I need a phone unlock procedure

AT&T is becoming horrible in the States too. Tried to unlock a hand-me-down 3Gs and they fought the request tooth and nail until I used the old owner's name. The phone is beyond paid off.

Not sure about Androids yet but I'll get a glimpse of that sooner or later. I can usually get the code within seconds on those if they're old enough and I don't need the account holder's name.

@nick No wonder they do that, if carriers have big control over smartphone sales the market gets twisted and the more used phones they can keep out of the market the better are the chances they can sell new ones. People help quite a bit too as they easily forget to put through a simple unlock request after they finish paying off and often they don't even think about the Apple ID removal since they are so hot about buying the latest gadget.

@arbaman well I'm not going to forget to unlock that old phone even if it's going to be a while (or possibly never) use it as a phone. Even if someone else paid it off. I hope it was a new employee who was trying to appease someone... I'd rather get it done so I know I'm set for the day I need it as a phone.

I'm one of those who refuses to rent a phone for $XX for years and would rather pay for it in one lump sum or get a dirt cheap 6s/SE (or newer) and then unlock it if it was previously subsidized. I'm not going to pay $800+ for a phone (plus the carrier's price hike, if they do it) AND do it over 2.5-3 years. This new phone subsidy model is a ripoff at best.

@nick Don't tell me..I almost never paid for anything new all my life, let out clothes and a few other things, a couple of Macs used for work, domestic appliances and things of the sort. I didn't care when companies I worked for in the past paid for a new car or phone, as it better suited their bills apparently, but for my personal needs a 2/3 years old smartphone does the job perfectly..I just want it to have a good battery and to work nicely ;)

I still use a G5 Plus. It's only now that the Pixel 3a is out I'm looking into it. Motorola/Lenovo lost me after they delayed multiple security updates leaving the phone behind multiple times.

Yeah I can unlock the bootloader and put a custom ROM on, but I shouldn't need to.