I’ve been responding to so many questions on various forums lately about unlocked GSM phones, that I thought it’s time to make sense of it all for those that don’t understand or have misconceptions about these devices.

The most common questions I’ve seen has been ”Is the phone I bought locked, can I unlock it, what’s the difference between locked and unlocked and what do you mean by factory unlocked? ”Okay, let’s start from the first question and move down the list.

The majority of cellphone customers over the years (I’ve been one since 1987 – yes, they were big, heavy and expensive to use) would walk into a store with a branded name, choose a phone, sign a 2-3 year agreement, in some cases also drop a deposit, and you’re locked in and ready to enter the world or mobile calling.  What’s incredible is that this same formula, a 25+ year old formula is still standard today.  Sure, phones have come a long long way in 25 years, but to most people nothing has changed when it comes to buying your phone.  However, for those who know about MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) and being able to BYOP (Bring Your Own Phone) to the party, the cost of the phone, features and service can save you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars a year – and no contract is required.

Now, once you’ve discovered an MVNO you like with say a $10 a month talk/text plan, the next step (if your current phone is out of contract) is to get it unlocked or buy an unlocked phone.  You see a lot of these advertised on EBay and other sites. Basically, these are phones that were either used or unused, locked to a specific contract carrier and through software circumvention they’ve been unlocked or released from their carrier specific lock and now you can insert a SIM card from an MVNO.  These phones will only accept 1 SIM card, could still have internal restrictions and in some rare cases be locked out of a network based on the IMEI number.  There is also no guarantee that the phone will operate outside of the US if you intend to travel with the phone and use a SIM from another country.

So how do you go straight to a great and inexpensive MVNO plan without the hassle of unlocking a phone or risking a used/unused unlocked GSM phone? That’s where YIPPZ comes in. All of the smartphones and Android phones we sell are manufactured unlocked.  They’ve never been locked to any carrier, they accept 2 or more SIM cards, they’ll work anywhere in the world using any GSM network and the phone is totally yours.  No contracts to deal with, no geographical limitations, no mail-in rebates, no one cares about your credit, and in the case of Android – no software restrictions.

To most people, the concept of purchasing a new, let’s say Never-Locked rather than Unlocked phone is very new.  You’ll never see these phones at a major brand cellphone store because they’re business is to give the phone away, literally free to you, and hold you into a multi-year contract.  The concept of having a US SIM card in your phone, travelling to another country and purchasing a second SIM card at the airport vending machine, and using it while you’re there then tossing it when you leave sounds absolutely insane to most people.  To those with a factory unlocked multi-SIM GSM phone, this makes perfect sense.

The new world of a no commitment service with the complete freedom to choose a mobile phone and add 1, 2 or 4 service providers in any country, while using only 1 phone is a reality that I never saw coming back in 1987.