Is Your "Unlocked" Phone Actually Unlocked? The Truth Most Sellers Won't Tell You
I bought what was listed as a "factory unlocked" iPhone on eBay for a great price. Popped in my new carrier's SIM. "SIM Not Supported." I'd been burned by one of the most common — and most misunderstood — problems in the phone market. Here's everything you need to know before it happens to you. What "Unlocked" Actually Means An unlocked phone is one that isn't tied to a specific carrier's network and will work with any compatible SIM card. A locked phone has software on it that restricts it to one carrier — usually the carrier that subsidized the phone's original purchase price. Sounds simple. The problem is that "unlocked" is one of the most misused words in phone listings, and there are actually multiple types of "unlocked" that work very differently. The 4 Types of "Unlocked" — And Which Ones Actually Work 1. Factory Unlocked (TRUE unlocked): The phone was never tied to a carrier in the first...