Before we look at the basics involved in unlocking the Blackberry Curve 8520, it perhaps makes sense to answer a few of the most basic frequently asked questions. While the more tech savvy among you will already be aware of the advantages of unlocking smartphones, others may wonder why you might want to unlock your Blackberry Curve 8520 in the first place. After all, the phone was locked to a specific network for a purpose, right? So when you download a code from giffgaff.com to unlock Blackberry Curve 8520 could you actually be doing something illegal?
Well the answers to these questions are yes: the network locked the phone to try and keep you tied to their contract and pricing plan – and so people unlock their smartphones to access cheaper service deals. And no: using a code to unlock a smartphone is not illegal.
As you will have noticed, buying a new Blackberry Curve 8520 is a lot cheaper if it is supplied by a mobile network along with a new contract, rather than sourced directly from the manufacturer. The network subsidises the phone to entice your custom, and then locks the phone so that it can only work with a sim from that network. This is a way of keeping you in contract, and making monthly contract and service charge instalments, which then pay off the real value of the phone. However, it is actually illegal in the UK to sell a smartphone that cannot be unlocked – to find out more about this look here: http://ask.ofcom.org.uk/help/telephone/unlocking.
While unlocking your phone is not illegal, if you want the network operator who supplied the phone to unlock it for you, you will generally be required to fulfil part of your contract, as specified in the small print. Each mobile network provides different contracts and therefore has different rules about this. Some will provide an unlocking code for a fee after a portion of the contract has expired, while others will insist that you make every scheduled monthly payment for the full life of the contract, after which they will unlock your Blackberry Curve 8520 for free.
However, while you are still under contract with the original network provider, downloading a free code from giffgaff.com to unlock your Blackberry 8520 will allow you to take advantage of cheap sim only deals. This can save a significant sum if you will regularly ‘roam’ with your Blackberry outside of the UK.
So how does the process actually work? Well, as mentioned the unlocking code can be downloaded free of charge, in which case you have a choice of two services, the first will deliver the code within 24 hours, the second you may have to wait between 7-10 days to receive your code. Alternatively, you can pay a small fee, which will result in a code being delivered to you within a couple of hours. In either case, you will need both the IMEI and MEP ID of yourphone to be able to initiate the process, but these are quite easy to obtain – for more information on this, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-ABHUOLuc&feature=youtu.be.
