Remedial cell phone 101

OK, I have a really old phone. Same one I've had the last, oh, I don't know, seven years. My daughter calls it a Jesus phone (same kind Jesus used, haha). I've decided it's time to get a new one, but I'm finding the waters a little murky.

So I've figured out that there are GSM phones and CDMA phones, which has to do with what type of network they're configured to access. If I get an unlocked phone, then I should be able to set it up to subscribe to any carrier on its type of network, right? And if that's correct, then how do I go about doing so?

 

You can get unlocked phones but you will pay more for one. Best bet is to figure out what company you want to do business with, then figure out which of their phones is best for you.