You may not know much about your cellular phone other than that you cannot live without it! Your cell phone is your connection to the rest of the world and is a very important tool. Many cell phones are made to use a SIM card - a Subscriber Identification Module - which stores subscriber data. The SIM card is issued by the carrier (carriers such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Alltel, and others use SIM cards) and is used to activate the phone. Locked cell phones will only recognize a particular carrier while unlocked cell phones will recognize any carrier.

An unlocked cell phone is much more useful to the average cell phone user than a locked one. A locked cell phone will not allow users to change phones at their leisure. Cellular carriers claim that this is done to maintain a balance covering the cost of the phones. A locked cell phone benefits only the carrier while an unlocked cell phone benefits the customer. Some cellular carriers require that you purchase a locked cell phone for the contract period, but will unlock the phone at the time that the contract expires.

One of the easiest ways to purchase an unlocked cell phone is to purchase the phone from a third party vendor online, not from a cellular carrier store. This way, the phone will already be in its unlocked state, which is how all cell phones are manufactured originally anyway. What is even better about purchasing an unlocked cell phone this way is that it is typically 50%-60% less than what you might pay at the carrier's retail store. Unlocked cell phones will work with any carrier that uses a SIM card (even overseas).

If you currently own a locked cell phone, you can pay a third party company (not your carrier) to unlock the cell phone. Unlocking a cell phone will not guarantee that it will work, as your carrier may have implemented proprietary settings. However, many other people have learned to hack into locked cell phones, but be careful when unlocking your existing cell phone as it can potentially be rendered unusable.

A prominent benefit of having an unlocked cell phone is that if you tire of one phone or carrier, you are free to change services whenever you want. With today's constant changes among cellular carrier's plans, pricing, and services it is no wonder that so many people prefer unlocked cell phones. Unlocked cell phones make it much easier for customers to switch carriers.

Unlocked cell phones are also beneficial if you wish to change the model of phone you are using. Many SIM cards are compatible with many different phone models. If your phone breaks, is damaged, or it is just time for an upgrade, you can often switch the SIM card out and place it into the new phone. The SIM card will allow for you to retain all of your stored information, phone number, and calling plan, but in an entirely new phone.