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How to Unlock GSM Phones
There are two reasons to unlock a
phone. First, it gives you the freedom to switch between
service providers. Assuming a long-term service contract
doesn't stand in your way (along with the contract
termination fees that come along with it), you can
change service providers as often as you like and never
have to buy a new phone. Just put in a new SIM card
supplied by your new service provider and your old phone
will work just fine. You will have to go through the
effort of migrating your old phone number to the new
account, however.
The other reason involves traveling
to Europe or Asia. If you use your North American phone
while traveling, you will rack up enormous roaming fees.
International cell phone companies don't all rely on the
two-year contract business model favored in the United
States. You can buy a SIM card for your phone that's
pre-loaded with a fixed number of minutes that will work
in whatever country you'll be spending time in. Some
European companies even offer SIM cards whose accounts
work across much of the continent, not just in one
country. Frequent travelers or even those taking
occasional vacations will enjoy significant savings with
an unlocked phone.
The process of unlocking a phone is
actually quite simple, and doesn't require any technical
knowledge. For some phones, you just have to enter a
numeric code into the phone. For a fee, some service
providers will even give you the proper unlock code for
your phone. There are also third party companies that
provide cell phone unlock codes for a fee that ranges
from $5 to about $25, depending on the model of phone
you have.
Some phones need to be connected to a
special device through the phone's data port to be
unlocked. Again, a few service providers offer this
service, but most phone owners will have to turn to
third parties to accomplish this. You pay them a fee,
send them your phone, they unlock it and send it back.
But what if you want to unlock your
iPhone? We'll explain that in the next section.
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