Completely off topic question.......

[davidhk129]

I need to know for sure about " unlocked " smartphone.

My understanding is.........
with an unlocked smartphone (A), I can insert the sim card I have been using on another activated smartphone (B), and I can start using smartphone (A) without additional activation.

Is the right ?
What if the unlocked smartphone is purchased from USA and I am in Canada. Will that make any difference ?
Will different make and model make any difference ?
I am using phone card on my smartphone. Does that make any difference ?

 

[clifford_cooley]

Please understand I am by far not an expert on phones, but this is what I think I understand.

It all depends on the frequencies the phone and carrier uses. It is my understanding (I don't know for sure), a locked phone is a phone that is locked to a specific set of purchased frequencies that entitles only that carrier to use. But even then there may not be an unlocked phone that supports all frequencies around the world. I couldn't say whether or not Canada and the US uses the same general frequencies.

What you should do is find out which frequencies your carrier uses and purchase a phone that supports those range of frequencies. If the phone is unlocked it will list supported frequencies instead of a specific carrier.

 

[Trouble]

My understanding is.........
with an unlocked smartphone (A), I can insert the sim card I have been using on another activated smartphone (B), and I can start using smartphone (A) without additional activation.

Is the right ?

Yep..... that's right. You should be able to use your SIM in an unlocked smartphone without any problem.... to make a call

However, if you want to use some of the additional functionality that is usually available from the SIM provider's network, like..... anything above 2G (edge network connection) certain messaging functions that require an APN configured properly for that network, and a host of other features and functions, like wireless calling, etc., then.....

You have to know the specs on your SIM provider's network what band they use for the various upper level connections like 3G, 4G, and LTE for instances here is a link to my Tmobile carrier's spectrum.
https://support.t-mobile.com/docs/DOC-4988

I purchased an unlocked smartphone from China a while back. Great specs, nice phone but the chipset that is had is not compatible with Tmobile so all I get is Edge Network (2G).
Wireless features work great as long as I'm close to a wireless network but cellular broadband data sucks at 2G.

So personally, I'd stay away unless you have spec'd it out and know that it meets the criteria to function on your provider's network.

 

[davidhk129]

OK.
Thank you to BOTH of you.