Moto Hell - The Motorola Modding Community

I spent a lot of time today reading websites and law articles (boring) about cell phones unlocking and stuff like that... On topic: Is unlocking mobile phones illegal or not?

It looks to be a big and common misconception, and the mobile phone companies (unsurprisingly) aren't keen to dispel. The confusion arises because unlocking and unblocking are often mixed up, yet mean different things.

Unlocking is 100% legal (for sure in USA and Bulgaria). It just means making the phone work with any Sim card. It is your consumer right to have your handset unlocked. The networks have to provide you with an unlock code if you request it.

Unblocking is illegal. This is the practice of making a phone work again after it's been blocked by the networks, usually as a result of its being reported lost or stolen. Unsurprisingly, It is thoroughly illegal and should not be attempted.

But what about the cell phone warranty?

While it's not illegal, unlocking your phone WILL invalidate its warranty in most cases. Thus do think twice if you're still in the warranty period and have a super-expensive handset; while it's possible to 're-lock' some phones, this shouldn't be relied upon.


How is in your country?

Here, in Guatemala are the same laws, you can unlock your phone, but unblock its illegal, but the problem is that no one service provider gives the subsidy code, i tried many times, but no results, so thats why i use Moto, to unlock it and use it with any sim

Unlock a subsidy phone is illegal here... :( but people dont really care about that... :)

I guess as soon as the forum is in legal place (USA) we can share info about it?!?

In India,there is nothing like Operator-Locked phones..