What does factory unlock mean?

I'm TRYING TO TRADE MY GALAXY S2 TMOBILE FOR A IPHONE 4 FACTORY UNLOCK AND I DON't KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS I HAD AN IPHONE UNLOCKED FOR TMOBILE BUT I COULD NEVER LET IT TURN OFF I WANNA KNOW IF I'm DOING THE RIGHT CHOICE.

To factory unlock is to just unlock it to the factory provider, the original provider it was locked on. A manual factory unlock is just to unlock it to any provider you want. If you want to get it back to the original provider it was for then yes, if not then no.

Factory unlock means that you can insert any carrier SIM worldwide into your iPhone. It is different than having it unlocked via a jailbreak. Jailbreak unlocks can't be updated as you will lose your unlock, etc. Factory unlocked for an iPhone is definitely an asset! It can be expensive to factory unlock some carriers after the fact.

  • What does this mean: Free Msg: Receiver unable to receive message - Message Blocking is active mean on iPhone's iMessage? I tried sending my friend a text and it replied with this. We haven't gotten into any fights and we hung out for hours recently. Has she blocked me?
  • What does factory unlocked mean? I was looking to buy an iphone from ebay globalbuy and costs of some iphone's r low having at&t or sprint or verizon(i'm guessing they r sim card brands) but some others have a higher price but it says that it is factory unlocked, what does it mean, while you r at it can you tell me what exactly is sprint, at&t etc
  • What does factory unlocked mean for iphone 5? Does this mean i have to get it unlocked like the unlocked iphone 5 as well. What is the difference between a factory unlocked phone notice not from atandt and a unlocked iphone 5 from atat.
  • What does factory unlocked mean exactly? For some reason i feel like this is a stupid question. But I'm not smart when it comes to phones. I want to buy an iphone from Virginmobileusa.com but it is too expensive for me. $650.00. I found a used iphone on ebay, exactly the same as the one that Virgin Mobile is selling for $350.00. My question is, can I use a factory unlocked iphone from ebay for prepaid cards from virgin mobile? Does that make any sense? Someone, anyone please help me!