Will this is pretty much my first cell-phone(Nokia 6275i from Virgin Mobile Canada) and I keep on reading about locked and unlocked and whatever. What does it mean when your phone is locked and how do you know? Is there such thing as a GB emulator for a cell-phone? If there is, will it work on mine? I'm just wondering because Pokemon owns
To understand what ‘unlocking’ is you first need to know what ‘locking’ is. ‘Locking’ is accurately termed ‘SIM-locking’. SIM stands for Subscriber Identity Module. A network service provider lock or SIM-locking is used ensure that your phone will only work on one network; the one that you bought your phone from. If your phone is locked then it will not accept a SIM card from any other network. SIM-locking is essentially a barrier set up by the networks to switching suppliers. Handset manufacturers, at the request of mobile networks, lock handsets. The SIM card itself is not actually locked, you can use it with other handsets that are not locked to other networks. If you wish to use your phone with a SIM Card from a different network, the phone needs to be unlocked. The removal of the lock would benefit competition. But more importantly, it would benefit YOU. Unlocking is the process of removing the service provider lock so that its possible to use SIM cards for other networks in your phone. Once unlocked your phone will also accept foreign SIM cards. An unlocked phone can be used on all networks operating on the frequency it was designed for. For example, in the UK there are five major networks, Vodafone, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin. Vodafone and O2 operate on GSM900, while Orange, T-Mobile and Virgin operate on GSM1800. A UK dual band mobile phone can operate on GSM900 and GSM1800, therefore being capable of working on all networks.
So, your saying that if you want to switch service providers and you want to keep the same phone(if they use the same frequency), all you have to do is unlock it?
so how would you know if you need to unlock your phone? and if you do, then how would you proceed to do so?
Lets say you have a Cingular sim in a Nokia 3120 but want to switch to T-Mobile, if the phone is locked it will say "phone restricted" or "sim not accepted", that is when you will need a code to be able to use the T-Mobile sim. Nokia phones can be done by a free code with the exception of BB5 and DCT4+ models, other manufacturers have to be unlocked with hardware only.
okay, lets say that your usind the samsung sph-a640... when you press ##675, it asks for a service code. is that the same thing that were talking about here? that code that you need?
