I hope I am not stepping into illegal territory. I assume unlocked phones are legal since they are sold by online stores and advertised on deal websites.
From what I’ve heard through a friend, unlocked phones are phones that have been tampered in some way as to allow them to operate on any network. If you purchase a phone like this, you may insert your SIM card into the phone and you are now on the network with this phone. Is this all there is to it?
Secondly, how does one obtain a SIM card compatible with your provider’s network? The only two phones I’ve owned in my life do not use SIM cards. Is it possible to purchase an unlocked phone, and go to my network’s local store and have me configure a SIM card so I may use that phone on their network? I feel like they would not allow me to do this so easily as I would be using a phone that is ‘not supposed’ to be used on their network since they locked it in the first place.
The reason I ask is because my girlfriend’s contract from another network is about to expire and she wants to join my family plan. My network’s selection of phones is notorious for being ridiculously crappy and crippled. So, our hope is to get one of these cheap unlocked phones so she can use it with our plan. She doesn’t feel like paying a large amount of money plus agreeing to a long contract just to have a network-branded phone that has been crippled in features and branded all over with their logo.
I could be corrected, but I don’t see a legal problem with making changes to your own electronics equipment. A few major points to consider:
1.) Just because you have a SIM card doesn’t have service. Even if there were a way to “unlock” a phone – and frankly I don’t know if there is, but I know it wouldn’t work with all phones – you’d still have to have a phone plan in order to do anything but emergency calls. The SIM card number checks against the account in order to generate signal. No voice plan, no calls.
2.) Not all SIM cards are compatible; there are different SIM cards out there. Another hurdle.
3.) My provider no longer sells SIM cards (not sure if this is overall or not). The only extra SIM cards are with service and repair, and you have to pay for a service call. Generally, these would only be given out if you had a bad SIM card. I suppose that you could say that you lost it, but generally you have to buy a phone to get a service plan, so you’re back to square one. You could potentially get a SIM card on eBay or something like that, but they’re relatively fragile.
Frankly, if you don’t want to be tied to a contract, I’d look at pay-as-you-go service. Also keep in mind that many providers have a guarantee of 14 days or 30 days, so if you’re not happy with the phone, you can return it and just pay a fee for the calls that you made. Mine also offers an exchange program where you can just swap out phones. If you’re adding a phone to the plan, chances are you’ll have to extend the contract anyway, and can probably get a phone cheap or free besides.
Are there really any advantages to buying an “unlocked” phone in this scenario and just buying a used phone on eBay for that provider?
To answer one small part of this question, or maybe just shed some light on it: say your teenage son breaks/destroys his phone but the SIMM card is o.k. One can purchase this type of “unlocked phone” on E-bay and simply insert the SIMM card. This has worked for me 3 times (3 different teens). Always check if the network you have is compatible with the phone (for example, Cingular).
GSM phones use SIMM cards. Crappy phones like the Spint-Nextels they just gave us at work don’t use anything at all and you have to type on 300 friggin’ contacts by hand because you can’t insert a SIMM card from your decent, connected bluetooth phone which uses Cingular and does have a SIMM card.
GSM phones require the SIMM cards, and hence any phone that uses a SIMM is GSM capable (but check frequencies!), and any GSM capable phone can use a SIMM card. Your SIMM is your service. Put it into any unlocked phone you want, and that’s your working phone. Your carrier doesn’t care. Take your unlocked phone to other countries, and just by a disposable SIMM there for cheap, local use. Your carrier probably does care, but screw them; it’s your phone.
In Europe at least, you can buy a phone from a store and it comes by default as ‘unlocked’ and you don’t need to ‘tamper’ with it inorder to unlock it.
It’s only when you buy from a provider that the phone is ‘locked’ to only accept SIM cards from that company.
I am unaware of there being anything illegal concerning unlocking phones but this site has much more info that I could possible give you here :
I have a friend who bought a phone from a local cell phone service. He had it unlocked from a little shop here that does that service very cheap. When he goes to Miami, he buys a chip from a local cell phone service and has a number there. When he goes to Europe, he buys another chip and has a number there. So, I can call him wherever he is when he is on vacation. Once he bought a new phone in Miami and had it unlocked someplace there. Then, he used it in all three locations. I don’t think it is illegal, but I don’t believe that the cell phone services don’t like it.
Usually a software or firmware hack. Sometimes it’s as simple as going to a secret menu (often times obtained by hitting menu, then ‘0’, then often the password is all zeros) and selecting the right option. Sometimes it’s complicated enough to require a data cable from a PC and ertain software.
It should be noted that not all carriers use SIMM cards. I’m fairly certain Verizon does not use them. My phone doesn’t have one. I took it apart to be sure. I was thinking about getting a new phone and was hoping it would be easy…but with Verizon, it’s not. You have to call them up and give them the codes off the back of your phone to get it to work with the system.
Is it possible in the U.S. to buy a cell phone that will work with any service you choose to sign up for? Does any cell phone service provider allow you to use your own phone?
My phone at the time died a year ago, and we had an older Sony-Ericsson phone knocking around the house, but pin-locked, and locked to the wrong network. I had a look on eBay, and found this amazing thing, which is quite possibly the most satisfyingly arcane bit of computer equipment I’ve ever purchased. One end goes in your parallel (printer) port, one in a spare USB socket, and the other in your phone, which you leave switched off. You then load up the software, select which task you want it to do, and it chunters away until ping! your phone is free of restrictions. It got rid of the PIN lock, the network lock and the crappy network customisations in about 10 seconds. I’ve only used it twice since, but it sure is fun (if you’re geeky that way).
As bouv says, depending on the make of phone, it’s sometimes just a matter of putting in the right keypresses, but what’s the fun in that?
Several years ago, I got an account with T-Mobile. The Ericcsson phone I got initially worked well, but after a year or so was proving rather flimsy. Rather than re-commit for X number of years in order to get a new phone (and they didn’t have any phones I was particualrly interested in at prices I was willng to pay…even with the contract discount), I went on EBay and bought a used T-Mobile locked BlackBerry. I popped my SIMM out of my old phone and into my new one, and away I went, zero problems. A while later, the BlackBerry’s reception wasn’t as good as I would have liked. I bought a new Nokia 3300 off of EBay, not unlocked, but rather never locked in the first place (it has no carrier logo on it). Again, I popped in my SIMM and started making calls with no interruption. The only problem I’ve had with this one is that T-Mobile has never sold it, so whenever I go to do something on my accounf via their website, I have to lie about what phone I have, since it’s not on their list. Noone seems to care, though.
[QUOTE=Balthisar]
GSM phones use SIMM cards. Crappy phones like the Spint-Nextels they just gave us at work don’t use anything at all and you have to type on 300 friggin’ contacts by hand because you can’t insert a SIMM card from your decent, connected bluetooth phone which uses Cingular and does have a SIMM card.
GSM phones require the SIMM cards, and hence any phone that uses a SIMM is GSM capable (but check frequencies!)/QUOTE]
Not true. Nextel phones, in the past at least, use SIM cards. A Nextel SIM card won’t work with a GSM phone, and vice versa, as Nextel uses iDEN, not GSM.
T-Mobile will provide your handset’s unlock code after you have been a customer for 90 days.
Some handsets can have their unlock codes calculated from their IMEI, others require a computer connection to sift through the possible unlock codes.
Handsets come from the factory unlocked. Providers then lock them to their network as part of offering the phones at a subsidized price with your contract. Note that the phone is still yours, and unlocking phones is not illegal in the US.
[QUOTE=Balthisar]
GSM phones require the SIMM cards, and hence any phone that uses a SIMM is GSM capable (but check frequencies!)/QUOTE]
Not true. Nextel phones, in the past at least, use SIM cards. A Nextel SIM card won’t work with a GSM phone, and vice versa, as Nextel uses iDEN, not GSM.
T-Mobile will provide your handset’s unlock code after you have been a customer for 90 days.
Some handsets can have their unlock codes calculated from their IMEI, others require a computer connection to sift through the possible unlock codes.
Handsets come from the factory unlocked. Providers then lock them to their network as part of offering the phones at a subsidized price with your contract. Note that the phone is still yours, and unlocking phones is not illegal in the US.
Ah I see, I use Verizon so without the option of SIM cards could I purchase an unlocked phone, call them up and give them the appropriate information and add that phone to their network so I may use it?
Please note, I am not trying to get free service by way of SIM cards and unlocked phones. I am trying to see what options I have with regards to using a phone other than what they offer. The reason is mostly because looking at their online and local store their selection is just awful. I was hoping to purchase and unlocked phone and use that phone with them, as opposed to purchasing a phone through them which requires more money than I’d pay for an unlocked phone & a service contract.
You can do this online, too. Just take out the battery to reveal the ESN (electronic serial number, equivalent to the IMEI on a GSM phone), type it in to the web site, and bam.
The more difficult part is copying your contact list. If you have cables for both phones, and the right software, you can download the contact list from one phone, convert it, and upload it to the other… but usually it’s easier to get them transferred at a store.
If it’s the right kind of phone, yes.
Note that Verizon uses CDMA technology, not GSM. If the phone you buy even has a socket for a SIM card, it’s not going to work on Verizon’s network, because it’s a GSM phone (or an iDEN phone, or maybe even a Chinese CDMA phone - in any case, it’s not compatible). (*)
There are still such things as locked and unlocked CDMA phones, however. Verizon’s phones are all unlocked, so you can take them to another carrier, if that carrier will let you activate the phone on their network. (Sprint refuses to activate any phone they didn’t sell themselves, even if it’s compatible with their network.) You can also activate many other carriers’ phones on Verizon’s network, but some phones aren’t compatible because of firmware differences.
(* One exception: The Samsung SCH-A790 is a Verizon phone that works on CDMA here and GSM overseas. It uses a SIM card. Ironically, this seems to be the only locked phone Verizon sells - you can’t replace their SIM card with one you buy in Europe and expect it to work.)
Unlocking my phone wasn’t hard- it’s just a couple of codes you can get off a website. But it is delicate work since you only have three chances to get it right before the phone locks up for good.
It can be great for frequent travelers. Keep your old service at home, and buy a pay-as-you-go plan in whatever country you are in.
Whoops, I left out a step… after you submit the ESN of your new phone, turn it on and dial *228 (spells ACT), then choose the option to program your phone over the air. Bam!
