How to Unlock Your AT&T Telephone


Mindy Woodall

Managing Editor, Home Security & Smart Home


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Fix to exit AT&T but desire to take your precious telephone with you? You just need to unlock information technology first. Luckily, AT&T makes information technology pretty piece of cake to unlock your telephone. You don’t even accept to call anyone (unless you desire to).


Before you unlock your phone

Before you can relax into the easy-informal unlocked lifestyle, your phone has to be eligible. Only make certain it meets AT&T’s eligibility requirements earlier you take the next steps.

AT&T’s eligibility requirements

  1. Your contract is upwards (if you had one).
  2. You’ve paid off your phone (if information technology was leased or on a payment plan).
  3. You’ve had your AT&T account for at to the lowest degree sixty days.
  4. Your phone isn’t tied to any other AT&T accounts.
  5. Your phone hasn’t been reported as lost or stolen.

The rules are a footling bit different if you have a prepaid plan. For example, your account has to have been active for at least six months.


How to unlock your AT&T phone

If your phone meets all the unlock criteria, then yous’re good to become. And past get, nosotros mean to submit an online form to have AT&T unlock your phone.

To fill out the form, just go to
AT&T’s unlock page
and follow the instructions. Once you’re washed, you’ll go an email with a link yous have to click to complete the request.

After that, it’s just a waiting game. You lot’ll get another email from AT&T inside a couple of days that will requite y’all instructions on how to officially unlock your phone.

The instructions are a little different depending on the kind of phone yous have. Simply you’ll probably need the SIM menu from your new phone carrier to stop the procedure.


Tin I utilise my AT&T phone with another carrier?

Yes. Merely you should know that not every phone carrier uses the same technology and your AT&T phone might not exercise everything y’all want it to if you choose an incompatible carrier.

Cell phones employ either CDMA or GSM technology. AT&T uses GSM and and so does T-Mobile. Merely if you lot’re hoping to switch to a company like Verizon, Verizon uses CDMA technology, so yous’ll have to bank check if your device volition piece of work with those networks offset.

Not sure which carrier to cull?

It’s tough to know which carrier will price the least money and won’t go out you stranded on a road trip with no phone service or no access to Google Maps. But don’t worry, we’ve reviewed all the major phone carriers to help you pick the all-time one.


FAQs

Is unlocking the same as jailbreaking?

Nope. You unlock your phone because you want to utilise it with another phone carrier, whereas y’all jailbreak your phone considering you want to download shady apps.

Okay, the apps aren’t always shady, but jailbreaking does give you lot access to apps you lot wouldn’t find in your phone’s authorized app shop. Information technology also disables a lot of your phone’southward security features, and so we don’t really recommend it.


Mindy Woodall

Written past

Mindy Woodall

Mindy has been writing about technology for vii years. She covers all things smart home for Reviews.org, and keeps track of the latest robot gadgets. Mindy attended the University of Utah and her work has been featured on the likes of Parents.com, Digital Care, Hostfully, and more.

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