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Unlocked Cell Phone
Cell phones today are designed to use a subscriber identification module (SIM) card in the form of a little microchip that the store puts in there that holds their subscriber information. When you hear the term "locked" cell phone, it is referring to a code inside the SIM card that causes that phone to work directly and only with their service. So if the phone is locked, the SIM card only works with that particular carrier where the phone was purchased. The reason carriers do this is to keep consumers from purchasing phones on their plan at greatly reduced price, only to use it with another carrier. Some carriers will only keep the phone locked until they feel they have recovered the cost, at which time those same carriers will unlock the phone so it can be used with another carrier.
In June of 2004, a class action lawsuit was filed by the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) because they felt as if these locked phones were interfering with their rights to do business with anybody they wanted to. The idea was to leave the phones unlocked or at least have them unlock themselves after the initial contract was over. There are many web sites out there that advertise the ability to unlock your phone, depending on what kind it is or how old the phone may be. The reason that some of them can be unlocked without visiting the place of business is the software that is on the phone itself. In most instances, the higher priced phone will allow you to enter a code that a provider will sell you that will enable the software to be unlocked.
Similar technology was used on automobiles in the past few years, for example. The software would require you to push a correct sequence of numbers in order to get into your locked vehicle. There are still quite a few vehicles on the market today with the same technology. The purpose of the technology in terms of automobile use was to prevent thieves or drunk drivers from abusing the automobile. In the same manner used to keep the drunk driver from getting behind the wheel, the cell phone provider is trying to keep the tech savvy individual from abusing their system.
Cell phones are in such high demand today that third party services are willing to unlock your cell phone for a small fee. Of course, this doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to use the cell phone. There will always be ways around this technology, however, as people find ways to crack the codes and unlock the systems without the knowledge of the users. This is just one of the many signs that technology is growing way faster than we can keep up.
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Resources for Cell Phone Numbers
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