June 6th, 2007
Behind The Unlocked GSM Cell Phone Conspiracy
Why Aren’t All GSM Cell Phones Easily Interchangeable?
What does ‘unlocked cell phone’ mean to you? For many, there are assumptions attached to what unlocked cell phones are and how they can benefit consumers. This article is a tell all revelation on the truth behind unlocked cell phones in North America. Many consumers are unaware that their GSM cell phones aren’t as interchangeable as they think. You will find out what ‘unlocked’ really means, who’s to blame, and ways to beat the issue.
If you do a quick search online for ‘unlocked cell phones’ you’ll garner some basic information. Unlike CDMA phones where the phone remains ‘locked’ to the network you bought it for, GSM phones have an ‘unlocking’ ability. [CDMA phones can be unlocked, but it's even more complex thans GSM.] This means you can take your GSM phone to any compatible GSM network with ease. It also means switching cell phones or networks is a quick and painless process. All you need is a SIM card to freely roam between GSM phones and GSM networks. But hang on, it’s not that simple.
The SIM Card
Each GSM network includes small Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards that fit into their cell phones. These chips contain information ranging from stored phone numbers and messages, to network information like your default phone number. Theoretically SIM cards are interchangeable to any GSM cell phone. However, buyers beware, although the SIM card functions in any GSM cell phone, each phone does not accept new SIM cards freely.
There Are Two Kinds of ‘Unlocked’
SIM cards also contain network information. Why is this important? Well in North America cell phone manufacturers will lock GSM cell phones to specific networks. For example, if you have a GSM phone operating with Cingular, it won’t be directly interchangeable with the T-Mobile network. Even if your contract ran out and you want to bring the phone over to a new network you won’t be able to.
You see there are two kinds of unlocked. You CAN take any SIM card from any phone but only within a network. That means any Cingular phone will accept any Cingular SIM card and work flawlessly. The thing is, this doesn’t help when you switch networks or buy a cell phone that was previously activated on different network.
There ARE, however, real unlocked cell phones. By real I mean cell phones that were made by the manufacturer without any ‘locking’ mechanisms in the hardware. You can purchase unlocked GSM cell phones from a number of dealers, however, ensure these are not network dealers but independent companies offering GSM phones. Only when the hardware of a GSM phone has not been locked by the manufacturer is it truly unlocked. Anything else is specific to the network.
So does this mean you’re out of luck if you acquire a nice new phone but it has been ‘locked’ to a network that is not yours? It turns out there ARE methods to ‘unlock’ locked GSM cell phones, but don’t tell your service provider 
Service providers will play dumb and say there is no way to unlock your cell phone from its network. If you’ve tried it, putting a SIM card from network A into a phone from network B will render a locked phone. Message like ‘insert subsidy code’ may pop up. But fear not, there is a solution. To help us understand what needs to be done to beat locked GSM cell phones we asked David from UnlockingCanada for some tips and tricks.
“Well first thing you need to understand is when GSM phones are manufactured, a unique set of codes are programmed into the phone at the factory and provided to the carriers at time of sale. Getting these codes is the key to truly unlocking a cell phone from a carrier.In some cases, the unlocking codes can be derived from a combination of the network and IMEI of a GSM phone. In this case ‘code calculators’ can be used to derive the correct unlocking codes, however, manufacturers often change their algorithm’s and security. This means newer GSM cell phones often are more difficult to calculate codes for and some handsets have a “maximum” number of tries before unlocking can only be done via service cables.
Getting Rid of “Enter Subsidy Code” or “Contact Service Provider” Messages
Generally we unlock phones by entering in codes derived from our ‘code calculators’, or (most often) manually through service cables and software. For phones where the carrier unlocking codes (sometimes called ’subsidy codes’) are unique, they must come through a carrier directly or from the manufacturer. For instance, due to recent regulatory changes in the US, many US carriers now offer unlocking codes for all of their handsets, or make codes available through third parties.
In some cases ‘global’ codes are available for handsets of particular manufacturers. Third-party users arrange access to the Motorola database for such global codes that work on their handsets from any network worldwide - but this is not usually the norm.
Carriers are allowed access to their own subsidy codes to unlock their own handsets (this would be their access-arrangement with Motorola), however, some carriers or companies pay extra for higher-level access to obtain a greater coverage of handsets for unlocking.”How to Get a Real Unlocked GSM Phone
Here are the results. Not ALL GSM cell phones are really ‘unlocked’. Those bought with carriers are currently locked for that carrier. There is legislation in the US to prevent carriers from doing this, however, as it stands, North American GSM operators lock their phones. Consumers CAN unlock the ‘locked GSM phones’, (older phones are easier to do), via software and cable hook ups, or the quicker way, entering cell phone subsidy codes.
Here are a couple of firms that offer these unlocking services.
UnlockingCanada.com - Prompt service and good rates.UnlocktoTalk - generally quick service; accept Paypal payments.
So pay attention next time you enlist for a GSM cell phone, especially when purchased on a carrier plan. You may be stuck with a phone that requires some maneuvering, however, now you know the best ways to get around the ‘unlocked’ dilemma.
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