Unlocked Phone

[Central Bassman]

Can someone tell me exactly what they mean by an unlocked cell phone. I just want to make sure I have a understand on what this means. I'm looking to buy a back up phone off the internet, From what i have read and seen an unlocked phone is one that is in working order... What else is there to make a phone unlocked. That is was activated at one time?? Any kind of help would be great...

Thanks

[nofishfisherman]

If you are referring to an unlocked iphone it means that it has been unlocked so that it can work with other carriers. Iphones are supposed to only work with AT&T but one clever and now very rich kid figured out how to unlock them so they can be used with whatever carrier you want.

I have a friend who works in IT and unlocked his iphone. As far as I know it works normally he just uses it through another carrier.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Easiest way to go about it is to search for whatever phone you're looking for, and then put in the carrier you use as well.

ie if you're on the big auction site, type in Blackberry 8330 Verion

That's the way I list the phones I sell.

Unlocked, as was stated, just means it's used for whatever carrier, not that the phone can or cannot be used.

[Shack]

"unlock" means more than just the ability to use an Iphone with Verizon.

You unlock a phone, you free it from the restrictions the manufacture & carrier have placed on it.

Iphone for example. You can "unlock" your Iphone under your contract with AT&T, but set so it will pull signals off of all carriers towers in a fashion their cell phones pull a signal. You can run way more third party apps than currently offered (only options now for a "locked" phone are via Apple App store). On a 3g Iphone, video recording is not offered on a "locked" phone. Only the 3gs & 4. If you "unlock" your 3g Iphone you can get a third party app that allows you to use the camera currently on the 3g but recording video and sound. Many other things are offered when a phone is "unlocked", like tethering 3g wireless to a laptop and other stuff, but you are not instantly offered when the phone is "unlocked". If you do not know how to do this stuff, you will have to hire a geek.

The other thing to know about buying a phone that is "unlocked" or unlocking a phone you currently own is the manufacture & carrier "Do Not Like This". At least Apple & At&t. There are claims that people can make the "unlocked" phone look like it has never been unlocked, but there is a chance it could be traced back via the carriers signal. Which could lead to a void of the warranty on the phone ($500.00+ phone if someone says "oops"), being dropped by a carrier if they find any evidence your phone does not meet the agreement your signed on to them with, loosing data & not being able to run O.S. updates without the manufacture finding out and who knows what they will be giving you to load on your phone, irregular operation issues, and other stuff.

As a word of caution, as of a year & a half ago- two years, "unlocking" your Iphone & adding third party features was still in its infancy so to speak. The biggest question being asked was "IS THIS LEGAL"? Still I have no clue where you find out if your "unlocked" feature is legal or no, so just beware. I know the biggest legal question was unlocking an Iphone and running off of Verizons signal. That just broke the manufacture and maybe agreements AT&T had with Verizon. It is the pulling signal off of another carriers tower when you did not have permission that could involve the FCC and violations of FCC rules and regulations if traced back.

[SkunkedAgain]

What I've read is that Apple sends out code to re-lock iphones when automatic updates are received. I can't personally verify that but it does tell me that unless I know what I'm doing, unlocking a phone could be a waste of my time and money.

Honestly, I just deal with AT&T's terrible service and will switch it over to Sprint when they finally are able to be used on any carrier.

[DTro]

"unlock" means more than just the ability to use an Iphone with Verizon.

how does a GSM iphone work with Verizon?

[Shack]

[Shack]

Honestly I do not think it can be done. I know I have heard some claims of stripping firmware and recoding mumbojumbo, but honestly I have not cared to dig into it any further.

I know around a year ago if you look on some services for-sale/hire sites, a big selling feature of the jailbreak geeks were selling was "unlocking" your 3g Iphone & changing firmware to be able to run on other carriers like Verizon's CDMA on a GSM phone. Could have been bunk and a ripoff. Most likely was.

I do not know. I never unlocked my Iphone.

[Nick Kuhn]

Unlocked basically means the phone has firmware designed to only work with one carrier. You reflash the firmware so it works with other carriers using the same signal. Apple is the only company that frowns on this (because Apple receives money from the AT&T contracts), every other cell phone maker doesn't care and would actually probably encourage unlocking the phone. Unlocked phones are perfectly legal as long as you intend to use them on a properly paid plan.

As far as a CDMA to GSM or vice versa switch, not really possible. You would need pretty significant hardware level changes to pull it off. It wouldn't even be the same phone you started with when you were done.

[Shack]

Yep my experience is only with the Iphone, Apple, & AT&T.

My work pays for my phone & data, so I could care less about using another carrier. I looked into jail-breaking my Iphone back in Feb. 2009 to be able to run third party, unauthorized through Apple apps to get some basic features every phone had. MMS texting, Video, tethering (was not even offered as a payable option at the time), and some other stuff. Since then the OS update from Apple has given me these basic options on my 3g.

My work paid extra for insurance on my phone & the last thing, at the time, was paying full bore price for replacement because my coverage was denied because they were able to see that my Iphone has been unlocked/jailbroke. Even a 3g was right around $500 & the 3gs was around $700...

I am just waiting for the 4.0 o/s update for 3g to come out and then my free upgrade rolling around this fall.

[Central Bassman]

T-Mobile is the carrier that i'm going to be using. I am looking to use the Iphone with it. I will have to so some more looking into this, I talked to T-mobile today and the will allow the use of a iphone with there service.