answer:Locked means that you cannot use the phone with any cell service provider other than the one the device is locked to, in your case Bell. In order to unlock the phone you will most likely have to pay a fee to unlock. The benefit of an unlocked phone is that you have flexibility in providers if you are unhappy with your service, or you travel to other countries and don’t want to pay extortionate roaming charges. The downside of an unlocked phone is you have to pay the full cost for the device upfront, which for the iPhone is quite a bit of cash! An unlocked phone will work on Bell, but you may not get the same value with your minutes/credit/data etc. Functionality will not be overly different between the locked and unlocked phone. Features such as tethering and MMS could be unavailable on Bell phones, you’ll have to check with a sales rep.