AT&T: We Will Unlock Your Phone Once Your Contract Is Up

Buster Heine (12:44 pm PDT, Mar 8th)

There’s been a lot of noise lately surrounding smartphone unlocking. On October 28, 2012, the Library of Congress said it was going to be illegal to unlock your smartphone starting on January 26, 2013.

Since then, Obama has stepped in and said that’s totally not fair. And then a few legislators have brought up bills to make sure people can unlock their smartphones without facing criminal charges. Now AT&T says it wants to be perfectly clear that they don’t really want you to go to jail for unlocking your smartphone.

Earlier today, AT&T told customers that they will unlock their smartphones if a customer’s account is in good standing and has no unpaid balance; and who has fulfilled his or her service agreement.

Sounds like a pretty fair arraignment. AT&T even has a website that allows iPhone customers to submit their unlock requests online. The only catch for AT&T unlocking your smartphone is they say they have to get the unlock code from the manufacturer, so if they can’t get it, tough luck.

Source AT&T

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http://twitter.com/grelca grace
They’ve been doing this for a while. They unlocked my iPhone 4 last summer after my contract was up.
- lucascott
  Yep. And legally will continue to do so. The law isn’t about such things but Phil”s “I unlock your phone” company
  - Chris Kerrigan
    Regardless, it’s still a completely ludicrous ruling. The phone is my personal device. I’m not leasing or renting it from my carrier, and thus I should be able to do whatever the heck I please with it.
    - lucascott
      That’s basically my point. The time has come for phones to be sold unlocked from day one and carriers to lock us in with good service etc
zviivz
I don’t understand this. Why lock a phone when you’ve already signed a 2 year contract? Is this a subtle way to trick those who are clueless?
- lucascott
  its to help enforce your contract. If your phone is unlocked then you could just walk away to another carrier and just stop paying your bill, or pay off your device.
  That said, I still think that the time has more than come to sell phones unlocked. Just dump the subsidies and sell them full price. Offer a payment program if you like. But separate from the service rates.
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Freeland/752478050 David Freeland
    Why?
    Unlocked phones are already available. I don’t mind the contract and I enjoy paying $400+ less for my phone.
    If you don’t like the contract, buy the unlocked phone. The issue here is that I want my phone unlocked after I have fulfilled my contract terms.
    - Chris Kerrigan
      Except for the fact that not every phone is readily available unlocked.
    - lucascott
      And when that contract is up you call the carrier. They will unlock your phone without need for rooting/jailbreaking and risking destroying your phone like these services do
RaptorOO7
But AT&T says on their site you need to only be in good standing, have no unpaid balance and be active for 60 days they say so here: http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB414532&cv=820&title=What%20are%20the%20eligibility%20requirements%20for%20unlocking%20iPhone%3F#fbid=ubKzrBAKEwO and my co-worker called in today and spent nearly 30 minutes dsicussing this factor with a CSR at AT&T. They even said we don’t like to unlock iPhone’s because people will leave for another carrier. Well no duh.
What I would like to see is CDMA carriers be forced to take another CDMA carriers hardware regardless of serial # (Verizon, Sprint you hear that).
- lucascott
  It could be done. My cousin is on Verizon and busted his iPhone. He said when he got his replacement he noticed that the tech had to pick Verizon or sprint when setting it up. The hardware was the same.
http://twitter.com/davester13 D R
Of course, you are automatically re-upped for another 1 or 2 year contract as the old one expires…
- lucascott
  No you aren’t. Your contract is extended when you buy another phone on subsidy. NO other time
IhaveID
When I think back about my dealings with AT&T & Apple it still infuriates me.
Long story short; about 2 years ago my son (living in the US) gave me (living in Finland) his fully paid for (and completed contract) iPhone; it even had a few months warranty on it because it had been replaced during the contract.
I talked to AT&T reps and Apple reps on numerous occasions asking to have the phone unlocked so I could use it in the EU. AT&T flatly refused to unlock it because it was against their policy; I even proved to them I lived in Helsinki and they still wouldn’t do it.
I asked them if the phone was paid off, “yes it is”.
Is the account in good standing? “yes it is”
Am I now legally the owner of the phone? “Yes you are”
Can you unlock MY PHONE? “No we can’t”!!
(They did offer to let me sign up for their international service. How generous)
Every time I talked to Apple customer service in the US and the EU I got the same run around. Their excuse was that AT&T had the locking codes and they couldn’t get them.
(I still don’t believe Apple can’t unlock their own products)
The Apple customer service rep was sympathetic but couldn’t help me. He went so far as to tell me that I would have to use an alternative method for unlocking the phone, which amounts to jail breaking the phone. Even after explaining to him that the phone was under warranty and unlocking it using an “alternative method” will invalidate the warranty all they would say is “sorry we can’t help you”.
Finally I went to a Finnish phone store and asked them if they could unlock the phone. They said they would be happy to do it, but AT&T would have to send them the unlock codes. I called AT&T again with that information and they still refused.
By the way, in Finland & I believe most of the EU, when your phone is paid off, it is automatically unlocked.
As far as I’m concerned, I will never ever use AT&T if I move back to the States, & I will never own another iPhone. They can both kma.
Randy Hinbjorg
Can anybody help me with this. When I renewed my contract I got the S3. So is this the same ruling for my Galaxy S2? Can I ask to unlock my S2 now that I upgraded to my S3?

About the author

Buster Heine is Cult of Android's Social Media Editor. Hailing from Roswell, New Mexico, but now spending his days in Phoenix, Arizona, he wastes most of his time eating burritos and reading spanish romance novels. Twitter: @bst3r.

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Posted in Android, News | Tagged: at&t, iPhone, Obama, Smartphone, unlocking |