A GSM phone is designed to be used by any network in the world that supports GSM technology. However there are some providers that will electronically lock these phones especially when they are giving special offers or discounts and this is to ensure that the customer sticks with that provider. This is sometimes a disadvantage since you can pay high roaming charges when you take the phone out of their network range. Fortunately these phones can be unlocked as the copyright office has given the green light to so. Unlocking your phone will vary depending on the model of the phone as well as the phone carrier. There are several things that you will need in order to do so and this will include:
Your mobile phone number
The manufacturer
The model number
The network and country where the phone is locked
The IMEI number for the phone which is a 15 digit serial number and you can find this by typing *#06# on your phone's keypad.
There are several techniques that you can use for unlocking your phone and these will include:
Unlocking your phone using a phone unlocking service company - There are several companies as well as websites that are capable of unlocking your phone and this will be at a small fee. Most of these companies will require you to send them an email containing your IMEI number and they will be able to generate your unlock code and email it back to you. With this technique you must be cautious since there are various fraudulent companies. There also other phones especially the new ones that can not be unlocked using the IMEI numbers.
Unlocking your phone using equipment - there are some companies that also offer unlocking equipment as well as products that are mostly phone specific. These equipments are usually very useful although they are sometimes quite costly.
Unlocking your phone with help from your operator - in this technique you will need to call your service provider and you will be asked to give a few weeks notice. Other companies may charge you for this service depending on the circumstances that you got the phone under as there might be some requirements that you have not met. An example is having been with the company for not less 12 months.
Unlocking your phone without help from your operator - incase the operator does not give you the unlock code you can go through various phone unlocking forums where you can get the code. Another way will be to calculate the code yourself and this will require you to have a data cable and a special software.
Unlocking by sending your phone in - in this technique you are supposed to send your phone to a company that deals with locked phones and they will return it to you when it is unlocked. These companies will require a small fee for their services.
After unlocking your phone you will now be free to move to a network of your choice.
Author Resource:
This article touched the basics of the topic. I have 2 more resources related to the above. They are unlock phone and how to unlock a blackberry . They are worth a read.
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