Mobile Phone Unlocking

Many people are surprised to find that in today’s developed mobile phone market, many handsets sold are locked to the operating network you have signed a contract with. This means the handset will only work with a SIM card from that network. Any attempt to use another SIM card will result in error messages being displayed on the screen. Not only contract phones, but also Prepay handsets are locked to the supplying network.

With most networks branding handsets with firmware developed specifically for their services, it kind of makes sense. Otherwise customer service lines will be jammed with callers who can no longer access the internet, or send and receive picture messages, because the settings they need aren’t on the phone.

As a practice, locking mobile phones has been around since the early days of Orange and One2One (The previous operating name of T-Mobile). When these two networks launched, there were already two established players in the market, Vodafone and Cellnet (The previous operating name of O2). To ensure Orange and One2One did not operate at a disadvantage, they were allowed to lock their handsets to their network. Vodafone and Cellnet at the time continued to use what is commonly known as SIM free stock, handsets that were open to any compatible SIM card.

The main push in popularity of mobile phones came with the emphasis on Prepay handsets. When Prepay was first released in the UK, due to billing system issues, the handsets were locked down to the network, and also to the SIM card they were provided with. From this point, Vodafone started to lock many of their handsets to their network, even the contract phones. Interestingly O2 has always seemed to use SIM free stock on their contract phones.

For some people, having a locked phone is not an issue, they will always only ever use the network they selected when they made their handset purchase, and the option for unlocking is never considered. There are good reasons though, for wanting an unlocked handset:

Going abroad. Roaming charges, despite the recent cuts enforced by the European Union, are still quite high. After the network you are using when abroad has charged your home network for carrying the traffic, and your home network has added it’s levy on top, the cost soon adds up. The simple way round this is to purchase a local SIM card, and avoid paying for incoming calls. If your handset is locked, this option is not available to you.

For some people, one network is not enough. By having an unlocked phone, you are free to simply swap SIM cards as and when necessary. This can be useful for example, during the week you may have one network for work calls, but at the weekend you may prefer to use another. I know of people who live in the city for work purposes during the week but at the weekend go home, and occasionally find that their main network doesn’t provide coverage at home.

Resale value. Quite simply, an unlocked handset has more value when you decide to sell it on; working on more than one network offers you access to a larger market where the handset can be sold.

I’m sure there are more reasons, too. Now, some people are of the opinion that it is illegal to unlock their handset until their contract with the network is finished. This is not true. From the moment of purchase, the mobile phone is yours to keep. When you sign a contract with a network, you are making an agreement for a network service, to enable you to make and receive calls. This is why, if a contract is not honoured by the end user, the network will pursue for all outstanding line rental charges, not the cost of the handset. The handset, if you like, is an inducement for signing the contract. Sign up for 18 months network access, and you get a free phone (usually). After all, line access with no phone doesn’t make sense!

If you find your handset is locked, there are a few options available to you to unlock it. The obvious one is to contact your network. The procedure and costs vary from network to network, the best way to know for sure is to contact your network customer service team and ask. Generally, there is often a charge for the unlock code, and in some cases you may be required to pay all outstanding line rental charges for the minimum duration for the contract as well. This clearly can work out very expensive, and it is for this reason that getting your handset unlocked down the local market became so popular. Of course, nothing is ever so simple and straight forward. The equipment used to unlock your phone may involve rewriting a small part of the software on the handset, to enable the phone to be ‘unlocked’. If this is the case, then you will have invalidated the warranty on the handset, which can cause a problem down the line if your handset starts developing a fault.

You can also find online many websites that can offer unlocking codes or software for unlocking almost any phone, but again, this can invalidate your warranty. The best way to know for sure is to contact the people you are unlocking the handset with, and see what they say.

Handset locking is always going to be around. With network exclusive handsets, such as the Blackberry Storm on Vodafone, or the iPhone on O2, the supplying network will always want to tie you in to them, to ensure maximum revenue potential. Also, take the way Three brand their handsets, making their network services almost appear as if they are features on the phone. It makes little sense to unlock a Three handset, unless you are going to go down the de-branding route as well (a topic for another day) .

Ultimately, as already mentioned, the phone is yours and you are free to proceed as you wish. Just make sure you arm yourself with the correct information before you attempt to unlock your handset.