Do You Know the Difference Between OEM vs. Carrier Mobiles?

Well, if you don't, please do not feel you're ignorant.  You and millions of other Americans join the club of the wireless illiterate that find themselves in this position out of no fault of your own, but rather of the tricky carriers that operate in the States.  Unlike many other countries' carriers, the U.S. carriers have lock their phones making it impossible for you to use them accross the board with their competitors.  At the center of this all out fierce war to "lock your dollar" to themselves, is you, the customer, who just got cheated of your wireless freedom!  Why continue to be a victim of these vicious corporate entities?  There is Celluloco.com to the rescue!

Understanding the type of mobile you are buying is critical nowadays if you want to save dollars in roaming when traveling or simply want to change carriers overnight.  To help you become a wireless connaisseur, we present you with 3 possible "mobile purchasing scenarios" so that you can grasp where you are in relation to where we would like you to be:

The weekend is here and you are browsing through the Sunday Newspaper and you decide to clip out that ONE CENT cellular phone coupon to use at your local T-Mobile store for a free CARRIER ENDORSED MOBILE (like the ones you see on TV all the time at the nads of starts like Catherine Zeta Jones). STOP !!!.  This is the biggest ONE CENT mistake you'll ever make in your lifetime.  It is the one cent "gift" that will require of you to stay married to that carrier's service for a period of at least one year, the standard length of time on a service contract required to be signed to enjoy your one cent "gift" whereby you'll sign to give them your lovely dollars every month for a locked phone that you can't use anywhere else but with them.... it sounds more the "Alcatraz Telecom Gift" from which you can never escape!  Now, every time you hear on the news that another carrier has just came out with a monthly plan that is 50% less than what you are paying you cannot even touch it!  You are doomed with your carrier like a bad wife draining your pockets throughout a never ending sour divorce.  Who wants that?  Wait, it gets better. When you travel outside of the U.S. you will BE FORCED to use your carrier's SIM card inside your phone since it will not allow any others to register.  This translates into a roaming bill you cannot escape from whereas if those locks weren't there, you could easily change the SIM card for a local prepaid one where incoming call will be free (unlike the U.S.), no reaming fees will ever be assessed and calls back to the U.S. will be a 1/3 of what your U.S. carrier charges you!  This one cent gift is starting to look like a real expense and no investment.  In a nutshell, you just got screwed with endless bills you can't run away from and you got nothing to show for them, not even a descent phone! Still want your ONE CENT gift?  Naaaaah.

Ok, you smartened up and stopped your Sunday's newspaper's clippings.  You swore to yourself, your wife, kids, parrots, dogs and everyone else and their grandmother that you would never again sign that darn Sprint agreement again just to get that great looking free phone!  You do some reading on the internet and find that the way out of your wireless misery is to buy an unlocked mobile.  Good that is a great revelation, one you should be proud of...but wait... you find a site like Celluloco.com only to get more confused by terms like OEM, factory unlocked....Mother of Christ you say, what to do now?  Understanding the right terminology is key to everything.  Whenever you visit any site that offers you an unlocked GSM mobile for sale, the first question in my mind that should ring a bell is whether that is a CARRIER OR FACTORY UNLOCKED mobile they are offering you.  Most sites offer the first, CARRIER UNLOCKED.  This mobile has been unlocked "in-house" style, often by pirated software that most likely will even void your warranty on that mobile... Another drawback is that they will ALWAYS REMAIN HARDLOCKED IN THEIR DATA PORTION which is something 99% of all sites trading GSM never readily disclose to you.  No matter if you enter the correct IP settings of your provider of choice for browser log in via WAP or via GPRS, it will always try to connect via T-Zones in case of T-Mobile Carrier Unlocked phone, via mLife in case of an AT&T Carrier Unlocked phone, well you get the picture!  A good advice to avoid all of these problems would be to always search FACTORY UNLOCKED alternative to whatever model of phone you have found as CARRIER UNLOCKED.  The only exception to this advice will be when you will bump into models of mobiles out there that only exist in the CARRIER UNLOCKED version such as Samsung SGH-S105,v205 and P400...for those you will have no choice but to by CARRIER UNLOCKED.

OEM.  Remember that this  sacred 3 letter terminology of the trade will save you headaches, money and time wasted with carriers!  Congratulations!  You have read until far to find out that you have mastered the expertise of Master Celluloco and that you are now ready to buy the right type of mobile: a OEM FACTORY UNLOCKED!  To reward you for your reading, we'll give you 3 good reasons why we know this is the best purchase you can make:

• OEM FACTORY UNLOCKED mobiles are the only ones that are full unlocked at every level of voice and data transmission.  In plain English, this means to you that this a cellular that will allow you to insert any carrier's SIM card inside and will let you talk as well as log on the net(WAP & GPRS) and send files (audio and video-EMS/MMS) using that carrier's IP browser configurations.
• OEM FACTORY UNLOCKED mobiles are the only ones that allow you the freedom you need when you want to depart your current provider and retain services of a competitor while in the middle of that stinky year contract.  Not only will you have an INVESTMENT in hands that works in every GSM carrier, but best of all, of that you don't have to put inside the drawer or put it on eBay since you have no use it for it anylonger.  You can use it!
• OEM FACTORY UNLOCKED mobiles are the only ones that accept any SIM card from any GSM provider when you are overseas and provide you with both voice and data services.  You will find this extremely useful when in Europe and Asia, where mobile technology is so far more advanced than the U.S. and you can buy a prepaid SIM card in denominations of 10-200 units and get both voice and data, a single phone number that you can travel with throughout the entire continent (cross-countries) and one that allows you to receive incoming calls for FREE unlike the U.S. (we know all of you would love that one!).  Prepaid SIM cards can be found even at Kiosques at the airport as you land in Paris, Rome, London or Tokyo.  They're like buying cigarettes overseas!  You will be assigned a new phone number within seconds of insertion of your prepaid SIM card and you can call anyone back in the States and tell them they can find you at that number at anytime at any country in that continent!  Now we're talking advancement!