Question Unlocking a verizon phone?

[keninsc]

I am not sure this is the right place to ask
I have two Samsung S23 phones that I found myself having to pay for when I quit Verizon and changed carriers.
They are apparently locked to Verizon.
I don't know if they have any real value, although only in use for 90 days.
If I wanted to unlock them for use on other networks how can I do that?

 

[VidJunky]

Welcome to Android Central forums. Verizon has a very clear policy on this. Typically they don't unlock pay as you go devices until they are paid off. It can take up to 60 days for these devices to show unlocked after pay off. On the other hand, if the devices were bought out right they naturally become unlocked after 2 or 3 billing cycles. This is the same for bring your own device plans, where the device will appear locked until the user successfully completes the 2 or 3 billing cycles.

Are the devices paid off?

Is your Verizon account paid in full?

If the answer to either of those is NO you're out of luck until you take care of your commitments to Verizon. If the answer to both is YES and they are still not transferable you can contact Verizon, or have your new carrier contact them which most usually will, and ask them to unlock them for transfer.

 

[keninsc]

The account is paid in full and I paid for the phones too.
I got disgusted with their lack of customer support.
After nearly 20 years and a minimum use plan all of the sudden the wife'snew phone went nuts and was exceeding our total month allowance for data in 3 days.
The offered no support, just wanted to sell more data. No help whatsoever.
I went with another carrier and only one phone.
I have returned the old phones to factory defaults to get rid of account numbers and such.
I guess I will call Verizon

 

[VidJunky]

Oh I get it. I tried to quit too. Left for almost a year and couldn't take the horrible coverage of the new carrier in comparison to Big Red and caved. In the meantime who ever you are trying to switch to should be able to clear this up for you. If it's only been 90 days they should be close to just naturally unlocking through their system because they way they explain it, this is an automatic thing.

Is the new carrier telling you they can't get the devices unlocked? Is it some little company like Boost or Q-Tech? Are they trying to get you to do a trade or buy new devices?

 

[keninsc]

We only had the new contract in force for 120 days when I bailed. I thought I would have to return the phones and did not realize I had to pay for them.
They may not have any real value, I don't know.
It has been just less than 60 days now since I disconnected the Verizon account.
Am I understanding that after a period of time that Verizon will unlock the phones anyway?
And, before I knew I had to pay for the phones with Verizon, I got another s23 from the new carrier.

 

[keninsc]

I will have to give them a call.
I hope I get better results than the lack of customer support that I got when we had the problem!

 

[VidJunky]

Sorry for this late reply but what was your outcome? Yes if you stay on contract with Verizon the phones naturally unlock as a condition of their service. When you leave as long as the devices are paid in full, no outstanding moneys are owed, and the time limit is reached the devices should be unlocked. Was this your findings?

 

[keninsc]

Been lazy frankly and have not called Verizon to get the phones unlocked.
I will do that shortly and then I can sell the phones for whatever they will bring.
With Xmas coming I think that trying to sell them right now might be tough anyway.

 

[keninsc]

OK, I finally called them, it took forever to get them to answer the phone.
The told me the phones are unlocked .
So why does Verizon show when I turn them on?
I am confused.

 

[mustang7757]

OK, I finally called them, it took forever to get them to answer the phone.
The told me the phones are unlocked .
So why does Verizon show when I turn them on?
I am confused.

You tried a different carrier Sim?

 

[B. Diddy]

OK, I finally called them, it took forever to get them to answer the phone.
The told me the phones are unlocked .
So why does Verizon show when I turn them on?
I am confused.

Unlocked means that you can use them on other carrier networks besides Verizon's. But the boot animation will still show Verizon because that's part of the firmware.

Sometimes, with certain carriers, once you insert their SIM card, some carrier-specific information will automatically be downloaded, which might include a new boot animation. In some instances, the phone might even become carrier-locked to that new carrier -- T-Mobile has been known to do this.

 

[keninsc]

I will take one of the phones to T-Mobile in the near future and ask them if they are unlocked just to make sure.
I have not tried a different sim card at this time.

 

[VidJunky]

You said you bought the device from Verizon so yeah they have their stamp on it, locked, unlocked or on the market because it has their firmware built in. I noticed with my unlocked devices directly from Samsung still say Verizon in the notification panel. It said AT&T with we switched and said Verizon again when we switched back. That is branding from the SIM card but if it splashes Verizon on start up that is firmware built into the device. You used to be able to have your carrier flash firmware for their network which would change this but I'm not sure if anyone still does that and I have no idea how you might do that if your carrier doesn't have a brick and mortar store.

It has been a while but talking about this reminded me of a post I saw, oh wow so long ago that I can't even fathom a guess, where the poster asked how to get their device to say their current carrier's name. They just kept saying over and over but every time I restart the device it says... but why?

 

[keninsc]

Just never been through this stuff before.
I got stuck paying for both phones when I got disgusted with Verizon Customer Support.
We got the new phones and a couple of months later all of the sudden my wife's phone was using data like crazy. It could eat up our plan for data in 3 days all of the sudden.
In 20 years with Verizon we never had more than the minimum plan as we don't use the phones much at all. They did not care.
When I called Verizon all the clowns that answered the phones would say it that I needed to increase my data allowance.

 

[VidJunky]

Wish you had found us then. We might have been able to help you diagnose the issue. Couldn't help with the bill but we should have been able to figure out why it was happing and what was going on. Yeah companies don't care about longevity or loyalty that's why they offer all of these deep discounts, special rates and deals to new customers and increase rates or try to upsell existing ones.

 

[keninsc]

I was so mad at their lack of response that I did not care what it was going to cost me. Verizon and I were through!