Verizon's version of the Samsung GALAXY Note II to come with locked bootloader?

2 year contract is very long and engaging, even with a decent rebate. I heard that 2-year constracts will be banned by the European Comission as "too oppressive". What if you see a better plan from other operator and want to switch to it? There should be freedom. In Europe 2 year constracts are rare, most people are on 1 year contracts or on prepaid. Recetly, non-term contracts appeared - this means you are on contract but you can stop it at any time with a 30-day notice. No strings attached. Cool, huh? You can transfer your phone number with the code from one operator to another. You can constantly switch between operators as they are striving to offer better and cheaper services. All operators use same frequencies. Phones are unlocked. Total freedom. You say LTE, huh? What's the point to have LTE, when your included megabytes in the data plan get exhausted only in minutes with LTE? I say LTE is not a reason to stick to one operator or another. 3G is still fast enough for a cell phone. Let me tell you about my contract: - I am on a termless constract, i. e. I can stop it with a 30-day notice. - I can change my included services all the time, and this doesn't impact the constract - I can change my included minutes, megabytes and SMS on a monthly basis. I use only what I need and pay only for it. My current configuration is as follows: 150 minutes per month to my operator for 3 USD; 60 minutes per month to other operators for 4 USD; 50 MB at maximum speed (HSPA+, 14.4 MBit/s) and after that 128 Kbit/s for 3 USD per month My phone bill equals 10 USD.

I agree with everything you said, except the part about 3G being fast enough for a phone. The only people who say that are folks whom have yet experience what is considered 4G. Keep in mind that there was a time when people thought 56K was fast enough for surfing the internet on their computers at home, too. You don't realize how awesome it is until you have web pages on your phone loading almost instantaneously. On a different note, I miss the days of one-year contracts. I'm not sure what exactly changed that (the advent of smartphones, perhaps?), but I would love to go back to when that was the norm.

Being european and living in America I have seen both sides of the spectrum and I think both treat their customers like crap. In the US you get subsidized phones, better service and speeds. We also have unique situation because of CDMA and GSM. In Europe GSM reigns supreme but here you would have to buy a new phone when switching carriers depending what type of network it uses. So this would be pointless. Yes the service is cheaper but if you do the exchange rate and taxes phones are WAY more expensive in Europe. Personally I rather get locked in for 2 years then sell my kidney for Galaxy S3. 4G in Europe is a huge downfall. You do not realize how much of a difference it makes but at the same time it would only be worse for you. In order to maintain the higher speeds you have to pay as much as we do in the states. I can burn through 50 MB while having my morning coffee then have to suffer with 2G speeds the rest of the month. Plus in rural areas you're lucky if you even get 3G. Plus I take it you don't have an iPhone because you have to pay more for your service which I completely agree with since Apple demands that the carriers pay more for having the phone on their network. My point being is that each system has their benefits and drawback; but they all suck and continue to take your money and there's nothing you can do about it.

Tru dat, Vodacom, Cell C, 8ta, Virgin Mobile and MTN don't have different Galaxy Note devices. They just provide the service and budd off the hardware part. Which is good, but our data prices are way too expensive compared to EU and US. But 8ta is changing that. If only their 10gig was available nationwide not just in Joburg, Cape Town and Durban

Yeah, butt cell c is very cheap in dat but you have to climb a mountain to get signal, and if u get some signal, it isn't very strong.