 - An unlocked cell phone is a cellular telephone handset that can be used with more than one service provider, making it easy for a user to switch from one cellular network to another.
The sequence of steps a user must perform in order to unlock a cell phone depends on the original communications service provider and on the manufacturer of the phone set. Some cell phone sets can be unlocked by inputting codes to modify the software in the unit. Other sets require the purchase of special cables or modification of the internal hardware as well as reprogramming of the phone's data settings. In the wake of the U.S. Copyright Office's decision in November 2006 to allow cell-phone unlocking for at least three years thereafter, numerous companies began to offer unlocking services for a fee.
Proponents of cell-phone unlocking argue that consumers should be free to change their network when a subscription contract expires without having to discard hardware they purchased outright. Some cell-phone service providers, unhappy with the Copyright Office's decision, are resisting the practice by making their cell-phone sets difficult or impossible to unlock.
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Learn more about Cell Phones and Cellular Technology |
| Cellular bill management: Setting attainable objectives: Daniel Taylor discusses some realistic internal objectives for those charged with getting corporate cellular purchasing under control. |
| Cellular bill consolidation: Making the most of managed mobility: Cellular bill consolidation can provide companies with low-overhead cellular management approaches that deliver predictable costs. |
| Cellular broadband is mobile and reliable: Cellular broadband is available from most of the major carriers now and in this guest column, John Shelper says it's reliable, available and relatively cheap. |
| Dual-mode Wi-Fi and cellular phones to grow: Dual-mode Wi-Fi and cellular VoIP phones are poised for huge growth, while mobile and single-mode phone sales continue to climb. |
| Mobile Radio Systems: This chapter is an intro to the various mobile radio systems. It provides a foundation for comparing competing mobile radio access systems for supporting mobile broadband services. |
| Cost-effective mobile connectivity: As companies facing mounting mobile connectivity costs you need to make sense of the available mobile connectivity options and reduce costs before they get out of control. |
| FCC releases list of 700MHz spectrum auction bidders: As the auction approaches, the FCC releases the list of bidders for rights to the 700MHz wireless spectrum. |
| Wireless carriers: The good, the bad, and the just plain annoying: It's not unusual for customers dealing with their wireless carriers to get bad service, but in his latest editorial Adama Brown recounts an especially bad example. |
| Managed mobile services: This managed mobile services series, examines services for device management, email, enterprise applications, and cellular telephony. It concludes with a best practices guide. |
| LAST UPDATED: |
02 Mar 2007
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