If you have yet to purchase a phone, another benefit to opting for an unlocked phone is that you can choose different models beyond what your current carrier offers. Instead of paying roaming charges, you’ll be able to pay local rates. Unlocked phones are also good for international travelers, since you can use your unlocked phone with any foreign carrier that works with your phone’s technology. If you think you may want to sell your phone one day, you’ll typically get way more money for an unlocked phone, because the person who buys it can use whatever carrier network they want (freedom is always a selling point). This way, you can get the best rates and coverage for you (or even use two providers on one phone, if you have both a physical SIM card and eSIM-more on that here). The benefit of having an unlocked phone is the freedom to switch carriers when you want. However, a jailbroken phone does not mean the phone is unlocked-a phone can be jailbroken, but still tied to a specific carrier. A jailbroken phone will have media restrictions lifted so that users can run different operating systems on their device, or delete or hide preloaded apps that usually cannot be deleted. Jailbreaking a phone only has to do with its software. While it sounds like a jailbroken phone is the same as an unlocked phone, that isn’t the case. Like, up to two or three years long.Īnother term you may have heard while discussing locked or unlocked phones is the term jailbreaking. Some carriers only require you to have a locked phone for a year, while certain Big Wireless companies require a longer lock. Locked phones ensure you can’t switch networks until after a certain time, sell your phone before the contract is over, or skip out on your bill and switch (let’s call it the dial and dash). Locked phones are usually discounted, and the contract you sign with the carrier makes up for the financial loss the carrier takes on. So, you might be asking why carriers sell locked phones. Even if you didn’t buy your phone from a specific carrier, it can still sometimes be locked by that carrier (sneaky, huh?)

On the other hand, locked phones have software that prevents them from being used by different mobile networks, hence they’re locked into a certain network and can only be used with that specific carrier. Unlocked phones are phones that aren’t tied to a specific carrier and can work with different providers (or let you switch providers whenever you want). As you might imagine, since there are unlocked phones, there are also locked phones.

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