Comparison Of A Factory Free Or Unlocked Cell Phone
A few days after the new regulation that forces mobile operators to offer unlocked cell phones and to unlock LG Optimus that were previously sold, there is still some confusion when using the words “unlocked” and without knowing that there are differences with the “factory free”.
In this article, we will try to clear all the doubts that are on this topic, the differences and all that will help when buying a new mobile device.
Factory free
It is just as the manufacturer distributes it, with a clean operating system, without blocking any operator, logos, etc. It can be used anywhere in the world and with any operator, as long as it is compatible with their networks. Software and support updates are at the manufacturer’s expense.
Unlocked
For the case, they are the same, since they allow to avoid the restriction that includes the equipment to be used with any operator, although there are two ways of unlocking or releasing a mobile device.
- Unlocking by Operator
It is the legal way to remove the restriction and be able to use it with other operators, normally it has to take a period of time to do it, but in Peru, this modality will disappear.
- Unlocking by Third Parties
It is usually carried out with stolen or lost equipment that was reported and entered a blacklist by IMEI. Therefore, you should check your IMEI. Unlocking can fail at any time, being the least secure and most unstable.
In both cases, software and support updates depend on the original operator and are not the same as a free one at the factory.
In practice, many stores and specialized businesses use the same words to refer to the same thing which are often confusing. The correct thing should be that they use “Factory Free” as long as that is the real origin. It is also common for internet pages to use “Unlock Factory”.
