Trying to buy a used cell phone on craigslist..what does locked or unlocked mean?

Locked means the cell phone can only be used for the provider for which it was originally produced for, unlocked means you could use it with another provider using the same type of service.

Regardless of if it is locked or unlocked you could not use a cell phone on a different type of network (such as a CDMA phone on a GSM plan aka Verizon vs. AT&T or Bell vs Rogers)

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Locked cellular telephones are locked to a particular service. this suggests you will no longer be able to run the telephone on a diverse service's community by swapping cellular telephones. very nearly all cellular telephones bought interior the U.S. are locked to att or t-cellular. those telephones could be unlocked by typing in a particular code. the different form of locked telephones are for verizon and sprint. Neither service's telephones could be unlocked simply by fact the device's hardware will no longer be able to be swapped or changed to paintings on something that it hasn't been programmed. many times unlocked cellular telephones are greater costly simply by fact they could paintings on any gsm service international. If the telephone you're searching for is for the service that's for, then procuring an unlocked telephone isn't well worth it. If the service you wan't to run the telephone on isn't the single the telephone is for, you should purchase it unlocked except you're keen to discover the unencumber code.

locked well means the phone is locked and u need pass and unlocked well means the opposite