Many people are confused as to what an "unlocked" cell phone actually is. It's pretty simple to understand once you have done a little reading, and I thought that this article offered a great explanation as to exactly what an unlocked phone is.

The two most popular cell phone technologies today are CDMA and GSM; a locked cell phone that uses CDMA carrier cannot be unlocked, while this is not necessarily the case for a GSM phone.

However, let's define locked cell phone: the locked cell phone is "tied up" to a certain cell phone provider and cannot be used with a different one, unless it gets unlocked. The providers lock the phones in order to ensure their customers loyalty; the consumer will gladly buy a locked phone since they are usually much cheaper and you can even get a free phone with certain plans. As with everything else, there are pros and cons: once your phone is locked, you cannot switch providers before the end of your contract and in some cases even after that. The dissatisfaction of many consumers with the whole concept has led to a class action suit by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) in California in 2004.

A locked cell phone that uses GSM technology can become unlocked: in many instances this is only possible after the expiration of the contract. Yet again, it depends on way too many factors: the carrier, the model of the phone and the contract that you have signed. Since a locked cell phone can only be unlocked if you know a specific code, you will have to contact your carrier and ask them to reveal that code to you: some carriers will do just that, others will never give you the code and some will only do so under certain circumstances.

Unlocking your cell phone by using third party services is illegal in many countries, which is why you should do so only if you are certain that you are not breaking the law. The Internet offers a vast pool of information on how to turn a locked cell phone into unlocked, but keep in mind that attempting to do that on your own might render your cell phone useless. Unlocking calculators for certain brands of cell phones can also be found quite easily online; many websites offer such services either for free or for a small fee. Keep in mind that if you attempt to unlock your phone and enter the wrong code one too many times, it might get "hard locked" and you will have to take it to a service location.

However, even if you manage to turn your locked cell phone into an unlocked one, you might lose some services and features that you have gotten accustomed to like your GPS for example.

It is generally a pretty good idea to plan ahead and decide if you want to purchase a locked cell phone on a first place; unlocking it might be impossible, difficult or costly. Unlocked cell phones are in general quite a bit more expensive, which is why if you want to get the latest model at a very reasonable price and you don't mind singing up a two year contract, then you might opt in for a locked cell phone.

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