Unlocked Cell Phones: What It Means to be Unlocked

Unlocked Cell Phones What It Means To Be Unlocked

This is a simple guide that explains what it means if your cell phone is unlocked and, how you can tell if it is, as well as some suggestions on how to get your cell phone unlocked. Simply put, if your cell phone is unlocked it can be used with more than one wireless carrier like AT&T and T-Mobile. For a more detailed explanation, read on. If you find this guide helpful, please click "Yes" in the blue title bar at the bottom of the page. Click here for Unlocked Cell Phones on eBay

I will start with what is means for a cell phone to be locked. Many years ago, the wireless carriers such as AT&T and others started a marketing strategy of paying for some of, or all of, the cost of a new cell phone if the customer would commit to a one or two year contract to use their wireless service. The wireless carriers did not want to pay for the cell phone and later have it used with another carrier, so they got the cell phone manufactures to design the phone to be locked to just their service. For example, if AT&T paid for the phone, AT&T would lock it so it could only be used on AT&T and not T-Mobile. This lock is called by several names including: "Sub Lock" or "SPC Lock" or "Sim Lock".

Now that you know why the cell phones are locked, I will discuss how to tell if your cell phone is locked or unlocked. First, you must determine if your phone is a GSM phone or a CDMA phone. This is easy to tell, if the phone uses a sim card (a small piece of plastic that you put in the phone, see picture belo... ...read the full guide >>>