An unlocked cell phone is a phone that can be used with any carrier, as long as the carrier supports the correct band rates, GSM and utilizes sim cards.  Before purchasing an unlocked cellular phone, it is important to make sure the carrier you want to use will support the phone.   You can find many of the latest phones with 3G services.  All of your favorite brands such as Sony Ericsson, Nokia, Samsung, and Blackberry are available.  The other interesting thing is that you can also purchase phones that may not even be available in your country of origin yet.

The cost of an unlocked cell phone will depend on a few things.  First, the type of phone will influence the price.  A new touchscreen smart phone may cost several hundred dollars, while a more standard smartphone may cost less than one hundred dollars.  Some cheap unlocked mobile phones can be purchased for a nominal amount.  You can purchase standard phones that are great for texting and phone calls for much less.

Once you get your unlocked phone, you will not be paying as much for your service.  When you see carriers advertise the newest phones for such cheap prices, it is because they will lock you into a three-year contract.  When you have your own phone, you will experience better pricing and not be under a contract, unless you want to.  An unlocked phone is also great if you are a traveler.  You can take your phone anywhere and purchase a local sim card so you will not have to pay expensive roaming charges or even those high international rates.

Many websites sell unlocked cell phones.  You can visit each and see what is available.  You also have the option of purchasing a refurbished model, which will also save you money as well as give you a great phone.  Like many, you may be tired of your carrier and their lack of choices, so check into purchasing a cheap unlocked mobile phone.

Unlocked mobile phones are not bound to one particular set of rules and restrictions.  They do not necessarily belong to one carrier or to one contract.  These phones will readily accept any SIM card and become ‘loyal’ to that new carrier with the ability to easily become ‘unfaithful’ at any given time.  Carriers will sometimes offer this ability once the contract is fulfilled.  AT&T offers the iPhone to be an unlocked phone once the two-year agreement if fulfilled.  Often times though, unlocked phones will not function properly with other carriers besides the one carrier it was originally assigned to.

People often choose unlocked mobile phones because they want to have a certain phone on a certain plan.  If one finds that they are highly attracted to a mobile phone from a carrier such as AT&T but they are not so pleased with the service the carrier offers, they can choose to buy an unlocked mobile phone from AT&T, but have the carrier to be any other carrier they choose.

If you are wondering how to get your hands on any unlocked mobile phones, there a few ways to get them, but these often come with a steep price.  One option to choose from is to complete the contract agreed upon when first purchasing the mobile phone.  Once the contract has been fulfilled, the mobile phone will become unlocked giving you the freedom of carrier choice.  Another option is to buy an unlocked mobile phone from a third-party distributor.  Unlocked mobile phones are sold at full price that is often quite expensive, especially when carriers offer deals when buying a mobile phone with a contract.  Another option that can be pursued is paying a fee to have someone hack your phone and unlock it.  These fees can also be very unkind to your wallet as there are no set regulations on how or low a fee for hacking a mobile phone is.

Unlocked mobile phones come with both pros and cons.  If you want a specific phone with a carrier of your choice, an unlocked phone may be ideal.  It is a preference of the user whether to purchase an unlocked mobile phone.  Make sure that if you choose to unlock your phone or buy an unlocked mobile phone, be wary of the fees and other associated expenses.  The choice is up to you whether you want to be ‘faithful’ or ‘unfaithful’ to your carrier.

The honest answer is to go through your cell phone company.  If you have a phone using a SIM card, you can contact your carrier for help.  T-Mobile and AT&T both provide cell phone unlocking services for their customers after a few months into their contracts.  The main reason you will want to go through your cell phone provider to get your mobile phone unlocked is to spare yourself from a breach-of-contract that other methods may cause.  When you originally signed up with your cell phone carrier, you agreed to follow their rules.  Sometimes their rules strictly prohibit tampering with your cell phone, especially if it’s not your property.  Many times when you sign a contract, if you got your new phone for free or for a very low price, you don’t actually own your cell phone.  Basically what happens is you’re “renting” it from the carrier while you’re still under your 2 years of service.

If you aren’t under the “renting” category of cell phone users, you’re free to choose whatever unlocking option you want.  However, through my experience, the best method for unlocking your phone is through the carrier.  If you don’t have the choice available to you, have a local third-party business do it for you.  While it costs more than using a simple website, you’re much more likely to have a working phone.  When you unlock your phone yourself, you’re able to permanently disable service to the phone if you do the wrong thing.

If you’ve come upon a stolen phone, there’s no way you can get it unlocked.  Once a phone is reported lost or stolen, it’s impossible to get it to work with a carrier.  No website or person will be able to legally unlock the phone.

One of the easiest ways for unlocking a cell phone is by calling your carrier and asking them to unlock it for you. Assuming you are using a phone using GSM cell phone technology (ie it uses a SIM card), you can have it unlocked. Carriers like T-Mobile or AT&T will let you call them after a set period of time during your contract to request a phone unlock. Some carriers (T-Mobile) will let you do this for free after 90 days, and other carriers may charge you a nominal fee for the unlocking. All you have to do when having your phone unlocked in this manner is to call your carrier’s customer service and request it. If they ask you why you want to unlock your phone, tell them (no matter what the reason is), you need the phone unlocked because you’re going to be traveling overseas.  This excuse is completely legitimate and you’ll never have to worry about your cell phone company denying your request.

The second easiest (but also the most expensive) way for unlocking mobile phones is through going to a local business to have them unlock your phone for you.  While this method can be a little costly, you don’t have to worry about causing damage to your phone.  Professional people who unlock phones every day have the equipment and software necessary to get the task done.  Plus, if you’re dealing with a reputable company, they should have a risk-free policy where if you phone is damaged for their service they will replace it for you.

The final method for unlocking cell phones is buying the software or 3rd party hardware and doing it yourself.  You can buy the stuff you need to unlock your phone on quite a few websites as well as on auction sites like eBay.  How the software works that you can buy is it requests some of the identification codes found on the phone and then generates the unlock code based on those numbers.  Assuming you buy high quality software, you can get you mobile phone unlocked fast and easy.  While this method is cheaper than paying some else to unlock your mobile phone for you, the risk is much higher!  If you fail to follow instructions correctly or if you buy shoddy software or hardware, you can seriously break your phone.  So, unless you know somewhat what you’re doing, I’d try the first or second method listed first.

Under T-Mobile’s terms of service, you can have your phone unlocked after having your account open for 90 days.  Once having a phone unlocked during this period, you have to wait another 90 days until you can have another phone unlocked.  T-Mobile also will only give unlock codes to original T-Mobile phones.

If you have had your T-Mobile plan for 90 days, you can call them to request an unlock.  When you call their customer service number, tell them you need to have your phone unlocked.  If they ask you why, tell them you need it unlocked because you’re going overseas (don’t tell them you’re unlocking the phone to use with AT&T or another carrier).  While they probably won’t do anything because you told them you were switching carriers, there’s always a chance a “hidden fee” may pop up so avoid it with the overseas excuse.

The T-Mobile representative should happily give you the information you need to unlock your phone (assuming you said and are doing the right things).  Hopefully this will be as far as you need to for getting your phone unlocked.

If, for whatever reason, you aren’t able to get T-Mobile’s customer service to take care of you, there are other ways to get your phone unlocked.  One way is using a website or business to unlock your phone for you.  Many websites sell or provide software that decipher the codes from your phone and generate the secret unlock code.   Each unlock code is unique to the phone so you have to be careful what you type in.  Local businesses or cell phone stores sometimes provide T-Mobile unlocking services too.  They often charge around $15 to $30 to unlock your phone but often can do it without you having to worry about having your cell phone damaged.  So, besides using T-Mobile’s customer service, my most recommended option is to use a local business to unlock your mobile phone.