Difference between activate and unlock?

[MacOSXuser]

What is the difference between activate and unlock?

Activate will need ATT sim card, so if the phone is unlocked I can use any sim card

Does it mean after I activate with ATT sim in iTunes, I can use other sim card to operate the phone?

Do I have to do this every time I restore the phone or just once?

Thanks

 

[gnasher729]

What is the difference between activate and unlock?

Activate will need ATT sim card, so if the phone is unlocked I can use any sim card

Does it mean after I activate with ATT sim in iTunes, I can use other sim card to operate the phone?

Do I have to do this every time I restore the phone or just once?

Thanks

A locked phone can only be activated or operated with the right SIM card, for example AT&T SIM card if it is locked to AT&T; it won't accept any other SIM. An unlocked phone can be activated with any SIM; I don't know whether it can be operated with a different seem or whether it would need to be activated again.

After every restore you need to activate the phone again. It seems that there are hacks that make it possible to activate a phone with the wrong SIM card; these hacks stop working and need to be repeated after restoring the phone.