There are two cases where you might find that you’d need to unlock your iPhone to be able to use it with another carrier provider. The first one is usually when your contract of two years has ended and you have already paid for your phone and package.
In this case, you might want to upgrade and get a new phone with another contract with the same carrier and unlock your old phone for someone else to use, or you need to switch providers to get better service and offers.
The second case is when your contract hasn’t expired, yet you need to switch carriers to get better service and offers. In the second case, unlocking your phone to be able to use it with a different mobile network will not mean that you will stop paying for your contract as you have to cover the cost of the phone and that’s why you have to complete the contract.
Unless, you are willing to pay the early termination fees; in this scenario, you will have to call your provider to give you an estimate on how much would it take to end the contract.
Either way, unlocking your iPhone might seem like a hassle you are better off without. This is when you will need to look for safer and more trusted options if you are trying to unlock your iPhone without risking your security and your mobile’s condition. If you have decided to give any of these websites or third party stores a chance in unlocking your phone, then it’s important that you do some thorough research first.
To help guide you, however, read on to understand what the basic steps to unlocking an iPhone are.
How to Unlock An iPhone?
If you have bought your iPhone from an Apple store, you don’t have to worry about this issue. You can just buy a new SIM card with another provider and pop it in without even restarting your phone.
However, if you have bought your phone with a provider and you get an error message when trying to use another sim card, then you definitely need to unlock your phone first.
These steps will only work if the error you are getting is because of a locked phone. But if you are getting error messages such as “Invalid SIM Card” or “No Card Detected”, then it might be just an error or a glitch.
Contact Your Network Provider
The first thing you need to do is to contact your current mobile network providers whom you bought the handset from. After you contact the customer service, you need to ask for your unlock code or the PUC (personal unblocking code).
If you are out of contract or you covered the cost of the handset, then the company will provide you with the code for free without any problems.
On the other hand, if you are still within your initial contract that you have bought the iPhone with, then the advisor will most likely ask you to pay ETF (early termination fees) that will cover the remaining amount of your contract. Sometimes, advisors can work their way around to get you a discounted amount on your ETF, but it’s not always guaranteed if you are trying to get the unlock code within your contract.
The iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro Max and iPhone 12 Pro Max are the latest models of the iPhone.
Other Options
If you are trying to find a workaround to get out of paying the ETF or calling your network providers, you will likely find more options with third-party websites or stores. These options can be tried at your own risk.
Sometimes, taking the mobile to a phone shop or a third-party provider will be even better in unlocking your phone without the unlock code. This is due to the fact that carrier providers, depending on which one, might refuse to unlock your handset or might try to charge you big bills for simple code.
Before you decide whether you want to call your mobile network provider, a third-party carrier or use the help of some other websites, you need to weigh your pros and cons.
Going with your provider if they are not requesting any additional money on something that you have paid off and they are not refusing this simple process for any reason is the absolute best one.
However, if you have any problems with your carrier, and you have done your research on any other method that you have decided to try, then you will wait for a period of time, usually it’s only 24 hours before you receive the unlock code. After you have received your unlock code, you will be able to use any provider SIM card without any error messages.
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