When searching for cell phones on eBay or the internet at large, you may
have run across the term unlocked cellular phone. What does that mean?
If a cell phone is locked, that means that it can only be used with one
cell phone carrier company. For example if the cell phone was locked by
AT&T, it can only be used with AT&T and not T Mobile or another
carrier.
Wireless carriers started requesting that the
manufacturers lock their cell phones a few years ago. This all came
about when cellular service carriers started offering free or deeply
discounted cell phones if you signed up for a one or two year contract.
The wireless carriers still do this now. To keep someone from signing
up, getting the free phone and then switching to a different carrier,
the wireless carrier companies had their phones locked by the
manufacturer. This lock is also called a sub lock, spc lock or sim lock.
How
can you tell if you have an unlocked cellular phone? First you must
determine if your cell phone is GSM or CDMA. If your cell phone uses a
sim card then it is GSM. U.S. GSM carriers are Cingular and T Mobile,
for example. CDMA carriers are Verizon Wireless, US Cellular, Alltel,
Qwest and Sprint PCS. Both types of cell phone can be locked and
unlocked, but only the GSM phones can be easily switched from carrier to
carrier.
The GSM cell phone is the easiest to deal with as once
it's unlocked, the unlocked cellular phone will work with any active sim
card. This means that you could insert an active T Mobile or Cingular
sim card into the phone and it will work and make a call. You may not be
able to browse the web on that phone though if the phone is not
programmed to that carrier.
CDMA cell phones do not use sim cards
and therefore must be programmed to work with another carrier. If you
do not have the special software to do this, then it's not possible to
unlock the phone. CDMA phones are pretty much locked to the carrier they
were made for.
If you want an unlocked cellular phone, you can
buy on one on eBay already unlocked. Or you can find a company on eBay
or the internet that does business unlocking cell phones. Some of these
companies can unlock the cell phone remotely too.
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