Archived from groups: alt.cellular.cingular (
More info?)
Thanks for answering his question! I, too, had wondered (although that
is what I suspected was the answer) and figured the answer existed
somewhere in cyberspace but was too lazy to go hunting. It was a
pleasure to discover that someone would have the courtesy to answer
knowing that the answer was already available somewhere else.
Steve
Joseph wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Jun 2005 20:16:02 -0500, "Joe" <nospam@bellsouth.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>>I know this may seem like a dumb question but what does it mean to "Unlock"
>>a phone?
>
>
> This question has been asked and answered umpty-ump times and likely
> you could find the answer yourself if you went to google, but the
> short (or long) of it is that when someone gets a "free" phone for
> signing up with a carrier that "free" phone was not given to the
> carrier. The carrier had to buy it from the manufacturer. Because a
> carrier has "invested" in you they don't want you taking your
> equipment to the carrier across the street and using their equipment
> on the competition's network. To do that the carrier (especially if a
> GSM carrier) has the manufacturer lock their handsets so you can only
> use the carrier's SIM. All other SIMs when inserted will be rejected.
> Many/most phones can have the lock defeated so any SIM can be used.
> For some phones you can download an unlock code generator and others
> you likely need to take it to someone who has the expertise to unlock
> your phone.
>
> - -
>