T-Mobile placed a carrier lock on three family phones. They demanded payment for devices they had previously given for free. The account had been closed a month earlier. Before closing it, I asked the rep directly: do I need to return the phones? He said no. You own those. Free and clear. Return list was trackers and modem only. Phones explicitly excluded.
That assurance was the reason I chose cancellation over the reduced plan he offered. If he'd said there was still a device obligation, I would have stayed and negotiated. The promise changed the decision. Then they reversed it and used the carrier lock as leverage.
The store visit in Quincy ended with a trespass warning. The rep refused service, called 911, and told me to get out. Officer Jessica arrived and issued the warning. The recordings are on tape.
That night, sitting in the truck after, the thesis became clear: totally self-reliant digital. I cannot have somebody else with the ability to pull the plug from another state for me and my data. That's Binary Ranch. That's Servetus. That's everything I'm building.
This is why the company exists. Not because of a market analysis. Because a phone company locked my family's phones on a Sunday morning and there was nothing I could do about it. Sovereignty isn't a feature. It's the product.