Phone Unlocking Policy Discussion

[Vince]

I went into this trying to get only an international unlock for travel later this year. Figured I'd ask about the domestic in case I want to switch devices later on... and according to the chat rep, they did it. I was quite surprised.

 

To sum it up:

 

"[05:53:21 PM] Darlin S: Awesome your device is now unlocked for domestic use."

 

Either they found a way to force it despite me being under contract, or their attempt won't work despite the "system" saying it did.

 

Apple chat confirmed that they got a request for the international unlock. If the domestic doesn't work, I won't be mad, but it would be cool to have the freedom to test out other prepaid SIMs.

If Apple said they received the request, you should be good with a profile update. The issue Sprint was having was that their unlock requests weren't being received by Apple. I'm sure that bug has been taken care of. Sprint will not DSU your device because the system has checks that it has to go through. It will reject it because of the contractual obligation you still have. The rep probably just worded it wrong for your ISU and had no clue what they were doing. As I've read on various forums, there have been accidental DSU's when a customer was requesting an ISU on their contracted/financed device. Some were lucky, and you might get lucky, too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[burnout8488]

If Apple said they received the request, you should be good with a profile update. The issue Sprint was having was that their unlock requests weren't being received by Apple. I'm sure that bug has been taken care of. Sprint will not DSU your device because the system has checks that it has to go through. It will reject it because of the contractual obligation you still have. The rep probably just worded it wrong for your ISU and had no clue what they were doing. As I've read on various forums, there have been accidental DSU's when a customer was requesting an ISU on their contracted/financed device. Some were lucky, and you might get lucky, too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Gotcha. It sounds like the ISU will go through without a hitch. We did both unlocks separately, ISU first, then they performed the DSU after it was complete. They separated them within the conversation and told me when they were performing both. It sounds like I very well might get lucky on this one. 

[Johnner1999]

If Apple said they received the request, you should be good with a profile update. The issue Sprint was having was that their unlock requests weren't being received by Apple. I'm sure that bug has been taken care of. Sprint will not DSU your device because the system has checks that it has to go through. It will reject it because of the contractual obligation you still have. The rep probably just worded it wrong for your ISU and had no clue what they were doing. As I've read on various forums, there have been accidental DSU's when a customer was requesting an ISU on their contracted/financed device. Some were lucky, and you might get lucky, too.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

 

 

from my past week of talking with some knowledgeable reps (and some very much not trained) okay back on track, the rep can unlock it for domestic use.  BUT as others stated it wont stick... the system once refreshed will show locked....

[kct1975]

Just a quick question...

 

If my Sprint HTC M8 were to be unlocked, would it work on a GSM network?

 

 

As the image below shows, there seem to be Mobile Settings for GSM in addition to the CDMA and LTE.

[gnoj]

Just a quick question...

 

If my Sprint HTC M8 were to be unlocked, would it work on a GSM network?

 

As the image below shows, there seem to be Mobile Settings for GSM in addition to the CDMA and LTE.

Yes. Sprint smartphones have included GSM & W-CDMA radios for a few years now for international roaming, since most of the rest of the world doesn't use CDMA.

 

If it is a domestic GSM network you wish to use the phone with, Sprint's international-only unlock would not be sufficient (domestic MCC-MNC's would continue to be blacklisted within the phone), and you'd have to resort to combing through the XDA forums for a reliable method to make it fully unlocked.

[acadiel]

I had to do a restore on my 4S... it refused to unlock until I did by simply putting a foreign SIM.  Not sure about other models right now; and still waiting on them to do my 5S.  It's failing Sprint's 'financial eligibility check' even though it's on a current postpaid account, and full paid off, because I have a "WeGo" device on an installment plan ($5/mo) on the same account.  Now tell me that isn't a screwed up programming job, there.  Nice job, Sprint.

[Johnner1999]

I had to do a restore on my 4S... it refused to unlock until I did by simply putting a foreign SIM.  Not sure about other models right now; and still waiting on them to do my 5S.  It's failing Sprint's 'financial eligibility check' even though it's on a current postpaid account, and full paid off, because I have a "WeGo" device on an installment plan ($5/mo) on the same account.  Now tell me that isn't a screwed up programming job, there.  Nice job, Sprint.

 

 

i'm sure they will fix it when they have time.... 

[haris163]

I am VERY pleased to report that the international unlock (the request through Sprint went very smoothly) successfully fully unlocked our 4S. In fact, that phone was already on AT&T using one of those sim interface chips that can be found around the net; we just inserted the AT&T sim directly, waited until the phone said "Activation required," entered the iCloud password and that was it! It was a big relief since we thought that we will never see that phone unlocked.

[GoWireless]

Just a quick question...

If my Sprint HTC M8 were to be unlocked, would it work on a GSM network?

As the image below shows, there seem to be Mobile Settings for GSM in addition to the CDMA and LTE.

Yes, except that for the best of my knowledge, Sprint doesn't intend to include the M8 in the pool of devices eligible for a domestic unlock. Also, even if you could unlock it then because (and unlike the iPhone or devices coming out this month or later) previous Sprint devices had very limited support for other carriers' LTE bands, meaning your experience on other carriers might not be that great.

[Vince]

I had to do a restore on my 4S... it refused to unlock until I did by simply putting a foreign SIM. Not sure about other models right now; and still waiting on them to do my 5S. It's failing Sprint's 'financial eligibility check' even though it's on a current postpaid account, and full paid off, because I have a "WeGo" device on an installment plan ($5/mo) on the same account. Now tell me that isn't a screwed up programming job, there. Nice job, Sprint.

You can not have any contract or installment on the line at all. Even if it's s different device, and your iphone was paid in full. This was the trouble I ran into. I had to pay off the old android phone I had there, and wait a week for the installment plan to disappear from their system. People tell me it makes sense, but I just don't see it. I paid for my 6+ out of pocket, but it didn't matter. Their system was rejecting the unlock request every time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[acadiel]

You can not have any contract or installment on the line at all. Even if it's s different device, and your iphone was paid in full. This was the trouble I ran into. I had to pay off the old android phone I had there, and wait a week for the installment plan to disappear from their system. People tell me it makes sense, but I just don't see it. I paid for my 6+ out of pocket, but it didn't matter. Their system was rejecting the unlock request every time.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

From my discussions with their internal team, it's a limitation of the system and the way the developers developed it. It's supposed to be on a device by device basis.

[Vince]

From my discussions with their internal team, it's a limitation of the system and the way the developers developed it. It's supposed to be on a device by device basis.

I'm sure this will get fixed later on. It doesn't seem right or fair.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[acadiel]

I'm sure this will get fixed later on. It doesn't seem right or fair.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

They just called me and said its now unlocked. Will try tossing a T-Mobile SIM in later

 

Very nice and professional. They were awesome. We will see if it works.

[acadiel]

Woot, 5S is done.!

 

[gnoj]

I had to do a restore on my 4S... it refused to unlock until I did by simply putting a foreign SIM. Not sure about other models right now; and still waiting on them to do my 5S. It's failing Sprint's 'financial eligibility check' even though it's on a current postpaid account, and full paid off, because I have a "WeGo" device on an installment plan ($5/mo) on the same account. Now tell me that isn't a screwed up programming job, there. Nice job, Sprint.

In addition to the rough start with processing unlock requests, there are definitely a lot of issues right now with that new "financial eligibility check"- the number of what I hope are false positives (and not an intentional block) is creating massive headaches both in the Sprint IT department and the customer service departments of their MVNO's, who have been given few answers to pass along to customers.

 

There is no reason why an S4 originally purchased *from Ting* (at full price, of course), and subsequently moved to a Sprint postpaid line, should be failing this FEC. If I want to activate that phone on my line with Ting or another MVNO, I should be allowed to do so, regardless of whether I'm currently making payments on another device or am even late on a payment for service (I'm not on either count, for the record).

 

Rolling this system out overnight without a trial period, or at least an easy way to override obvious errors, has damaged what was a very healthy relationship between Sprint and their MVNO's, and I hope Sprint is moving seriously and expeditiously towards a fix.

[Johnner1999]

In addition to the rough start with processing unlock requests, there are definitely a lot of issues right now with that new "financial eligibility check"- the number of what I hope are false positives (and not an intentional block) is creating massive headaches both in the Sprint IT department and the customer service departments of their MVNO's, who have been given few answers to pass along to customers.

 

There is no reason why an S4 originally purchased *from Ting* (at full price, of course), and subsequently moved to a Sprint postpaid line, should be failing this FEC. If I want to activate that phone on my line with Ting or another MVNO, I should be allowed to do so, regardless of whether I'm currently making payments on another device or am even late on a payment for service (I'm not on either count, for the record).

 

Rolling this system out overnight without a trial period, or at least an easy way to override obvious errors, has damaged what was a very healthy relationship between Sprint and their MVNO's, and I hope Sprint is moving seriously and expeditiously towards a fix.

 

 

this can can sound how ever anyone wants to read it -- but this is another example of Sprint being the "we are working on it, for next quarter..." mentality  always seems to be a good valid reason of pushing or delaying or miss communication to customers.  

 

 

do other carriers do it - sure they do but typically at small scale and they test enough prior to a live date. 

 

both of mine are now unlocked -- after almost 10 days.  Of which should have been completed in minutes 

[Boosted20V]

Johnner, your phones are unlocked and you're still pissing and moaning. Shouldn't you be on ATT by now? I'm sure you develop enterprise level software for a living and therefore understand the complexity involved, correct?

[haris163]

This page provides lots of info about the status of your phone for free:

https://imeidata.net/check

This one is for iPhone unlock check:

https://imeidata.net/iphone/unlock-check

[Vince]

This page provides lots of info about the status of your phone for free:

https://imeidata.net/check

This one is for iPhone unlock check:

https://imeidata.net/iphone/unlock-check

This says my phone is locked, so take their information output with a grain of salt.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[derrph]

Has anyone encountered issues unlocking a paid off phone that was replaced at a Apple Store due to a issue?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vince]

Has anyone encountered issues unlocking a paid off phone that was replaced at a Apple Store due to a issue?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Replaced before or after being unlocked?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[dedub]

I thought i read (in this thread?) the unlocks are tied to your apple account?

[derrph]

Replaced before or after being unlocked?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Before

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Vince]

Before

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine was replaced once before I had it unlocked. It didn't matter. Sprint only sees the current, active iPhone on your account.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

[derrph]

Mine was replaced once before I had it unlocked. It didn't matter. Sprint only sees the current, active iPhone on your account.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone 6+

Mines is currently in active but paid off and it was on my main line that is under contract but was told to take it off of there and to call back. I did that and then they said the phone couldn't be unlocked and then I got the request of going to apple but they are rejecting it probably because it's a replacement device and the device needs to be manually unlocked.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk