Why you should get your phone unlocked
When most people get a new phone they often don’t realise that it will only work with the network they bought it from. Most of the big mobile phone networks want to retain as many customers as possible because the competition is fierce.
Getting out of a contract
If you’re not happy with the service or signal provided by your phone network it can be difficult to change providers if your phone is locked, so you end up with no choice but to stick with your current provider as they hold your unlock codes. Normally without paying a large fee to get out of your contract you won’t be able to get your smartphone unlocked.
Going abroad
Most phone contracts don’t include roaming which means that it can cost a fortune to use your phone abroad. One way around this is to buy a sim card in the country you’re visiting and put that into your phone. The problem is that if your phone is locked then it won’t let you use the sim card! Not really very useful when you rely on your phone for contact while you’re away. This is a major reason why getting an unlocked phone or getting your phone unlocked is important, you never know when you might need to switch the sim card.
Using the same network as your partner or friends
If the people you call the most are on one network but you’re on another, the costs can add up. Many phone networks allow customers using the same network to call each other without charging or using up minutes from their call plan. Companies such as GiffGaff offer this service and it means that if all of your friends and family use this company then you’ll never have to pay for phone minutes! Very useful if you call them up a lot.
The problem is if your phone is locked to another network then you won’t be able to change it, which means that you’ll miss out on getting lots of free calls!
The savings you get from these types of call plans are double as whoever calls you will also not have to pay, meaning that all calls are free.
Wanting to view blocked content
Not all blocked content is offensive and sometimes it’s blocked in error. The phone networks have a list of websites that will be blocked should you try to visit them on your phone. You have to call them up to unblock it and sometimes they charge for this. Again, if you’re phone is unlocked this won’t be a problem. If you’re working and the content you’re trying to view is blocked then this could cost you time and money.
Unlocking services
The networks will hold your phone unlocking codes to ransom, but there are a few ways that you can get around this. Unlocking smart are one of the companies that can do this for you. If you know what you’re doing you can ‘root’ your phone and use an app to find the unlock code, but this technique could damage your phone of you don’t know what you’re doing.
