Buying a new smartphone can be tricky, as there’s just so much out there to choose from. Whether you’re considering buying a swanky new iPhone or you just want something simple and basic to text and talk with, there are a lot of different factors that you need to take into consideration when planning on buying a new phone

One of the things that you’ll need to think about is if you want a phone that is unlocked, or do you not mind only ever using it with one mobile phone network. If you’re not sure whether or not you should be going for an unlocked phone for your next mobile handset, we’ve listed some of the benefits here.

Switch Networks

The best thing about buying an unlocked handset is that it is not ‘locked’ to a particular network, so if you want to change from your current network to another that you’ve seen a better deal on, all you need to do is get a SIM card from the new network and put it in your unlocked phone – it will work straight away! Of course, there are other things to consider when changing network such as how much you have left to pay on your current contract as unfortunately having an unlocked phone won’t make it any cheaper, but the good news is you don’t have to wait to get a new phone if you want to start using a new network provider.

Use Multiple Networks

If you do a lot of travelling either for business or pleasure, you’ve probably found yourself in a number of different areas where the phone signal on your network is very poor, however other networks are getting good reception. This is where unlocked phone handsets come in – they’re a great option for travellers as the ability to use them with any network means that you can take along a number of SIM cards and switch them as and when you need in order to get the best reception.

Be Careful with iPhones

Even if you buy an iPhone that comes as ‘unlocked’, you may find that after using your first SIM card in it, it is no longer an unlocked handset. This is because many iPhones are unlocked by default, but programmed to lock to the network of the first SIM card that is installed in them. You can use an I phone unlocking service in order to combat this or unlock an iPhone that has locked to the network of its SIM card, however, it’s important that you choose a reputable unlocking service to do so – otherwise, it may just lock again straight away to the next SIM that you put in it.

Do you have an unlocked phone? What do you find are the benefits of having a phone that is unlocked rather than a phone that is locked to one specific network?

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