Getting Your Cellular Unlocked
Getting your cellular phone unlocked is not illegal! There is some confusion around regarding terminology that the cell phone providers do nothing to clear up. There is a difference between unlocking and unblocking.
If your cell phone is lost or stolen, you can ring your service provider and they will block it. This means that if someone else gets their hands on it, they will not be able to make any calls. This is for your protection and designed to make a cell phone a less desirable item to steal. To ‘Unblock’ a phone is definitely illegal.
Unlocking is a different matter. When you buy a phone, whether on contract or prepaid, that already has a SIM card, it is set up to work on a particular network. If later, you still like your phone but a better deal is available, you could buy a new SIM card to put in it. The problem is, the phone may be locked to the original network.
Unlike unblocking, getting your cellular ‘Unlocked’ to work on any network is perfectly legal. The phone companies don’t advertise it but if you own your phone, you have a right to look for the best deal and take it with you.
There are three ways you can do this. You can call your existing provider and ask them about unlocking. They may do this for free or they may make a charge. They are allowed to do that. If you think that their charge is excessive, you can try independent companies that provide this service. There are plenty of the on the internet and you can probably find one that is cheaper.
But the cheapest way to unlock your cellular is to do it yourself. When you put in a new SIM card, there is usually a message that the phone is locked and a request for an unlocking code. So, all you need is the code. Once again, the internet is your first port of call.
Go to Google and try searching for something like, ‘cell phone unlock codes’. It will bring up a list of sites offering this service. Some of them will unlock your phone remotely and others will find the code for you, both at a price. What you want is a site that lists the codes for you to enter yourself. All you need to do is search for your model, get the code and you are good to go.
You won’t find codes for every phone, especially some of the latest models but you can always fall back on the other methods. Older Nokia models are particularly easy to find and unlock but most models can be cracked with a little bit of research.