Cell Phones are locked by Network service Providers such as MTN, AT &T, Vodafone, 3 mobile, Celtel, Verizon wireless, Sprint, Cingular, etc to discourage subscribers (You and I) from hopping (changing at will) between different Network Service Providers and to also prevent subscribers from perpetrating fraud. Every locked Cell Phone must have been a pre-paid or postpaid handset sold and bought at a discounted or subsidized price from the Network service Provider to which the handset was locked.