Question about unlocking

I have a iPhone I bought at a ma and pa shop I'm just wondering if it's unlocked just incase I ever decide to switch my carrier or sell it how can I tell if it's unlocked and if it's not unlocked how can I unlock it for free is there programs I can get online for it

Unless you paid a fortune for it, it's probably not unlocked. You can test this buy putting a friend's SIM card from a different carrier than yours in your phone. Probably won't work unless you're very lucky indeed.

As far as I know there is NO way to unlock an iPhone 4, 4S or 5 that has been updated to iOS 5 or higher. Someone feel free to correct me on this if I'm wrong, but I haven't seen anything about it.

But all is not lost. If the phone is locked to a carrier, they MAY unlock it for you if you ask them (some may charge a small fee). Presumably the phone is a) not stolen and b) done with a contract from the previous owner so they may be able to help you.

so I found out it is unlocked now im on 4.1 and want to update to 4.3 then jailbreak it how do I go about doing it or is there anything else I am missing before all this

I can't really recommend jailbreaking. Not enough "killer apps" to make it worthwhile (and the good ones all cost money of course), you have to re-do it again EVERY time a new OS update comes out, and it's getting increasingly difficult to get working untethered jb's for newer versions of the OS.

Congrats on it being unlocked, but being two full iOS upgrades behind is going to suck in terms of using new apps before much longer ...

Personally I'd suggest you count your good fortune at having it unlocked and leave it at that.

Couldn't agree more. I don't see any benefit in jailbreaking. With as many app the Apple store offers - many free- , why jailbreak? Just use your iPhone and enjoy it as is. Leave well enough alone.

I had my iOS5 JB and with all the updates to the iOS i decided to not jb anymore as Apple was starting to bring in the Apps i had previously wanted to JB for. Now with iOS 6 i have no need for the jb at all.