

You'll lose your standard US phone number for the duration of the trip, though. While traveling abroad, you can use either a global SIM card or a local carrier's SIM card, which can offer lower rates than roaming with your US carrier. In the US, that means not just the "big three" carriers and their sub-brands like Cricket and Metro, but smaller virtual carriers that use their networks like H2O Wireless, Simple Mobile, Ting, US Mobile, and many others mentioned in our story on the best cheap phone plans. The simplest reason to unlock your phone is to use it on another network. 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. If you're buying a used phone, make sure it is unlocked first. All iPhones back to the iPhone 5s generation, and all Samsung Galaxy phones back to the Galaxy S6 generation, should at least somewhat work on all the US carriers, as long as they have been unlocked. From the carriers' perspective, it's mostly a way to stop customers from leaving before they've paid out their installment plan.Īs the importance of 2G and 3G networks has faded in favor of 4G LTE, US phones have become more compatible with multiple networks. Most of the phones sold by carriers in the US are "locked," meaning they can't be taken to another carrier without being unlocked. Mobile phone carriers don't want you to leave, especially if they helped pay for your phone.

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