How Cdma Cell Phone Unlocking Works

Unlocking CDMA Phones

CDMA phones can be unlocked technically. But not in the same way most people thinking of GSM/TDMA and iDEN unlocking. CDMA mobile phones don't use a SIM card, they're "hardwired" to the provider that sells them. examples are: Verizion Wireless CDMA Mobile Phones or Sprint-Nextel and their CDMA Cell phones as well as other smaller carriers. Because of this they can only be unlocked by the provider with a special code that they absolutely will not give out over the phone unless you know someone on the inside.

As opposed to a At&t Wireless (formally Cingular), T-Mobile or Cellular One customer who can call up these GSM Carriers and get a unlock code over the phone. So He/She can use the cell phone over sea's (Note the cell phone much have the right frequency built in to be used over sea's) More About Gsm Cell Phone Frequencies . GSM Cell Phones can most of the time be unlocked remotely. While a CDMA phones require a bit of 'reprogramming' to unlock which can also be done remotely BUT it's not as simple as calling your provider and getting a code over the phone.

Why CDMA phones aren't unlocked

It is impractical to Unlock CDMA cellPhones. Sprint wont activate a non-Sprint Phone, so an unlocked CDMA phone would be useless to a Sprint Customer. Verizon will sometimes activate other CDMA provider's unlocked cell phones. i've witnessed this. But if you are an average joe with no connection in Verizion they will probably give you a hard time, try to sell you one of their cell phones etc. Although if a potential customer goes into a Verizon authorized Dealer Store and not an Official Verizion Store they may be easier on the customer. Their main goal is to sell Verizon service. Even if they lose money on the phone they make commission on the services plan and extra they can convince the customer to buy. Most of the time if an unlocked CDMA phone is activated with a provider from other than who it was made for a lot of the features will not work correctly or unless someone with quite a bit of technical knowledge reprograms the phone to your provider's specifications.

Note: Spread-spectrum techniques (used in CDMA) are methods by which energy generated at one or more discrete frequencies is deliberately spread or distributed in time or frequency domains. This is done for a variety of reasons, including the establishment of secure communications, increasing resistance to natural interference and jamming, and to prevent detection.

What is CDMA Technology? How does it work? What is a CDMA Unlocked Phone?

How Cdma Works

CDMA is an Acronym for Code-Division Multiple Access, a digital cellular technology that uses spread-spectrum techniques. Unlike competing systems, such as GSM, that use TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), CDMA does not assign a specific frequency to each user. Instead, every channel uses the full available spectrum. Individual conversations are encoded with a pseudo-random digital sequence (truly random digital sequence isn't possible). CDMA is suppose to consistently provides better capacity for voice and data communications than other commercial mobile technologies, allowing more subscribers to connect at any given time, and it is the common platform on which 3G technologies are built (today may GSM phones also come with 3G technology).

CDMA is a military technology that was first used during World War II by English allies to foil German attempts at jamming transmissions. The allies decided to transmit over several frequencies, instead of one, making it difficult for the Germans to pick up the complete signal. Because Qualcomm created communications chips for CDMA technology, it was privy to the classified information. Once the information became public, Qualcomm claimed patents on the technology and became the first to commercialize it.

In the United States the best known mobile carriers who uses CDMA technology are Sprint, Verizon Boost Mobile, Altell at al. get it now Verizon is what some "verizonied" friends have told me. Verizon cellular or Verizon mobile technology sounds great but when I had it a couple of years ago I didn’t get great single on my Verizon lg or my audiovox cell phones. I had to constantly leave my house and stand in my backyard to talk to friends this left a bitter taste in my mouth when it comes to Verizon service but most of my friends who have it and live in "normal places" has they tell me have no problem with Verizon it works for them great. I've not written Verizon off completely after all my experience was at least 10 years ago and I m sure they've improved in my area. So if I start having problems with my currently company I will give them a try one more time (pre-paid of course) to test their service.