Some cell phones are designed to use a Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) card, or microchip that stores subscriber data. The SIM card is issued by a carrier and provides cell service by activating any phone into which it is inserted. A locked phone, however, will only recognize a SIM card from a particular carrier. If the cell phone is unlocked, it will recognize a SIM card from any carrier. The "lock" is a software setting that keeps the cell phone "loyal" to one carrier.
In areas like the United States where carriers offer free or deeply discounted phones with cell plans, the phones are commonly locked so that they will not work with other carriers. Carriers claim this is necessary to subsidize the cost of the phones. After a period of time, a carrier might agree to unlock the phone upon request, perhaps charging a fee. However, due to proprietary settings sometimes installed in locked handsets, the phones don't always function correctly with other carriers, even once unlocked.
From the viewpoint of the consumer, the practice of carriers locking phones and using proprietary settings defeats many of the benefits of SIM handsets. Complaints led to a class action suit filed in California in June 2004 by American watchdog group Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR). Ideally phones should be left unlocked, or at least unlocked after the initial contract expires.
One way to get an unlocked phone without proprietary settings is to buy it new from a third party vendor in its original, unlocked state. The downside is that the price is commonly close to full retail. Some consumers might find it tough to dish out big bucks for a phone that they can get for free with a plan. The advantage is that the third party unlocked phone should work equally well with any carrier that uses SIM cards.
Unlocked cell phones are in such demand that third party services will unlock your cell phone for a fee. This doesn't guarantee the phone will always work correctly, as proprietary settings might remain. There are also hacking instructions online to unlock many models of phones, but a phone that is unlocked improperly can be rendered inoperable.
Operators make their money from the airtime. Why subsidise phones to get them to consumers cheaply and not get this, the marketing, HR and the infrastructure investments back by allowing people to buy the phone cheaply from one provider and never activate it on their network? As the piece says if you want an unlocked phone you have to pay a higher price for the phone or then pay for it to be unlocked somewhere else.
The article misses or misrepresents a key point. One reason why an unlocked phone may not work on all networks depend on the model itself not just propietary settings. If the model for instance only works on certain frequencies it may not be compatible with other providers´ bands. For instance if you have a low end phone that works on GSM 850 and 900, even if you unlock it you can´t get onto an operator that uses the GSM 1800 or 1900 frequencies and are limited to the companies that operate on frequencies that are compatible with the phone in whichever country. Best to get a quadband phone normally high end phone and unlock which can be more expensive.
Your comment is correct about frequencies. But when doing simple research on a phone, you can find out from the specs of the unlocked device which frequencies it is compatible with. Most of these unlocked cell phones will provide the frequency but if not there just do a simple google or yahoo search.
