Legality of uploading independent content to cell phone

I just got a new, cheap cellphone. (Audiovox 8610 through Virgin Mobile.)

Upon activation, it came with one screen ugly screen saver and about five ugly wallpapers. Also, there are no color scheme options.

At virginmobile.com, it says further screensaver and wallpaper options are available only on certain phones–mine not being one of them.

I just have the thing for occasional practical use, so this isn’t a big deal. But I wouldn’t mind being able to put something more attractive on the phone, either.

So my question is threefold:

  1. Is there a way to upload new wallpapers/screensavers into my phone without having to go through VirginMobile? (Or rather, are these that I have just hardcoded in? Or rather, are they not hardcoded, but there’s still no way for me to access them except through Virgin?)
  2. Is it legal to do so? (I don’t find any specific injunctions against it in my “terms of service” booklet but maybe it’s just so obviously illegal that it wouldn’t be in the book or something…)
  3. Would virginmobile be angry if I did it, and maybe cut off my service or something, even if its legal?

-FrL-

IANAL, YMMV, etc., but:

  1. Dunno about that specific models but most phones with any amount of storage memory in them usually have a data cable available for them either via the OEM or through a third party. Such a cable would let you transfer information to and from the phone.

  2. There’s no reason it wouldn’t be legal. For the most part your service provider has no say in what you do with the phone, only what you do with it on their service. They can’t do anything to you if you want to change the background. They can, however, do something to you if you MMSed Sir Richard Branson some porn.

  3. Again, no reason for them to. They can’t see what’s on your phone. They don’t care what’s on your phone. If you persistently text messaged Sir Richard Branson with “I put a new background on my phone!” however, he might get upset and feed your phone to you.

If your contract doesn’t say anything prohibiting it, then it’s not illegal. I’m not aware of any statutory regulations banning it anywhere. It might void your warranty, though.

From my IANAL PoV (but because we’ve had mass-market cellphones for at least ten years), the standard 12-month contract sells you the phone on credit. You pay it off in your bill over the next year.

Before sale, the company that sells you the phone has an option to customize the manufacturer’s firmware - which of course they do as a piece of marketing. A lot of them also “lock” your phone to their network. There’s nothing legal to stop you getting your phone unlocked, or to alter the firmware to your own liking.

You own the phone, and you can do what you like with it - same as if you buy a car on credit and want to change the tires.

This would, of course, not apply if the contract is different from the ones over here.

That sounds, though, like maybe altering the firmware would issue in my phone’s no longer being able to use the service provider who “locked” it in.

You know… I bet I could just call VirginMobile customer service and see what they say.

And I bet there’s websites dedicated to this stuff.

Anyway, thanks for your answers!

-FrL-

Where the hell is my post? Anyway, I’ll make this brief as I’m super busy today:

This depends on your licensing agreement. On the apps my company creates for retail use, we make sure that the company is liable for its customers if they alter our software. I haven’t done any work with Virgin (well, not the mobile division), so I can’t really comment with any specificity. However, there are ways to “hack” your phone, but I’m sure Uncle Cecil would disapprove. For most phones (well, phones that we supply software to), if you do not go through the proprietary software, download from the proprietary network, etc., you might be in violation of the licensing agreement. Our agreements specifically say no modifications and no access to the source code (among other things). When you bypass these features and when you start adding/deleting things from the phone, you are in essence, minimally, accessing the source code. Your phone should have a license agreement. Then again, I (or my company) don’t deal with these super basic, pay-as-you-go phones. If there is no ability to change the settings, wall paper, banners, etc. Then your purchase of the phone allows you to do pretty much anything you want with it. It is your phone afterall.

Again, it depends on your phone and your licensing arrangement. I know for a fact that there is some stuff I can’t do stuff to my blackberry (like unlock it to use with a different provider).

I’m not sure. I know Verizon doesn’t like it when you fool your phone into thinking its part of the proprietary network.

I think it should be noted that doing things like adding ringtones or wallpaper to the phone do not consitute altering the firmware. Firmware is the operating system software and its attendant support applications. Although this is usually hackable with the right tools, modifying the firmware to unlock or alter system functionality may be against your end-user license agreement and/or your contract. (If it is prohibited by the developers of the firmware it’s a good bet the prohibition will be extended to your service contract, the penalties for which may include voiding your warranty and/or suspending service)

Simply adding wallpaper, ringtones, games or whathave you to the phone however is nothing to do with the firmware as long as the stuff you’re adding doesn’t alter said firmware. (The exception would be installing official OEM or provider-supplied firmware updates to the phone)

That’s true, but more and more, adding ringtones and wallpaper requires modifying the firmware because restricting customers ability to upload data to their phones enhances the ringtone/wallpaper revenue stream.

Your phone doesn’t seem to have bluetooth, which is the only way I have personally uploaded ringtones or pictures to my phone. Do you have a USB cable that can plug it into your computer? If you do, there’s probably a way to get data onto the phone.

Failing that, there are some 3rd party services that will send ringtones, etc. to your phone, but I don’t know if there are any free ones left.