Читать книгу Android Smartphones For Seniors For Dummies - Marsha Collier - Страница 39

While shopping for a smartphone, you may see references to locked and unlocked phones. Previously, whenever you bought a phone from a mobile carrier like AT&T, the carrier would put a software lock on your phone so that you could not switch to a competing carrier, sell your phone, or just give it to a friend. An unlocked phone is a more valuable asset than one that’s locked.

Now, customers can legally unlock their carrier-locked phones with no drawbacks. Unlocking doesn’t happen by default, but carriers must give customers a way to unlock them. Depending on the carrier, the unlocking process can be easy or annoying. Either way, it can be done — just contact your provider and ask for the unlock procedure. Note: The carrier won’t unlock your phone until you pay it off.