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If your phone is locked to a network, it is legal to sell. You can sell your network-locked phone online at Swift Tech Buy as long as it's legally yours, even if you owe money on your phone contract.
You'll also want to unlock your iPhone before selling it. A locked phone can only work on a certain carrier's network, and buyers may want to use your device with a different service.
There are a couple of benefits to purchasing a locked device. First, it is generally sold at a discounted price. By having you agree to stay on their network, the carrier subsidizes a portion of the cost (or bundles it into your monthly subscription rate). Also, locked phones prevent theft.
When a handset is locked it means it will only work with the provider that you bought it from. If your phone is locked it won't automatically become unlocked when your contract expires with your provider. You'll have to specifically ask your carrier to unlock it.
Private buyers may be reluctant to buy phones with a bad ESN or IMEI, especially if they don't know how to unblock it or switch carriers. Despite this, it is possible to sell a phone with a bad IMEI or ESN. While the offers are typically lower, a few online buyback stores will buy blocked phones.
If the phone is locked, it can be used only on the carrier it's locked to. That could make a big difference to you when you decide to purchase a used phone. Keep in mind that the unlocked phone may not work completely the same on another carrier network because of different technologies.
You should be able to get your phone unlocked by your provider for free, And if you got your phone recently, it should already be unlocked. An unlocked phone means you should be able to switch SIM cards whenever you want, without having to buy a new phone.
Important: A factory reset erases all your data from your phone. If you're resetting to fix an issue, we recommend first trying other solutions. Learn how to troubleshoot Android issues. To restore your data after you reset your phone, you must enter security info.
If you need to wipe your phone's data for any reason, you can perform a factory reset. This feature will completely erase your personal information and data to make your phone a clean slate. You can also reset the general, network, and accessibility settings on your phone without erasing apps or data.
According to the Federal Communications Commission, however, the carrier must unlock your phone for free after you've fully paid off the device (or coughed up an early termination fee).
It's illegal to sell a lost or stolen phone, so recyclers are duty-bound to cooperate with law enforcement here. Only ever sell a gadget that is truly yours to sell.
Carriers, upon request, will unlock mobile wireless devices no later than one year after initial activation, consistent with reasonable time, payment, or usage requirements.
Services like these will typically cost you anywhere from $50 to $150 per unlock code. You only have to unlock your phone once, but each device must be unlocked individually. Once your Galaxy phone is unlocked, you should be able to use SIM cards from any carrier in any country.
Yes, it is legal to unlock phones. More importantly, the FCC has mandated that all carriers should unlock phones for their consumers for free if a consumer so desires. That said, you need to know whether your phone can be unlocked. The FCC isn't giving you a free pass to con the carriers.
For starters, locked devices usually cost less than unlocked devices. That's because wireless network carriers subsidize the retail cost of phones by guaranteeing that you'll stick with them for the duration of the contract, like two years.
If the cell phone is locked, it means that it will only work on one specific network. Consequently, if you insert a SIM card that is from a different carrier, it will simply not work.
Is your smartphone (or mobile internet-capable tablet) locked to one single carrier? If so, it's carrier-locked. But what if you want to use a SIM card from another carrier (or network)? The answer is that you'll need to unlock your phone.
If you're buying a used phone, make sure it is unlocked first. Carriers will often only unlock phones associated with accounts in "good standing," which means the person selling you the phone needs to request the unlock before canceling their service or selling it to you.
On Android and iOS, you can wipe your phone's data remotely by using the “Find My” app. Follow the prompt for locking your phone, but then choose the “erase phone” option. Erasing your phone's data will protect you against identity theft.
Stolen mobiles often are quickly resold on online reselling sites like Gumtree, Preloved, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or Kijiji. Many purchasers have no idea they have bought a stolen item.
They will try to wipe out the data including photos, videos, documents, audios, etc. from stolen iPhones for resale. Thieves know several techniques to erase everything from the stolen phone. Plus, thieves are also capable of tricking the buyer that stolen iPhone is clean and unlocked.
According to the claims of major U.S. wireless carriers, unlocking a phone bought after January 26 without your carrier's permission violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) whether the phone is under contract or not. In a way, this is not as bad as it sounds.
A locked phone is only compatible with one carrier or network provider, such as T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T. On the other hand, an unlocked phone is not locked exclusively to one network provider, and it's compatible with different carriers.