Leo picked up a Pixel, feeling the weight of the glass and metal. Sarah showed him how to check the specs for CDMA band support right on the box. For the first time in years, Leo felt like he wasn't stuck in the past. He bought the phone, popped in his card, and watched the signal bars climb to full strength before he even left the store. He walked out into the sunlight, finally connected to the modern world without leaving his roots behind.

The blue-shirted employee at Best Buy, a patient tech enthusiast named Sarah, approached him with a smile. Leo explained his predicament: he needed a powerhouse that wouldn't tie him down to a single network but would definitely work back home.

Sarah led him to the sleek display of unlocked devices. She pointed toward the Google Pixel and the latest Samsung Galaxy models. She explained that these "universal" unlocked versions were built with the necessary radios to hop between GSM and CDMA technology seamlessly.

Leo stood in the middle of the electronics aisle, clutching a weathered SIM card like a lucky charm. He had just moved from a rural town where only CDMA towers reached the valleys, and his old flip phone had finally surrendered to a cracked screen. He needed something modern, but it had to be unlocked and compatible with his specific carrier's legacy bands.