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October 13

Would AT&T unlock an AT&T branded phones bought from somewhere else for free? (USA)

Turns out Cricket SIMs don't work even though they use AT&T's network. I bought it from B&H so maybe they'd do it even though I just got it since it's not discounted for the purpose of selling contracts or prepaid service? If they'd do it for free then no need to pay a phone unlocking store to do it. Also, I'm curious, why does B&H buy so many new phones that they take 2-4 years to get rid of them? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 06:44, 13 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

The service providers brand their devices because they want to earn back the discount they gave you on the phone they sold you by forcing you to use their overprized service with it. Why should they unlock that trap and on top for free? Naturally they themselves get a discount on a contract to buy large quantities of Manufacturer x's Phone y#. When they start to sell off products for cheap obviously they bought more than they could sell - tho they may still making money if their own discount was big.

Check out the internet on how to unlock phones. For most popular hardware there are socalled "jailbrake" procedures to get "root" aka full access and then delete the branding. --Kharon (talk) 20:27, 13 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

How was it discounted? It was cheaper unlocked on online stores. Not amazon.com or walmart.com big but not eBay either. And it came out 36 months ago, they should just let bygones be bygones :) (There's a law in America that if your contact's over they have to unlock it for free or 1 year (prepaid) but B&H doesn't have any cell service to sell) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 21:24, 13 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

If it's not on contract, I think they're required to unlock it. (Thanks Obama!)

In practice, if you didn't get it from them, they'll probably make you jump through hoops to prove it's not on contract, and that it's not stolen, so bring any paperwork you have when you go.

ApLundell (talk) 22:32, 13 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Check the link on your response. It states that YOU can unlock your phone. It dies not require the service provider to unlock it.

The "Unlocking Consumer Choice" act repealed a Copyright Office ruling that made it illegal to unlock (aka jailbreak) a cell phone. So, AT&T is not "required" to unlock your phone for you. In fact, there is no reason that any carrier must unlock any phone ever. They aren't selling that service. You can download some virus-laden hack from India or China and unlock your own phone at your own risk and then take it to any carrier you like. That is the point of the act. While carriers can trap you with a contract, they cannot trap you with hardware. 71.85.51.150 (talk) 20:19, 14 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

You're right about the act but I'm not convinced about the "there is no reason that any carrier must unlock any phone ever" part. The CTIA (organization) Consumer Code for Wireless Service [1] does require that devices are unlocked if certain conditions are met. There's a lot of confusing statements out there about this. As I understand it, signing the code is voluntary but compliance is sort of compulsory if you sign it and all major US carriers have done so. (It's described as a voluntary commitment on the CTIA site.) I believe the FCC did push for this (and other things), so it was to some extent a case of either self-regulate or we'll do it for you, as often happens with these sort of things [2] [3] although I don't know enough about the situation in the US to say the carriers wouldn't have done it otherwise. (Of course any regulations could simply be overturned by the next administration, and it may be possible certain administrations are just going to let it be if the carriers basically ignore their voluntary commitments.) Nil Einne (talk) 05:17, 15 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Fairly confused by this question. If you're thinking of a specific device, is there some reason you can't just follow the instructions at the website helpful titled AT&T Wireless Consumer Device Unlock Request - ATT.com? If you do that on step 1 [4] there is a device eligibility requirements link (but it's JS so no direct link).

It does require that the device is out of contract etc, but I don't see that you need evidence for this. I presume AT&T data keeping isn't that crap so most of the time they can tell by the phone IMEI. (If for some reason their records disagree with what you believe, then your records may help.) It doesn't even require you're an AT&T customer although I'm pretty sure the phone must have actually been locked for AT&T (i.e. if someone else locked it to AT&T for some random reason, they probably won't be able to help). If it's a prepaid phone it does need to have been used on AT&T for 6 months. There are some other details but these seem to be the key ones, notably no where does it say you need to have directly purchased the phone from AT&T.

Technically they can "deny any unlock request that it concludes would result in an abuse of this policy" so they could just randomly deny your request, but I find it unlikely they'll consistently do this for a single person requesting their phone be unlocked. (I guess if there was something dodgy about how B&H got the phones or how they sold them or something.)

If you appear to meet the requirements and you try to use the website but it fails, then you can try and find out more. If you don't, it seems to me to be a moot point. BTW, if you are a customer with an online account other than following the above link this [5] seems to suggest you can check via your account.

Nil Einne (talk) 05:00, 15 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, I only skimmed some page about how to unlock for each carrier and it implied you have an account with them so I wasn't too optimistic about if the link would work if you don't (not since 2009 in fact). In the end there wasn't even red tape just "AT&T Wireless customer? yes or no" I guess they might accept a photo of the receipt if they ask for proof I didn't steal it. Sorry for the sloppy grammar, fixed. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:13, 15 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]

And it's approved, yay. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 18:26, 15 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]