Wednesday, July 27, 2011

About Unlocked Mobile Phones

By Raynold Oscar


When you purchased your mobile phone through a service provider you may not have known that you couldn't use it on another service providers' network. Well now you know and probably the reason that you can't is because the mobile phone was locked by the original service provider. What you need is an unlocked mobile phone that will work on any service providers' network unlike a locked mobile phone that will only work on one service providers' network. What makes the different between a locked and an unlocked mobile phone is a small piece of technology known as a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card.

A SIM card is a small device that is located in your mobile phone. It works much the same as a microchip, storing data about your mobile phone, such as your subscriber information including your calling habits. You can use the SIM card in different mobile phones on the same service provider which make it easier for the user to transfer information, such as contact lists, from one mobile phone to another.

Many service providers elect to lock their mobile phones so that they can prevent users from using their mobile phones on a different service provider network. For instance, the service provider AT&T might offer large discounts for a mobile phone that is locked, knowing the owner of the mobile phone will also have to pay for service. However, a third party retailer will probably only charge the exact or near the exact price for the same model mobile phone.

SIM cards will only work on Global System for Mobile (GSM) phones which are the most commonly used technology for mobile phones all over the world, and covers almost 80% of all of the mobile phones in use today. However, since many service providers use the same mobile phone, they use compatible SIM cards. The result is that if you want to use a mobile phone that is unlocked that was originally bought through the Sprint on the T Mobile network, for example, you would need to insert a SIM card.

Unlocking a mobile was known as jailbreaking and was once illegal, but was made legal during 2010. The Library of Congress provided the owners of many mobile phones including the iPhone the authority to legally unlock a mobile phone that they bought locked from a service provider.

There are many ways to unlock a mobile phone that is locked. The easiest way to get a mobile phone that is unlocked is to purchase it unlocked. Third party retailers, businesses that aren't connected to any service provider, sell mobile phones that are unlocked which can be connected to any service providers' network. However, you will probably have to pay much closer to full retail for a mobile phone that is unlocked phone from a third party company than you would if you purchased that same mobile phone that is locked model from a service provider. You can also enter a code to unlock your mobile phone. These codes are based on the model and make of your mobile phone. Frequently, these codes are sold by third party websites. These websites might also sell software that, once you have downloaded it to your mobile phone, will unlock the mobile phone for you. You can also simply call your service provider and ask them to unlock your mobile phone. Most service providers will probably unlock your mobile phone once your service contract has expired.




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