An unlocked phone allows you to get service from any carrier. For instance, imagine your five year old niece borrowed your phone and somehow lost it. If the phone was locked at that carrier, now she has both a stolen device and a BROKEN device on her hands because all their phones are needed on that one network. So that little girl is screwed no matter what happens next! Lucky for her, she doesn’t need to worry about it because you have an unlocked phone!
The bad news is if you ever want to switch carriers in the future, only then will this be possible as long as the required bands match up with what they offer (see more below). Unlocking isn’t free though either; expect to pay upwards of $50 and more for this service if you didn’t buy your device from the carrier itself.
Sounds pretty simple right? Well it is, just not as common as most consumers would like to believe they have unlocked phones . This can happen from an accident or from a consumer’s choice. In my case, I got three phones through my carrier over the years. The first was free since I had just signed up with them, and then I just got a brand new replacement phone each time my contract expired.
