You can also unlock it if it's had more than $25 in refills for basic phones or $100 in refills for smartphones. T-Mobile will unlock your phone but restricts you to two unlock codes per line of service per 12 months.įor prepaid plans, you can unlock your phone after 12 months of service. For prepaid or GoPhone accounts with AT&T, you can unlock your phone after six months of service. With AT&T, you can avoid calling customer service and use its Device Unlock Portal to unlock your phone.Īlthough the law states that a carrier can't lock prepaid phone customers more more than 12 months, AT&T cuts that service time in half. Verizon's 3G Prepaid Phone-in-the-Box phones can be unlocked after 12 months of service. If you have a locked 3G World Device phone with Verizon, you can use unlock code 000000 or 123456 or call 80 for help. In other words: If you have a recent iPhone with 4G LTE service, you will not need to unlock your phone. We do not lock our 3G devices, other than our non-iPhone 3G World Devices.' Verizon states on its Device Unlocking Policy page, 'We do not lock our 4G LTE devices, and no code is needed to program them for use with another carrier. If you can make a call or send a text with the new SIM card, then your phone is unlocked. If you aren't up to the task of navigating customer service and you have a GSM phone (uses a SIM card), you could swap in a SIM card from another carrier to see if it works. The sure-fire way to check to see if your phone is unlocked is to call your current carrier and ask. Verizon, for example, largely sells unlocked phones. You may not need to request your carrier to unlock your phone. Find out if your phone is already unlocked Before we get to the carriers, however, you should check to see if your phone is locked. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon - handle unlock requests. We'll cover how the big four carriers in the U.S. In addition, the phone you seek to unlock must not be reported lost or stolen and your account must be in good standing. If you have a prepaid phone, carriers can't lock you in for more than 12 months. Your phone needs to be fully paid for, whether you have a completed installment plan or come to the end of a two-year contract. Unlocking your phone is legal, but some restrictions, as they say, may apply. Happy with your current phone but not your current network? Thanks to the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, it's perfectly legal to unlock your phone and switch to a new carrier.

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