What is an Unlocked Phone?
If the Wireless Cellular Phone is an Unlocked Phone, it will recognize a SIM card from any carrier. A locked phone will only recognize a SIM card from a particular carrier. The "lock" is a software setting that keeps the
Wireless Cellular Phone "loyal" to one carrier.
In areas like the United States where carriers offer free or deeply discounted Wireless Cell Phones with Wireless Plans, the Wireless Cell Phones are commonly locked so that they will not work with other carriers. Carriers do this to subsidize the cost of the Wireless Cellular Phone.
Before getting into a contract find out if it is possible to the Wireless Cellular Phone you are considering to buy so that you can continue to use the Wireless Cellular Phone with another carrier if you want to.
If however they do not allow any changing after your contract expires and you want to contine to use the Wireless Cellular Phone then find another
carrier that is more flexible.
From the viewpoint of the consumer, the practice of carriers locking phones and using proprietary settings defeats many of the benefits of SIM Wirelss Cell Phones. Ideally Wireless Cell Phones should be Unlocked Phones, or at least Unlocked Phones after the initial contract expires.
One way to get an Unlocked Phone without proprietary settings is to buy a new Unlocked Phone from a third party vendor. The downside is that the price is commonly close to full retail, but with some online research you should be able to find the best Unlocked Phone deal. Some consumers might find it tough to dish out big bucks for a phone that they can get for free with another plan. The advantage is that the third party Unlocked Phone should work equally well
with any carrier that uses SIM cards.
Carriers operating on the GSM network use SIM cards. . Carriers that use the competing CDMA network do not yet use card-enabled phones. The CDMA equivalent of the SIM card — the R-UIM — will be used by these carriers in the future. R-UIM cards are already in use in some parts of Asia.
ARTICLE>>>Why-Unlocked-Wireless-Cell--Phones
