Why you should buy Verizon unlocked smartphones.
Unlike other US carriers, Verizon unlocks their prepaid and postpaid devices after 60 days, automatically. This is very reassuring for consumers who are turning to second hand smartphones more and more. The other two major carriers in the US, AT&T and T-Mobile don’t automatically unlock their devices. What does that mean?
Let’s say you find a great deal on a used iPhone 13 and you want to connect it to your MetroPcs account. You take the phone into one of the stores and the representative runs the imei number. The number comes back as locked, meaning it’s still locked to the network it was originally on. But you were told when you bought it that it was unlocked. For example, the previous owner used it on AT&T and everything was paid off. So, it’s technically an unlocked phone, right?
Yes, but unfortunately, AT&T doesn’t automatically unlock it after it’s paid off. You actually have to contact them and ask them to have it unlocked. This request may take several days to complete. That’s why buying an unlocked phone from Verizon is ready to be connected as soon as the 60 days are up.
Several years ago, congress passed a law requiring companies to unlock phones after the contract was completed and it was paid off. But even today, companies like AT&T try to find reasons not to unlock devices. It’s possible for them to keep a paid off phone locked to their network because there are still other devices that haven’t been paid off. This happens when a customer has several lines on their plan and some of the devices have been paid off but others haven’t. So they group all the devices together and don’t unlock any of them until they’re all paid off. Even though the oldest phone on the plan was paid in full.
So, when in the market for second hand phones, it’s best to find an unlocked device from Verizon. This way you’re sure that it’s truly unlocked.
