Mobile Phone Unlocking and Compatibility
If you are looking to travel abroad and want to purchase a sim card to avoid roaming charges, then you will most likely come across the question of:
1 - Is my phone compatible, and
2 - Is my phone unlocked
These two questions are answered pretty simply with a bit of research on your part, and some help and guidance from this post.
Is my phone compatible?
Most modern mobile phones run either tri or quad-band GSM which means that it will work in most countries around the world. If you have an older dual-band phone this may not work. Your best option is to check the manufacturers website or your mobile phone manual as it will tell you what GSM bands your phone can work on. Most of the world run on the GSM 900/1800Mhz bands, while the USA runs on GSM 850/1900Mhz bands - however you can check every country at:
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml
In short - if you have bought a phone in the last 12 months it will most likely be fine!
Is my phone locked?
If you know your phone is GSM compatible with the country you are visiting, the next step is you need to find out if your phone is locked. If you have bought a mobile phone, most networks will lock the phone to their network - meaning that you cannot use this on any other network. This will obviously restrict you if you want to use a different sim card, however you have every right to unlock it and this is perfectly legal.
The first thing you need to do is to check if your phone is locked and the best way to do this is ask your friend (who is on a different network to you) if you can borrow their sim card for a minute and you will need to insert this into your phone. If your phone powers up with no problem your phone is unlocked, however if your phone displays a warning message like "invalid sim card" your phone is locked.
If your phone is locked you can unlock this by one of the two methods:
1 - Contact your network provider and ask for your phone unlock code. All mobile phone networks have to give this to you by law, however many may make it hard for you to get your code, or make you wait a long time for it. If that is the case you can opt for option 2.
2 - Do a google search for "mobile phone unlocking" which will come up with a number of websites that will offer mobile phone unlocking for a small fee. You can even enter your make and model of your phone to that search to get a more specific answer.
Hopefully this has give you all the information you need to make your sim card purchase and avoid roaming costs when abroad!
1 - Is my phone compatible, and
2 - Is my phone unlocked
These two questions are answered pretty simply with a bit of research on your part, and some help and guidance from this post.
Is my phone compatible?
Most modern mobile phones run either tri or quad-band GSM which means that it will work in most countries around the world. If you have an older dual-band phone this may not work. Your best option is to check the manufacturers website or your mobile phone manual as it will tell you what GSM bands your phone can work on. Most of the world run on the GSM 900/1800Mhz bands, while the USA runs on GSM 850/1900Mhz bands - however you can check every country at:
http://www.gsmworld.com/roaming/gsminfo/index.shtml
In short - if you have bought a phone in the last 12 months it will most likely be fine!
Is my phone locked?
If you know your phone is GSM compatible with the country you are visiting, the next step is you need to find out if your phone is locked. If you have bought a mobile phone, most networks will lock the phone to their network - meaning that you cannot use this on any other network. This will obviously restrict you if you want to use a different sim card, however you have every right to unlock it and this is perfectly legal.
The first thing you need to do is to check if your phone is locked and the best way to do this is ask your friend (who is on a different network to you) if you can borrow their sim card for a minute and you will need to insert this into your phone. If your phone powers up with no problem your phone is unlocked, however if your phone displays a warning message like "invalid sim card" your phone is locked.
If your phone is locked you can unlock this by one of the two methods:
1 - Contact your network provider and ask for your phone unlock code. All mobile phone networks have to give this to you by law, however many may make it hard for you to get your code, or make you wait a long time for it. If that is the case you can opt for option 2.
2 - Do a google search for "mobile phone unlocking" which will come up with a number of websites that will offer mobile phone unlocking for a small fee. You can even enter your make and model of your phone to that search to get a more specific answer.
Hopefully this has give you all the information you need to make your sim card purchase and avoid roaming costs when abroad!
Labels: mobile phone unlocking, sim card
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