I agree with what you’re saying. They got the phone from Carrier A with the expectation the phone plan went with it. Once the phone is paid off, they can take the phone to Carrier B. Since they phone is basically bought on an interest free loan, the interest is recouped by the plan, and the collateral for not paying is a loss of the phone plan and use of the phone. To leave the plan, payoff the phone.

That does require that, the moment the phone is paid off, it should be automatically unlocked. There shouldn’t have to be a request or additional waiting. And the customer should be notified that it’s unlocked along with an explanation that they can now use the phone with any other provider.

If that were the case, how did you know to post about it?

I run a development department, and nobody who reports to me comes to the office. We have been 100% remote since 2020… much to the chagrin of HR. Others in IT come in, but no developers. I see no reason to change it either. I question why I even come in most days.

Without looking it up, I don’t know how many people I’ve interviewed over the last 4 years, but there’s been a few. I’ve only had one person who indicated he wanted to be in an office. Every other person wants fully remote. The most common comment I’ve heard from people is saying they will settle for hybrid if full-remote isn’t available.

There’s some value to having people work together in-person, but I’d rather give my teams the flexibility to choose for themselves rather than force it.

AC as refrigerant, not coolant. Although that might be semantics.

AC is a type of heat pump. You are moving heat from inside to outside. The physics behind a heat pump, is fairly simple. There are three principles to work with.

1. Take a gas, compress it, and it gets super hot.
2. Take a compressed gas, let it rapidly expand, and it gets super cold
3. Different temperature gases move from hot to cold

Let’s focus on AC since most folks are used to that concept. In an AC, you have a closed loop of refrigerant. Outside, there is a compressor that compresses the gas, which makes it very hot. The gas is pushed through a radiator with a fan pulling air through it. Since hot moves to cold, the heat trapped in the gas moves to the outside air, and the gas is slightly cooled. (As long as the gas is hotter than outside).

Inside, there is an expansion valve that lets the gas rapdly expand, making it super cold. It is pumped through a radiator that has inside air blowing over it with a fan. Since hot moves to cold, the heat in the inside air moves to the cold gas, cooling the inside air. (As long as the gas is cooler than the inside temperature). It is then pumped outside to start the loop again.

So, inside gets cooler while the heat is moved outside. The physics also establishes the limits of the heat exchange. You will only grab heat from inside if the expansion makes the gas colder than the air inside. Typically it expands to around 0 degrees. Likewise, it will dump the heat outside if the gas is hotter than outside air. The compressor typically makes it 130 to 140 degrees (temps vary depending on many factors).

To use a heat pump for heating rather than cooling, reverse the process. Pick up the heat from outside and dump it inside. This will work as long as outside is warmer than the expanded gas (0 degrees or so). Although you can get some that go to around -20.