{"id":612,"date":"2011-04-02T02:49:13","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T16:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm"},"modified":"2011-04-02T02:49:13","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T16:49:13","slug":"what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Sim Free Mobile Phone &#8211; The Question Demystified"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When you purchase a mobile phone in a shop (whether online or brick-and-mortar) you only have two options really: either the phone is <a rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '\/outgoing\/article_exit_link']);\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foneparadise.com\" target=\"_blank\">sim-free<\/a> or is locked to a specific network.<\/p>\n<p>A sim free phone is and can only be a phone that is actually able to take any sim card AND has been manufactured that way. This is different from an unlocked phone that was manufactured with a software that can only recognise and function with a certain type of sim card (i.e Vodafone or T-Mobile). Sometimes (actually quite often) retailers sell phones advertised as &#8220;unlocked to all networks&#8221; when in fact they sell sim free phones. Why is this important?<\/p>\n<p>It is extremely important because a phone that has been unlocked means that initially was built to work on a specific network and the business\/individual that bought it subsequently did unlock by entering the software\/motherboard of the phone and actually tampered with it. This can go from just calculating the &#8220;unlocking code&#8221; that is just loaded to the phone software to actually flash a new software into the phone. If it is done properly then it can be OK and your phone works fine. If it is not done properly then you could have a phone that developed bugs\/faults.<br \/>Importantly, a phone that has been unlocked by means other that the manufacturer unlocking code (that can be obtain from your network at the end of a contract period) will always have the manufacturer warranty invalidated. Bear this in mind when buying what is in the end an expensive piece of kit.<\/p>\n<p>So yours truly would strongly recommend that you insist on buying only a <a rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '\/outgoing\/article_exit_link']);\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foneparadise.com\" target=\"_blank\">sim free<\/a> phone, and make sure that it has not been unlocked. So retailers actually advertise &#8220;unlocked to all networks&#8221; to help people understand that they can use the phone with any sim card. Others use the same terms but in fact they sell a product that has been subsidised by a Network operator and sold at a cheap price to attract the customers. So normally an unlocked phone or a locked phone will almost always be cheaper than a <a rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '\/outgoing\/article_exit_link']);\" href=\"http:\/\/www.foneparadise.com\" target=\"_blank\">sim free<\/a> phone but in the end it might turn out to be more expensive as you might end up with a faulty phone and no warranty to cover your product.<\/p>\n<p>I hope this article is informative. I will appreciate your feedback.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin:5px;padding:5px;border:1px solid #c1c1c1;font-size: 10px;\">\n<p>www.foneparadise.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When you purchase a mobile phone in a shop (whether online or brick-and-mortar) you only have two options really: either the phone is sim-free or is locked to a specific network. A sim free phone is and can only be a phone that is actually able to take any sim card AND has been manufactured &hellip; <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link btn\" href=\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\">Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[278],"tags":[4285,2189,4284,4290,358,1424,4291,4286,339,4288,372,4287,411,343,4289,719,4283,6,1423,550,9,513,113,182],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-phone-news","tag-brick-and-mortar","tag-contract-period","tag-demystified","tag-flash-software","tag-free","tag-free-mobile-phone","tag-loaded","tag-manufacturer-warranty","tag-mobile","tag-motherboard","tag-network-operator","tag-new-software","tag-options","tag-phone","tag-phone-bugs","tag-phone-software","tag-question","tag-sim-card","tag-sim-free-mobile-phone","tag-sim-free-phones","tag-t-mobile","tag-unlock-software","tag-vodafone","tag-warranty","item-wrap"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Is a Sim Free Mobile Phone - The Question Demystified - FreeUnlocks.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is a Sim Free Mobile Phone - The Question Demystified - FreeUnlocks.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When you purchase a mobile phone in a shop (whether online or brick-and-mortar) you only have two options really: either the phone is sim-free or is locked to a specific network. A sim free phone is and can only be a phone that is actually able to take any sim card AND has been manufactured &hellip; Continue reading\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FreeUnlocks.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-04-01T16:49:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1725f43660c571701eeaa9a3af27c991\"},\"headline\":\"What Is a Sim Free Mobile Phone &#8211; The Question Demystified\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-01T16:49:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\"},\"wordCount\":416,\"commentCount\":0,\"keywords\":[\"Brick And Mortar\",\"Contract Period\",\"Demystified\",\"Flash Software\",\"Free\",\"Free Mobile Phone\",\"Loaded\",\"Manufacturer Warranty\",\"Mobile\",\"Motherboard\",\"Network Operator\",\"New Software\",\"Options\",\"Phone\",\"Phone Bugs\",\"Phone Software\",\"Question\",\"Sim Card\",\"Sim Free Mobile Phone\",\"Sim Free Phones\",\"T Mobile\",\"Unlock Software\",\"Vodafone\",\"Warranty\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Phone News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\",\"name\":\"What Is a Sim Free Mobile Phone - The Question Demystified - FreeUnlocks.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-04-01T16:49:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/1725f43660c571701eeaa9a3af27c991\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/what-is-a-sim-free-mobile-phone-the-question-demystified.htm#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is a Sim Free Mobile Phone &#8211; The Question Demystified\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.freeunlocks.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"FreeUnlocks.com\",\"description\":\"Free Cell Phone and Mobile Phone Unlock Codes. 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