Blacklist For All Undeclared Mobile Phones

[ben]

https://www.clarin.c..._H1ID-i4gf.html
http://www.lanacion....lulares-robados

So it looks like a new scheme is in the works.

• It turns out that there already is a blacklist (who knew?) of stolen phones, to which the carriers deny service.
• The new idea is to weaponize this blacklist, to block any phone not imported legally into the country.
• Basically there will now be a whitelist of all phones that are here legally, whether "made" here (yeah, I know) or legally imported.
• Any phone not on that list, will not get cell service.
• All phones currently in use will be grandfathered in.

A few questions:

1. How will roaming work? Unless any phone with a foreign SIM-card is exempted from the whole thing.
2. How will error resolution work? Any reason this will work a lot better than the Correo thing in Retiro?
3. With prices for any mobile device at least double what they are in the rest of the world, do they expect to succeed in fighting Mother Nature?

This promises to be interesting. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[MorganF]

uh oh

 

[d.gray]

I read about this the other day.

One problem I can see is with the phones that you bring back from other countries legally (i.e. they cost less than USD $300 so there's no need to pay tax on them).

Would we have to declare these on arrival in Ezeiza in order for them to work?

I think it's just an idea for now rather than confirmed, so hopefully it won't happen.

 

[Girino]

It will applies only for phone released in 2018 after the measure comes into force, so not for older phones.

The USD300 threshold applies to all purchases abroad, not just electronics. I would assume that if you declare a phone they would likely look for something else, as well (clothes, computer, cameras, food, anything at all). After all, it's all taxable according to AFIP.

 

[Pensador]

Hmmm I bought mine legally in URU I hope I do not get shut down. No issues as of yet but hate to spent 1200 USD to replace it. I wonder what is next no internet for non registered PCs

 

[steveinbsas]

Hmmm I bought mine legally in URU I hope I do not get shut down. No issues as of yet but hate to spent 1200 USD to replace it.

As Sarafina just indicated, you won't have a problem with the phone you are now using.

I wonder what is next no internet for non registered PCs

I had the very same thought when I first read about this.

PS: I received my "newest" cell phone yesterday,, exactly 20 days after it was sent by correo argentino from Rio Negro.

At least it was made in China, and (apparently) imported from the USA.

It's a Motorola moto G 2nd generation 8gb cellular that will replace my "old" phone,a Motorola moto G 2nd generation 8gb cellular (that another member brought to me two years ago).

The first one cost $150 USD on Amazon. in October of 2015. The one that arrived yesterday cost the equivalent of $140 USD.

I think the same phone is sow available on Amazon for about half that, but I didn't know I was going to need to replace the old one when another friend was returning to Argentina about six weeks ago...

At least he was able to bring a pair of shoes I bought on Amazon...four years ago.

PS: It was the last pair of six that I bought in 2013. He brought the other five (all Steve Madden) , plus four pair of ECCO sandals in previous trips!

 

[ben]

All existing phones get grandfathered in.

Everybody buys their phone legally somewhere (well, except for the stolen ones, which is the official reason for all of this), but they want it declared and paid here.

It's a scheme which smacks of desperation. If you want people to not import stuff en masse, you:

• step up increases at the customs places, which would mean tripling the size of the airport if you don't want absolute mayhem;
• maybe, just maybe, take away the economic incentive for people to bring everything but the kitchen sink with them from outside the country.

Forget electronics. We're a family with a few kids. They do not wear a single solitary thing bought in the country - everything comes here in suitcases, usually that we pay people to bring. This is not because we are rich - it's because clothing that will last a week is an order of magnitude cheaper when bought outside the country. This would probably be the case even when paying 50% on everything, with no allowance.

Don't remember who posted the joke that only the rich can shop in Alto Palermo, everyone else has to buy in Miami, but it's quite true. We're lucky enough that we are "connected" enough to know how to buy online and have both where to ship it as well as who will bring it pretty regularly. But - is this a way to run a country? Forget vegemite (please!) - we're talking clothing for a whole family, kitchen appliances, and a billion other things. It's a huge hassle, and that doing it all is more than worth it is a massive indictment of how screwed up it all is here.

And faced with that, and the massive missed opportunities for every day that things continue to be so, the forward-looking, business-friendly administration is busy coming up with hare-brained schemes that aim at pretending you can make the world revolve around you.

It's not even about the practical side - I doubt very much this will ever be actually made to work - so much as that it reveals the thinking of the government, and shreds any illusion that someone in power wants to bring Argentina forward.

 

[MorganF]

“Only the rich can shop in Alto Palermo, everyone else has to buy in Miami”

Ben, I burst out laughing reading that

 

[Pensador]

Have friends using this happily and effectively for shopping in the states. https://tiendamia.com/ar/

 

[notebook.fix]

Instead of cutting down on the planes sociales & all the 'Ñoquis' in the over-bloated public sector...no, they wait to 'mug you at the airport'....typical Argentine government tactics -great thinking I voted MAcri but I'm starting to loose my patience...FAST. Going from experience, I'll bet that the genius who first thought of this great revenue raising idea is not necessarily very politically savvy ...most likely they'll implement this measure for the usual 'five minutes' before it falls apart in actual practice.