When a consumer typically buys a cell phone, most often it will come "locked", meaning that the phone's hardware is bound to the service provider from which the phone was purchased, and only that software which they support. Unlocked cell phones can be purchased from various outlets, however unless one already knows the advantages of unlocked cell phones and intends to by one, actively seeking it out, a consumer is unlikely to find one. There are a number of advantages to unlocking one's cell phone.

Chief among them is cost. Among the various major service providers, a consumer hasn't much in the way of options when it comes to pricing. Generally speaking, their only option is to go by whatever cost the service provider has set for them, forcing them to, in choosing a service provider, decide between the lesser of evils, as it were. However, unlocking a cell phone allows a user to use it with whichever service provider they choose. This seems circularly illogical until you consider that service providers and cost will alter drastically in various locations, and especially countries.

With unlocked cell phones, a user can select whichever service provider - often local - gives them the best coverage or deal for wherever they happen to be, and also allows them to avoid expensive roaming charges. Another financially related factor is resale price, which drastically increases with unlocked cell phones when you aren't also trying to sell a second-hand ball and chain. Reselling an unlocked cell phone offers the same advantages you had previously taken advantage of to your customer, warranting a bigger price tag - sometimes up to 300% bigger!

Unlocking your cell phone also allows you to use multiple SIM cards at once, essentially making a single unit function like two phones, with two separate configurations of settings and preferences. Practical applications would be using separate SIM cards for work and leisure, or for use between domestic and foreign locations. Dual SIM card adaptability is common in most modern phones and is a very simple process to take advantage of.

A popular reason for unlocking one's cell phone is one of principle. People simply don't like being bound by contract to a major service provider and prefer not to be tethered to contractual obligations citing fine print in the contract bleeding their bank account through hidden fees and cancelation fees. It's your cell phone, you paid money for it, you should be able to use it as you see fit. That's the popular justification for it, and reasonably so, as the core function of a service provider contract is to keep you bound to that company, paying monthly bills that in less than a year will far surpass the amount of money you originally spent on the unit.