You’ve heard the terms “unlocked phone.” Sometimes they’re called “loose.” Basically, it’s a phone without service or anyway tied into any specific provider. People who buy these phones pay a lot for them — full price, up to $700. So are they insane or do they just know something the rest of the world hasn’t yet discovered.
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\nOf course, it’s the latter.<\/p>\n
An unlocked phone may be expensive, but the service you can get is cheap and without a contract.<\/p>\n
As an example, say you buy a Galaxy Note 4 phone and a 2-year contract at Verizon. The total is $299 for the phone and $35 for activation. Add in $70+40 per month, or $110 × 24 months. That’s $299 + $35 + $2,640 (the contract), for a total of $2,974 for the phone and two years service.<\/p>\n
Now buy an unlocked Galaxy Note 4 for $699. Pay $6 for a SIM card. Add in $40 a month for service comparable to Verizon’s 2-year contract. Multiply $40 × 24 and you get $960. So $699 + $6 + $960 equals a total of $1,665 for two year’s service with the same phone.<\/p>\n
Still reading? I’m not. The bottom line is that when you go rogue, you save about $1,300 over two years.<\/p>\n
So is the unlocked phone worth it?<\/p>\n
You bet<\/em>!<\/p>\n To go the unlocked route you need three things:<\/p>\n 1. An unlocked or available phone You can buy unlocked phones on Amazon or from a number of retailers. You can also use any phone that’s out of a contract. Check with your cellular provider to see whether or not your phone is available for porting to another service.<\/p>\n The SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card is what identifies your phone to the cellular service. You must obtain a SIM card for your unlocked phone, one that is not only compatible with the phone’s cellular radio (CDMA or GSM) but in a proper SIM card size: Standard, Micro, or Nano.<\/p>\n The best place to obtain the SIM card is from a cellular service, which is usually a third party reseller of one of the national services. They buy a block of time and access from AT&T or Verizon or T-Mobile, and then they resell it to you at a deep discount.<\/p>\n
\n2. A SIM card
\n3. Cellular service<\/p>\n