Whats an "unlocked" cell phone?

I see this on ebay.

Answer:

An "unlocked" cell phone is a phone which can be used on any carrier that it is compatible with, ATT, Sprint, Verizon, ETC..all phones are normally locked at set to be used with one carrier in other words If you bought a "Cingular" branded phone it would be "locked" to their network and only operate on their network... You couldnt use that phone on Verizon,Sprint ETC ...Therefore an unlocked phone is one that has had the "lock" removed and you can use on any network.. When you recieve a cell phone, normally it is branded to a service provider (AT%26T, Cingular, Verizon, etc...) but of course this is a problem to anyone who travels or who want%26#39;s to buy a phone that%26#39;s compatible with their service.

That%26#39;s where un-locking comes in. They have entered a code and removed the piece of information that makes that phone work on just a certain provider%26#39;s lines. When it is un-locked, then it can be transfered to most any provider, regardless of what provider it was previously with.

Un-lcoking a cell phone isn%26#39;t hard, and any hacker, or even average person, can find the un-lock codes pretty easy on google. In addition to what%26#39;s been said here, the only phones that benefit from being unlocked are GSM phones, that use SIM cards. If you are using Sprint or Verizon, unlocking your phone will do nothing, and is worthless. Unlocked refers to GSM phones and iDEN phones only, not CDMA. It means that you can use it with other GSM or iDEN providers by switching your sim card. When you buy a phone from a provider, it is locked to their network and will not work with a sim card from another provider. By unlocking it, you can use it with a different sim. So in other words, you can take an T-Mobile phone that is unlocked and use it with Cingular, and vice-versa. You can also do the same with an iDEN phone(Nextel/Boost). If you have a Nextel phone that is unlocked, you can use it with Boost Mobile, and vice-versa. GSM and iDEN phones cannot be used with a CDMA provider. Sprint phones, Verizon phones, Alltel phones, and Cricket phones cannot be unlocked as they are CDMA.

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