For the longest time, the the issue with the US smartphone market was that you had to purchase the phones directly from the Cellular company. The companies sold you the phone locked to their network. Each carrier had their own rules on unlocking the phones. Carriers held you hostage such that once you completed your contract, you would have to purchase another smartphone to move to a different carrier, making it financially prohibitive. In the rest of the world, purchasing a phone and buying service were 2 completely separate transactions. The phones are sold completely unlocked. You are not tied to someone’s lousy network just because of a locked phone. Unlocking is a process by which you can take the phone to another carrier and use it on the new carrier. For example taking an AT&T phone to T-Mobile etc. Unlocking a phone is typically for GSM carrier (more on that later)
The US market is slowly evolving thanks to T-Mobile’s Uncarrier initiative. Down the road, purchasing the phone and finding a carrier are going to be 2 completely separate transactions. And that is a great thing. Why? Because carriers had you hoodwinked. They would sign you up for a 2 year contract and give you a new phone for $200. If used that same phone after the 2 years were up, your bill never went down. No more, now your bill will go down after you have paid off your phone, the new transparency forces the carrier to be more ethical and fair – Thank you John Legere and T-Mobile
The USA cell phone market is divided into 2 different technologies GSM and CDMA. AT&T/ T-Mobile are GSM providers ( think SIM card) and Verizon/Sprint are CDMA providers. Further complicating the issue is the frequency that is used by the carriers – 800, 850, 1900. For a phone to work to work on a different carrier, it should be able to accept that technology and frequency – think radio.
Verizon and Sprint being CDMA carriers require you to call them to activate the phone. The phones IMEI number must be in their database for the phone to work. The CDMA carriers marry the IMEI number to the phone number. This is essentially a CDMA limitation. Sprint and Verizon have a gentlemen’s agreement (collusion) where they will not activate each other’s phones. Your Verizon phone should for all practical purposes work on Sprint but Sprint will not put the IMEI number in their database. Sprint will only accept the IMEI number from the manufacturer. They will not insert a new IMEI number in their database. Same for Verizon
Take the Sprint iphone 4s/5/5c/5s/6 or Sprint Samsung Galaxy. Read the specs. They have the GSM bands to support T-Mobile/AT&T etc but when you insert the T-Mobile sim in the phone, it will not work – Why because the phone is locked to Sprint. Sprint will not unlock the phone no matter what. Even after you complete your contract and have fully paid for that phone. This is how Sprint unethically and desperately holds on to you . Their last hope is to make it financially prohibitive for you to switch carriers, You want to move to a different carrier – no problem just buy a new phone (but we really don’t want you to leave).
Recently however Google and Apple have decided to sell fully unlocked versions of their flagship products directly on their websites.
Apple iphone 6/6plus from Apple’s Website
The unlocked iPhone includes all the features of iPhone but without a wireless contract commitment or a carrier installment plan. You can activate and use the unlocked iPhone on the supported wireless network of your choice, such as AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, or Sprint in the United States.
The unlocked iPhone does not come with a nano-SIM card for iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone 5s, or iPhone 5c so you’ll need to get one from any supported carrier worldwide. To start using your iPhone, simply insert the SIM card into the slot and turn on iPhone by pressing and holding the On/Off button for a few seconds. Then follow the onscreen instructions to set up your iPhone.
Purchasing an unlocked iPhone means you will not qualify for the lower iPhone price associated with a contract or a carrier installment plan. The unlocked iPhone 6 model is A1586. The unlocked iPhone 6 Plus model is A1524. The T-Mobile iPhone 6 model is A1549. The T-Mobile iPhone 6 Plus model is A1522. For details on LTE network support, please see www.apple.com/iphone/LTE.
The IMEI numbers of the A1586 and A1524 versions of the iphones will be in both the Sprint and Verizon databases.
Google Nexus 6 purchased directly from the Google Play store
This phone will work on Sprint, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and every other GSM provider. This phone is fully unlocked for all GSM carriers and the Google Play version of the phone will have the IMEI number in both the Sprint and Verizon databases
Caution: Only the Nexus 6 purchased from the Google Play store will work on all carriers. If you purchase the Nexus 6 directly from Verizon, Sprint will not activate it or the other way around.
You can use the Google Play version of this phone on Sprint, give them the IMEI number and they will activate it. If you do not like Sprint service, call Verizon and give them the IMEI number and that phone will work on Verizon. You can take an AT&T sim card to that phone and AT&T will become your new carrier. You can move this phone to Cricket, , Straightalk, T-Mobile, Metro PCS, by just inserting the SIM cards of the new GSM carrier.
At the end of the day it is your phone and Google and Apple have done us a great service into making sure that you use that phone on every carrier in the world.
jackmehra 