How to Unlock a Blackberry

Unlocking your Blackberry, or altering it so that it can be used with a carrier different than the one you originally signed up with when you purchased the phone, is entirely legal and not incredibly difficult, but it does pose a few challenges that take some extra effort and often additional money to overcome.

Things You'll Need

• Blackberry and accessories
• Manufacturer's code
• Unlocking software (optional)

Instructions

1. Consider your carrier type and the cell phone technology (GSM or CDMA) that your carrier uses. With GSM SIM card technology the SIM card is provided by your carrier with the carrier's information programmed into it, but can be easily switched with another SIM card from another carrier depending on the steps you take to reprogram the phone. With CDMA, the phone itself is pre-programmed with the carrier's information and unlocking the phone may depend entirely on whether the new carrier, instead of requiring that you buy one of their phones along with signing up for their service, is willing to give you the unlock code and reprogram your old phone.

2. Contact the new carrier (or your current one if you are trying to unlock the phone for travel abroad) and/or phone manufacturer if you have a CDMA phone and inquire as to whether they will support the unlocking and reprogramming of your old phone. If you are using a SIM card phone, repeat this step, but inquire instead as to whether they will provide you the manufacturer's unlock code for your Blackberry's serial number (IMEI) and a new SIM card.

3. Purchase the unlock code from a reputable merchant, if all else fails, that specializes in offering these codes. Only purchase a code if the code is sold with unlocking instructions or software (depending on the cell phone technology) for your specific Blackberry model. For example, Insider Solutions not only sells the unlocking codes, but openly provides to the public several methods for unlocking GSM SIM card Blackberry models.