“If you ask most cell phone users what they understand the term ‘unlocked phone’ to mean, they will likely tell you that it is exactly what it says: that you can use the phone on any cell carrier anywhere,” Marc Weber Tobias reports for Forbes. “Well, this is not exactly true with the iPhone 4S.”

“Last month I purchased an iPhone 4S from Best Buy Mobile for use on my Verizon account. I paid full retail so there would be no restrictions from Verizon with regard to unlocking the handset,” Tobias reports. “I contacted technical support before leaving for Europe to have the phone unlocked. Verizon stated that I would have to meet certain conditions in order to unlock the phone.”

Tobias reports, “It is somewhat perplexing that this particular carrier seems to think they can regulate the use of your phone on foreign carriers that are not allied with Verizon, especially where prepaid SIM cards are used. I especially find this condition, below, rather perplexing because it indicates that Verizon maintains control over your phone and usage even if you are not using their network… What consumers need to understand is that there are actually four different versions of the iPhone 4S: Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, and Apple. Only the Apple phone, available from their stores or on-line, is fully unlocked and can be used on any carrier.”

Read more in the full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Arline M." and "Ellis D." for the heads up.]