Buy A Unlocked Cell Phone in

Unlocked cellphones means that you are able to use your SIM card (regardless of the carrier). Many people purchase unlocked phones for various reasons: sometimes it is cheaper because you are paying for the cellphone outright with no strings attached, and you will have a cellphone that your carrier does not have.

For example: iPhones are only available through AT&T because the phone is locked, if someone had a different carrier they would not be able to pop their SIM card in it. The SIM card would not be automatically recognized. If you get the iPhone unlocked you would be able to use your carrier SIM card.

The drawbacks would be that won't be able to carrier the insurance that your carrier sometimes offer you. For some people warranties are a deal breaker. Recently, I have searching for unlocked phones and notice you can get through a couple of different website ranging from 80 dollars all the way up to $1,000 (unlocked iPhone 4 of course).

I have also seen unlocked no name phones (what I call it) which they are made over seas and resemble name brand phones such as Blackberry and Apple. The phones look exactly like the phones but my fear of purchasing one is the lack of functionality of the phone.

If you are going to buy a unlocked phone some trusted websites that I have come across is Walmart, and Best Buy. If you are looking into a replacement phone you can look into Ebay or craigslist and search for phones based on what carrier you have.