phones BEFORE they enter the country,the 70% smuggled phones in the market is a result of corruption.
plus this so called "plan" to stop smuggling will shatter apart in few months,we are one hell of a corrupted country,i don't see anything that can stop smuggling illegal phones IMEI codes into the whitelists for some money paid to some people here and there.
vegetaleb
Bribing is not only based on money in Lebanon,it can be political pressure too.
Amhaz is protected and sponsored by you know who,and these people have lot of links at the ''amn el 3am'' who will surely be responsible for the IMEI whitelist ;)
I think with the election period,desperate candidates will try desperate moves,like this new law...