Locked or unlocked?
I'm coming out of a Tech cave... have a 2003 Nokia phone and 2008 HP Pavillion desk top. Needing to update... and apparently I'm a techno Rip Van Winkle. Went to Best Buy to look at all the new s...
Forum Discussion
Locked: The phone can only be used with the contract provider.
If you are getting a "Free phone with sign up or new contract" it is locked.
UNLOCKED: phone can be used with ANY compatable provider.
This means a phone purchased for use with T-Mobile can be switched to AT&T.
Now the problem.. AT&T and T-Mobile both use the same encryption and compression methods.. So the phones can cross over
Sprint uses a different one
I'm not sure what Verizon uses
Some use multiple schemes and once again their phones can cross over.
Some phones are capable of multiple schemes as well.
If you are getting a "Free phone with sign up or new contract" it is locked.
UNLOCKED: phone can be used with ANY compatable provider.
This means a phone purchased for use with T-Mobile can be switched to AT&T.
Now the problem.. AT&T and T-Mobile both use the same encryption and compression methods.. So the phones can cross over
Sprint uses a different one
I'm not sure what Verizon uses
Some use multiple schemes and once again their phones can cross over.
Some phones are capable of multiple schemes as well.
