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Unlocking GSM Mobile Phones

By Daniel Stouffer

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 16Aug2009 Word count: 501 Viewed: 360 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

If you have just learned that your GSM mobile phone is locked, you might be wondering what on earth that means and possibly asking yourself how you can "unlock" it. The short answer is that some wireless providers do lock their phones, meaning that they can only work with memory cards, or SIMs, issued by them.

You might like the phone itself, but not the provider and in this case you will need to know how to unlock your phone before you can switch to another service.

Whilst a traditional cell phone service works by sending calls to a phone, which retains its own unique serial number, a GSM mobile phone is very different. This phone uses a removable account card or memory card, called a SIM card, which stands for "subscriber information module". It is the card which identifies you to the service provider, as it has its own unique serial number.

Sometimes, you can simply transfer your SIM card to any other compatible GSM mobile phone, enabling that phone as your point of contact. The service provider will simply look for your SIM and find you. So you can keep your carrier by transferring your SIM card to a suitably enabled phone of your liking, or you can keep a phone that you particularly like and change to another carrier by inserting their particular SIM.

GSM is simply a type of digital mobile phone service, which is prevalent worldwide. However, within the United States, only certain carriers feature this type of technology, although this does include a number of the major ones.

You may well find that your GSM mobile phone is locked and in this case you will have several questions. Is it legal for me to unlock my phone? Will my existing provider know if I unlock my phone? Can my existing service provider relock my phone without telling me?

As far as legality is concerned, unless your specific service contract dictates that the phone remains their property and that you will not modify it, then you are in the clear. It seems unlikely that your carrier will know if you unlock your phone or not, and it appears that they are not actively checking via electronic means.

Most GSM mobile phones can be unlocked. There are a couple of different ways to go about this. Sometimes you will need a secret code and there are a number of websites online that can provide you with a secret code for most models of cell phone.

Some types of phone require that their operating system software be rewritten. Again, there are companies out there who will connect your phone to a special programming unit to facilitate this.

The GSM mobile phone is increasingly popular in the United States and represents the lion's share of units in Europe and elsewhere. Following a simple procedure you should be able to ensure that you can keep a phone that you particularly like and transfer between certain providers by unlocking its potential.

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