A cell phone that is locked can only use one carrier. If you leave that carrier the cell phone won’t work. It also won’t work if you travel to another country and try to use another company’s cell phone carrier on your cell phone.
However, cell phones don’t have to stay locked. Depending on which company you bought your cell phone carrier from and which kind of cell phone you have, you might be able to unlock your cell phone. You’ll then be able to use the same cell phone with different carriers or switch carrier accounts and phone numbers.
There is only one cell phone technology that can be unlocked and that is the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). The GSM cell phones use a subscriber identity module (SIM) card. This SIM card contains all your settings and contacts, is inserted into your cell phone, and is linked to your account. If the cell phone is unlocked you can put in a different SIM card and your cell phone will work with whatever account and phone number that SIM card is linked to.
With a locked cell phone, the carrier has installed some software on the cell phone that ties SIM card’s subscriber ID number to the serial number of that particular cell phone. The cell phone simply won’t work if the cell phone serial number and the SIM card don’t match. The cell phone won’t work with another SIM card and the SIM card won’t work in other cell phones.
To determine if the cell phone is locked borrow the SIM card from a known unlocked cell phone and put it in your cell phone. Then call the number to the cell phone that you borrowed the SIM card from. If your phone rings your phone cell is unlocked. If your cell phone gives you an error message it’s locked.
You can only replace the SIM card in the cell phone if it is unlocked. It is actually quite easy to unlock the cell phone and doesn’t require any technical knowledge. In some cell phones, you simply have to enter a numeric code into the cell phone. There are even some carriers that will provide you with the correct code to unlock your cell phone for a fee. In addition, there are third party companies who will provide the code to unlock your cell phone for a fee.
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