trying to switch carriers, one says they unlocked the phone, "new" carrier says, still locked

Question

wednesdaytgw Author

Level 1

20 points

trying to switch carriers, one says they unlocked the phone, "new" carrier says, still locked

iPhone 13, trying to switch to att from tmobile

going back and forth for HOURs over this

tmobile said the phone "is unlocked"

when att said it isn't (merge call with reps), tmobile said, "well, it may take 24 -48 hours"

tmobile called today, said, "the phone is unlocked"

called att, they can't set up the service, said shows it is still locked

called tmobile again, they said "well, it may take apple a couple days to unlock the phone"

what is going on here?

I can't tell who it is that isn't doing what they should be doing or, isn't being honest with me

but, I know I have spent a couple hours on this

I had problems with the NEW iphone, lots of glitches and apple supposedly rebuilt it

I have a sim card from tmobile, a side effect from neither apple or tmobile handling the situation in a way to reduced the work I had to do

if I curse apple, tmobile and att, will I acquire extra karma?

none of the advertising any of them do show a frazzled senior calling back and forth between them

trying to solve tech problems I hoped to avoid

by paying the pros for service

any ideas how to help them solve this?

thank you

iPhone 13, iOS 17

Posted on Jan 24, 2024 6:02 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 24, 2024 6:19 PM in response to wednesdaytgw

Tmobile is the problem here and you may need to do another conference call with AT&T. Apple has nothing to do with the Carrier Lock on the device, so if that is what TMobile is claiming, they are either uninformed or lying and I'm sure AT&T knows the truth about that as well. AT&T has nothing to gain by misleading you claiming the phone is locked because they would want you on thier service if they could just get Tmobile to unlock the phone.

It may take some amount of time, like less than 24 hours, for the phone to register unlocked on the network after Tmobile does successfully initiate it.

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Answer 2

Bob Timmons

Level 10

189,646 points

Jan 24, 2024 6:16 PM in response to wednesdaytgw

what is going on here? called tmobile again, they said "well, it may take apple a couple days to unlock the phone"

T-Mobile is lying to you.....and making up stuff as well to get you off the phone as quickly as possible.

Apple does not unlock the phone. They can't. Only the carrier can unlock the phone.

If T-Mobile won't unlock the phone, you are stuck with T-Mobile.....at least on that phone. Buy a new phone through the carrier that you want to use, so it will ready to go.

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Answer 3

wednesdaytgw Author

Level 1

20 points

Jan 26, 2024 3:12 PM in response to Kurtosis12

nearly three hours at att trying to deal with t-mob

and that is what I ended up doing

the t-mob guys were on speaker phone, so everyone in the store heard the lies and prevarications

and, I will file complaints

the att people were great

a hefty rebate for my old phone and lesson learned

my only q is, if att can unlock the phone to resell it

why couldn't they do that in the store? they have to rebuild it?

t-mob, was blaming apple right up to the end mixed in with the conflicting information and the manipulation

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Answer 4

Kurtosis12

Level 9

78,782 points

Jan 24, 2024 6:12 PM in response to wednesdaytgw

T-Mobile is notorious for lying about unlocking their phones. Don't hold your breath on them actually unlocking it.

Honestly, if I were you I would either -

Stay with T-Mobile
Buy a new unlocked phone and set it up with the carrier of your choice.

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Answer 5

Jan 24, 2024 7:27 PM in response to wednesdaytgw

wednesdaytgw wrote:

it has been more than 48 hours

dealing their prevarications is one of the reasons I am leaving

thank you, next call, I will demand they escalate the issue,

I had to to do that with the glitchy phone they sold me, new...

what a lie, to say apple isn't unlocking the phone?

too bad our better business bureau has become useless, they used to expose these corrupt utilities

thank you

No problem, I think you will be able to get it resolved. It just takes longer than it should and escalating issues seems to be the norm nowadays. It helps that you are or were a Tmobile customer of the device so they have your account information.

There have been cases where people bought a carrier locked phone and the company refused to unlock it. They would claim that they are unable to provide any account information from the phone for privacy reasons and the person would have no way to prove that the previous owner had met the financial obligations to have the phone unlocked.

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