And those rules can vary quite a bit from company to company. Even then, the company reserves the right to deny any request. Sprint , you must demonstrate that you've used the phone on the network for at least 50 days, purchased your phone in full, paid your bills, and aren't working with a device that has been reported lost or stolen.
If your device was launched before , Sprint won't help. The company doesn't support unlocking on older phones. Verizon , your job here is easy.
Most devices are unlocked when you've paid for them, and all 4G LTE phones are unlocked. T-Mobile , you must prove that you've used the phone on the network for at least 40 days, purchased your phone, and paid your bills.
You'll also need to offer proof of purchase. These are specific rules, and clearly, they vary from one company to another. But cellular companies have agreed to print up their requirements and make them available to customers. They might be part of your welcome package of paperwork that came with your phone, or you might find rules on the company website. Snapping up an online phone can save you quite a bit of money, but some devices you buy online come with their locks intact.
If you try to use them, you'll see strange warning signs about incompatibility and the need to contact a carrier. It's frustrating, but with a little legwork and patience, you can get to the right solution. Visit your carrier first, and bring any paperwork from your purchase. That could be enough to persuade the company to unlock your phone.
For example, Sprint will unlock eligible phones if you can provide the name or the full account number of the former owner. These bits of data prove that you bought the phone through appropriate channels, and if the phone is eligible for the unlock program, the company can tackle this task for you at no charge.
But be aware: Not all companies will do the same. Some carriers are concerned about fraud, and they don't want liability associated with unlocking a phone for the wrong person. Your account might need to meet requirements for unlocking. After you submit the request, it might take a few days to complete.
Contact your carrier to check the status of your unlock request. After your carrier confirms that they unlocked your iPhone, follow the steps below.
Insert the new SIM card. Your device will activate. After you make a backup, erase your iPhone. As is usual, deployed military personnel can also get their device unlocked earlier by presenting their deployment papers, as long as their account has no past-due balance. If it sounds like your device might fall under that, you can contact UScellular on from a UScellular device or on another device.
There are, of course, folks who have prepaid and paid-in-full devices. Unlocking these is, for the most part, relatively straightforward. While there was already a generalized unlocking policy, the Cellular Telephone Industries Association CTIA put forth a set of standardized unlocking policies for cell phones and tablets.
The agreed-upon terms require carriers to unlock a phone paid in full, or a prepaid phone in service for a year, if a subscriber makes such a request. Cellular providers also have to alert subscribers when their handsets are eligible for an unlock. Finally, carriers must unlock phones for U. While some modern phones are built for that kind of compatibility, others are still only designed for the network capabilities and features of a particular carrier.
Most carriers offer an online Bring Your Own Phone tool to see if your unlocked device will work well on their network. Third-party unlocking services, by and large, differ only in name. Most of them work in the same way: You make your way to a website, provide payment in exchange for an unlock code, and wait for the code to arrive via email. But like everything out there, third-party services can be risky. Make sure to check websites like Trustpilot before making any decisions and especially before sending over any cash.
Reputable unlocking services often have customer support lines to assist with code issues. They typically deliver codes quickly, too. Offset the cost by combining your purchase with the latest deal from your mobile carrier — the good news is that you can shop around with no strings. Retailers such as Amazon and Walmart also sell unlocked phones, but often with high upfront costs. When all is said and done, the best option for most people is usually purchasing an unlocked phone rather than figuring out how to unlock one.
First of all, it saves you the hassle of getting it unlocked. While this doesn't work in mobile phone companies' favour, all of the UK's major networks — including Vodafone, Three, EE and O2 — do let you unlock and some don't even charge.
Naturally, there are caveats; typically all networks impose limitations on the unlocking process — time after activation to unlock, cost of unlocking and how long it will take to carry out.
We'll explain how to do it on all the UK's major networks, so that you can finally do away with dubious-looking high street unlocking services — anything they'll do you can do yourself for a fraction of the cost, if not for free.
Some mobile networks permit their customers to buy unlocked phones from the get-go. GiffGaff is one such example, and has become a household name accordingly; they let you buy a phone outright and then pay monthly for data, texts and minutes — or you can pay monthly for the phone in the form of a loan.
Either way, you get your phone unlocked and you're not trapped in any form of contract aside from with a loan, which you must repay and can switch provider at any time. Three also sells all of its phones unlocked, although if you get a phone on contract you're unlikely to want to swap your SIM out. Unless, of course, you have major problems with its service, want to sell your phone or give it to a family member on a different network.
Virgin Mobile sells its contract phones unlocked, too, as well as most of its pay-as-you-go handsets.
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