It probably told you that the SIM was incompatible, or something like that. Because the phone is SIM-locked to a different carrier than the one you were using. (QLink uses TMobile's network, so that's the carrier you were on, and it's the carrier in the SIM card.) And it would be the carrier that locked the other phone that would have to give you the unlock code - if you had a plan with them, and the phone was paid off. (If you got the phone from someone else, that person has to request the unlock code.)