What does it mean if you buy an iPhone unlocked instead of with a carrier?
That gets me so freaking confused. Like you can buy it with Verizon, AT&T, sprint, or unlocked… What does that mean?
Carrier: you are tied to that carrier, with a contract for a specified amount of time.
Unlocked: you can insert any SIM and it works.
Usually, what you pay the carrier over the contract terms is lots more than if you bought the phone unlocked.
Unlocked one means you can use it anywhere, anytime without any limit. If you are under contract, you have to stick with your phone and pay by installment. They can lock your phone anytime they see violating.
Hope it helps!
An unlocked GSM phone (*and ONLY GSM phones, unlocked doesn't apply to CDMA models) means that it can be used on any GSM network, provided you have a SIM card for that network.
So a phone that comes out of the factory unlocked (and that is what that means, not somebody unlocked a contract phone later, that is NOT factory unlocked) can get service for the phone side at least, on any GSM carrier. You still have to pay for the service, SIM card, and activation. Data may or may not work, and there's nothing you can do about that. Different carriers use different data frequencies, if you choose a carrier that doesn't support the data frequencies you need, then you are out of luck.
The phone side of CDMA systems, like Verizon and Sprint and Virgin and a bunch of local carriers, can't be unlocked in the same manner. They don't use SIM cards, the entire telephone is programmed to work on a specific CDMA network. The data side uses a SIM on newer smartphones. Anyway, you must completely reprogram a CDMA phone to work on a different CDMA carrier. This is called 'flashing" the phone.
Unlocked means it could work with any GSM provider in the world. When you buy it with a carrier it could only work on their network with their SIM cards.
Unlocked phones only concern GSM carriers though, like AT&T & T-Mobile. Verizon & Sprint are CDMA carriers, which don't use SIM cards. In their case a process called flashing is involved to basically achieve the same result.
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