What are the advantages of having an unlocked cell phone vs. normal contracts?

[Delirious]

I currently have Verizon (good service no complaints) and I see more and more deals for cell phones that say they are unlocked...

I'm asking what exactly does it mean that it is unlocked, what benefits does it have verses having a contract, and do you think it would be better for me to have an unlocked phone instead of having a contract? (Or did I mess up asking that question and it's more complicated than that?)

 

[DQuaN]

I don't know how it works over there, but over here, most phones are locked to a network provider. For example, the iPhone can only be used on the O2 network.

Unlocking the phone just makes more contracts available from other networks.

 

[Aldo]

What DQuan said is true over here
I think he might be asking about coming off his contract and using Pay As You Go
If that is the question, some advantages are that you don't have to pay a monthly fee

 

[CDailey]

When you buy a cellphone through whatever provider (Verizon in your case), it comes pre loaded with their own firmware. It has their branding on it, it keeps you from using the phone a different network, sometimes it will limit the phone from using certain features, etc...

An unlocked phone comes exactly as it would if you had bought it from the phone manufacturer. As an example, if you buy a Sony Ericsson W810 from AT&T, it will have AT&T firmware, it will say AT&T when you boot the phone up, it will have programs on there to let you access their media, you can only use it with an AT&T sim card etc... If you were to buy the same phone from Sony Ericsson, it would have the Sony Ericsson logo when you boot the phone instead of AT&T, you could use it on any GSM network provided you have a contract with them and an available sim card, no features will be missing etc...

The only reasons to buy an unlocked phone is if your service provider doesn't have a phone you like, or if their firmware is laggy/unresponsive and cripples the phone in some way.

 

[YSSMAN]

The problem is that it is often crazy-expensive. How the cell phone companies make any money by subsidizing the cost on some of these phones is beyond me. I'm reminded of the "unlocked" iPhones that are now available through Apple, which start at $600 I believe. I remember my RAZR V3m being at an unsubsidized price of nearly $400 when I got it two years ago, which was a huge shock.

Problem is, most of the "unlocked" phones I'd want are designed to be GSM-only. The new Nokia E71x comes to mind here. I'd love to have that on a Sprint contract...

 

[FoolKiller]

The problem is that it is often crazy-expensive. How the cell phone companies make any money by subsidizing the cost on some of these phones is beyond me. I'm reminded of the "unlocked" iPhones that are now available through Apple, which start at $600 I believe. I remember my RAZR V3m being at an unsubsidized price of nearly $400 when I got it two years ago, which was a huge shock.

The cell companies make money while subsidizing because these prices are not what they pay.

In almost all manufacturer direct to consumer (you and me) deals there are stipulations in the manufacturer to customer (stores) contracts.

They come in one of two forms: One is like this. The phone costs much more than it does for the cell phone company and much more than what you would get from the store, but you have network freedom. Chances are that the typical manufacturer to store deal also has the manufacturer getting a percentage of the contract.

I have also seen deals where the consumer pays more for a product (non-service plan related) than the store, but less than it would cost to buy it from the store itself. However, these are very limited, typically to employee friends and family and does not come with any of the warranty service or installation benefits that a store will offer, just the manufacturer warranty.

 

[Delirious]

Hmm...how do you think then (just thinking out loud I'm not gonna do it since I already have a Dare) an iPhone would work with Verizon?

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

Hmm...how do you think then (just thinking out loud I'm not gonna do it since I already have a Dare) an iPhone would work with Verizon?

Since the iPhone is GSM-only, it wouldn't.

 

[Sniffs]

if I'm reading this correctly, then the first cell I had was a "locked" one. a local provider up here was one of the few outside of Verizon. unfortunately, they were also a "screw up and die" company...one second late, and your contract went straight to a debt collector. I'm in hock an extra 800 bucks because i was the victim of an unauthorised Firing (the guys I had been working with had no athourity whatsoever over me, as I was paid seperately).

Yss: you do NOT want a Sprint contract. the reception's still lousy, and the cheapskates have no net connectivity unless you pay extra (even the goodies on the Phone are locked into a few seconds of demo). it may have something to do with my state, however. Verizon's signal strength is broken and missing, here, and some people cannot recieve even Sattelite TV signals due to the appalachian ridges.

 

[CDailey]

Hmm...how do you think then (just thinking out loud I'm not gonna do it since I already have a Dare) an iPhone would work with Verizon?

Like ROAD_DOGG33J said, it won't work. The iPhone is GSM only, while Verizon is still using CDMA technology.

if I'm reading this correctly, then the first cell I had was a "locked" one. a local provider up here was one of the few outside of Verizon. unfortunately, they were also a "screw up and die" company...one second late, and your contract went straight to a debt collector. I'm in hock an extra 800 bucks because i was the victim of an unauthorised Firing (the guys I had been working with had no athourity whatsoever over me, as I was paid seperately).

Yss: you do NOT want a Sprint contract. the reception's still lousy, and the cheapskates have no net connectivity unless you pay extra (even the goodies on the Phone are locked into a few seconds of demo). it may have something to do with my state, however. Verizon's signal strength is broken and missing, here, and some people cannot recieve even Sattelite TV signals due to the appalachian ridges.

IIRC, Yss is already on Sprint and pretty happy with it.