What Are Unlocked Cell Phones?
These days, almost everyone has a cell phone in his or her possession for either work or personal use. Every day, cell phone manufacturers introduce new phones onto the market, touting them as being the latest and greatest model available, and urging consumers to trade in their old phones for new ones. However, consumers can only purchase certain telephones from particular carriers due to cell phones being locked.
Definition of Unlocked Cell Phones
Those wanting to know what an unlocked cell phone is must first understand what it means when a person says that a cell phone manufacturer has locked a mobile phone. A locked cell phone refers to a mobile phone that has been programmed at the factory to work on the network of a particular cell phone service provider. On the other hand, the term, “unlocked,” describes a mobile phone that does not have any service provider restrictions attached to it.
When manufacturers lock a cell phone, they program it at the factory to work only with a SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) card that belongs to a particular mobile phone service provider. SIM cards function as the “brains” of the cell phone, storing large amounts of data and instructing the phone to know to which networks it can and cannot connect. Different companies issue individual SIM cards that work only with phones that they support on their service. Owners of these locked phones cannot switch out SIM chips between phones that are on different service networks.
On the other hand, an unlocked cell phone will work with any SIM card from any service provider. For example, when computer and cell phone manufacturing giant Apple introduced its new Iphone, it locked the Iphone at the factory to work only with SIM cards that AT&T issued. However, unlocked Iphones could recognize any SIM card and work on networks other than AT&T like Verizon or T-Mobile.
Why Companies Lock Cell Phones
Cell phone manufacturers and service providers lock specific cell phones for a variety of reasons. First of all, some companies, like Apple, have licensing agreements with service providers like AT&T, granting them the exclusive right to carry their phones and to sell their accessories. Next, cell phone manufacturers and service providers often offer these new phones at low prices or even for free in order to entice a person to sign a long service plan contract. Because they offer their phones at reduced prices in return for signing service contracts, cellular service providers do not want their discounted phones connected to the networks of other service providers. In the end, cellular service providers make money from offering these reduced price, locked phones by charging higher service fees and locking in customers to long term contracts.
Pros of Having an Unlocked Cell Phone
Many reasons exist that can prompt a person to choose an unlocked cell phone over a locked version of the device. First, most people want to purchase unlocked cell phones in order to own the latest and trendiest cell phone. Not every cellular service provider offers phones from every manufacturer. For example, when the Blackberry Storm came to the market, only Verizon carried the phone even though many people wanted to buy the phone. Because Verizon only sold a locked version of the Blackberry storm, the options for non-Verizon customers remained limited. These individuals could choose one of two options. First, they could choose to break their existing contract with their current cellular service provider. Doing so involves a lot of hassle and paying a large amount of fees and fines to pay for an early termination. The second option for these individuals consists of keeping the current contract and signing up for a new Verizon account, thus paying for two contracts at once to two separate service providers. Using the example of the Blackberry Storm, a person who wanted to buy the phone, but was under contract with another service provider other than Verizon, would ideally look for an unlocked Blackberry Storm. By finding an unlocked Blackberry Storm, the individual could keep his current plan and insert his SIM card into the new phone, allowing it to work on his current cellular network.
Consumers also want to purchase unlocked cell phones in order to have the option to keep their current mobile phone in the event that they have to switch networks. For example, when a person relocates to a new city for a job, often, their current cell phone will not function because it is out of the network. To solve this problem, a person must either give up their new phone and change service providers or own an unlocked cell phone. With an unlocked cell phone, all a person has to do is swap out the SIM card, which allows his current phone to work on the new service network.
Cons of Owning an Unlocked Cell Phone
One of the main drawbacks to owning an unlocked cell phone is that they will only operate on a GSM network. GSM networks are the only kind of networks that use SIM cards, which are a necessary part of the unlocking process. In contrast, some non-GSM networks like CDMA do not rely on SIM cards to power their mobile devices. It is not possible to unlock phones on a CDMA network.
Another downside to owning an unlocked cell phone is that they are expensive, costing several times more than locked phones. New, locked cell phones are inexpensive because service providers recoup their money by locking individuals into long term, expensive contracts that subsidize the initial price of the phone. Without having a contract attached to the phone, the cost of the phone could be several hundreds of dollars. Unlocked cell phones are also in high demand, which increases their value even more.
Finally, some features of a cell phone may not operate with an unlocked phone. Often service providers offer exclusive software on their SIM chips that come with the locked phones, meaning that a person with a locked phone will not have access to these features.
Summarizing, here are the Pros and Cons of Owning an Unlocked Cell Phone:
Pros
- Allows owners to keep their old phones
- People can try new phones without switching service providers
Cons
- Expense
- Some features and software may not be available
- Unlocked phones work only on GMS networks
How to Find an Unlocked Cell Phone
The easiest way to find and purchase an unlocked cell phone is to purchase one off of the internet. Many companies sell unlocked phones and others are available on auction. It’s important to purchase from a reputable dealer since some unscrupulous sellers will sell fake, unlocked phones. Next, it is possible to unlock some phones by inputting a series of commands on the phone’s keyboard. Finally, some companies allow people to unlock their phones for a fee.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 17th, 2010 at 4:05 am and is filed under Miscellaneous, Tech, Telecommunications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.