Cingular Phones

When you buy a mobile phone from Cingular, they are going to lock their phone internally so that only calls processed through the Cingular network will be received by the unit. If you wish to change to another service provider you are going to have to perform what is called a Cingular unlock. There is no worry about the legal aspects of doing this. Unless your contract specifies that Cingular retains ownership of the phone, you are free to unlock it. It is your property. Once you unlock your Cingular phone, you are going to be able to take advantage of any special deals being offered by competing companies. It is also going increase the resale value of the unit.
When you are ready to perform the unlock, you are going to have to acquire the unlock code. There are a large number of websites that specialize in Cingular unlock codes and they can provide the code for your individual model. You need to be prepared to pay for the code, but the price is not excessive. You can take a little bit of time and shop around for the best deal. Once you are provided with the code, it is a simple matter of typing it into the mobile phone via the keypad. This is a distinct advantage of the Cingular phones. Other phones often require hooking your phone to your computer via a USB cable and downloading the unlocking software.
Once you have typed in the code, you will usually receive a message from your phone that lets you know it is now unlocked, but if this is not the case; there is an alternative way to check. Each unit has what is called a SIM card that identifies the phone and the service provider. You will need to borrow a SIM card from someone with a cell phone that is connected to a different service and install it into your phone. If it recognizes the new SIM card you will know it is unlocked.
It is a good idea to record the unlock code once you receive it, and to store it in a safe place. It is possible to relock phones via remote signals, and although this is not done often, you are not going to want to pay twice for the unlock code in the event it does occur. Once you have finished the unlock process, you are free to use whatever service you prefer, and will have a more valuable unit should you wish to sell it at a later date.