Submitted 1 day ago by fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
https://9to5google.com/2026/01/20/verizon-device-unlock-policy-365-day/
As a reminder to everyone:
If you can afford it, you can 100% just… Buy a phone online and use it with your carrier. Make sure it’s carrier unlocked, but yeah. All but one of my phones (bought in an emergency) was bought this way, and I’ve been through… 5 or 6? carriers and never had an issue
Assuming they let you BYOD. I know T-Mobile does because that’s how I do it.
I have been doing this on Verizon for several years now without a problem… I don’t even tell him I just buy it unlocked phone and switch SIM cards It works perfectly fine.
I haven’t heard of a carrier that doesn’t, at least personally. Then again, I’ve mostly used smaller carriers. Republic Wireless, FreedomPop, Mint, etc. I did use TMo for a while on a prepaid plan up until I got tired of the texting not working half the time
AT&T is the one with the device-specific whitelist. Verizon doesn’t have a specific model white/blacklist but it does have lower compatibility because of the bands they support.
I bought a refurbished Pixel 6 Pro, carrier unlocked, for around $250. I also switched to an MVNO called Tello, and couldn’t be happier. If I should need to switch carriers, it’s going to be to another MVNO. I’m done with the major carriers.
Not with AT&T. Bought a Pixel 9 Pro Fold on a huge sale from Google themselves, but because AT&T doesn’t sell it, they couldn’t provision it correctly on their network. Went through all the troubleshooting, they sent me a new SIM even. Finally I did my own research online, found a reddit post where someone talked to an employee on some internal AT&T team that said they probably won’t ever support it properly since they don’t sell it.
So that was frustrating.
Oh that’s gross as shit. Seems they have a general BYOD plan, but I guess that only applies if they have that model of phone.
Didn’t even realize that could be an issue, given I’ve used a PinePhone of all things on my carrier and it worked as fine as one could expect mobile Linux to work
Make sure it’s carrier unlocked, but yeah.
I’m all for buying my own phones and not getting one bundled with service. However, many times getting a carrier unlocked phone carries a price premium. As long as you’re fine sticking with your current carrier, they can even be carrier locked and work just fine. I agree though, ownership of your phone outside of your carrier’s billing is the right way to go.
Well, I wouldn’t call it’s premium. Unlocked is closer to MSRP, whereas carrier locked is being subsidized by the carrier and whatever requirements they have in place. You’ll usually end up paying more in the long run then if you went with unlocked and a MVNO.
However, many times getting a carrier unlocked phone carries a price premium.
That’s a good point. I’ve started advocating for buying phones lightly used (1-2 generations behind). Until just a couple of months ago, I was rocking a phone from 2019 with no issues. When I upgraded recently, I bought a Pixel 9 from a reseller selling one with an open box and a slight scuff on the bezel (that gets covered by a case anyway). Now I have an almost new phone that works like a dream for almost 75% of what I would get buying it directly from Google.
Huh, I’d never actually noticed they were higher price. Most of the time I’m buying the phone from the manufacturer’s website, and I at least didn’t see carrier locked phones on Motorola’s website when I got my last phone. Does make sense, though, given carriers will hope to subsidize some of the cost of the phone through the plan itself
I’m going to suggest swappa.com for buying unlocked phones a couple generations back at a cheap price. I’ve been using an s20 I think I picked up for like 150 bucks the last couple years without a problem… And I just picked up a Pixel 7 to put graphene on so I can you know not have Google up my ass all the time.
It’s all significantly cheaper and all you have to do is put your SIM card in the new phone as long as it’s unlocked you’re good.
I’m more than willing to try any alternatives to swapa it’s just the only company that I’ve used thus far outside of an eBay situation.
I really like swappa for the ability to return the phone to the seller for refund.
In theory eBay also allows this, but since it’s a core feature of the swappa marketplace that it gives me comfort that the phone is listed in good faith and they haven’t misrepresented the phone.
I suggest it to anyone I know looking for a phone
Used swappa many times, can confirm it was good at least a few years ago.
Ebay is full of used flagships that cost very little. With enshitification, many of the older flagships are better than what you could get by buying new for the same price.
Also, fuck contracts. I’ve been using prepaid plans for ages.
Also, if you don’t care about phone calls, you can skip the carrier altogether and just use wifi.
And if you do care you can use Google voice (I know, I know, but not aware of a better alternative?) without a carrier.
If you can afford it
It’s cheaper, no? You just go on ebay or any other used marketplace.
I know it’s a slightly higher initial cost (depending on the phone), but phones last years, you’ll be saving way more over those years.
This is the whole being poor keeps you poor thing.
You can’t afford $200-300 outright, but you can afford the monthly plan that costs $20 more but ends up costing $450 instead of $250 .
You can’t afford the $300 winter boots, so you buy the $100 ones that fall apart in 2 seasons instead if lasting a decade.
Kinda depends. If you buy the phone outright it’s usually pretty similar in price, but most people finance, and then it is cheaper to buy separately because interest hits like a truck :D
I know a lot of people who can’t necessarily afford $200 minimum to drop on a phone, though, and that’s for one that really starts to struggle after 2 years to do anything other than the most basic call/text functionality
Not from us and cannot understand why smartphone needs to be bundled with network operators. Those are 2 separate entities and there is no need for one to be dependent on another. You buy a phone you buy a sim.
If you were already planning on using a carrier, buying a locked phone is cheaper.
Like for a extremely frugal example:
A Samsung Galaxy A15 is $200, a locked version can be as low as $60. Still the same 5 year security updates (presumably, unless the carrier fucks with it).
But if you were gonna use X carrier from the start, then then it doesn’t cost you extra. You can still use that cheap plan same as if you BYOD. And it used to unlock in 60 days, so before this policy took effect, you could just switch carriers after 2 months.
A lot of the time it ends up cheaper to shop a separate plan and buy an unlocked device outright.
The major carrier data plans are severely overpriced.
This is stupid. Part of the agreement to allow them to buy a certain spectrum was that they unlocked sims after 60 days.
What’s the point of all this if rules don’t matter?
For a long time, you couldn’t really buy an unlocked phone straight from the manufacturer in the US. The closest thing was importing one is with the correct network bands (GSM), but that also kind of went away when VoLTE became a requirement.
Relatively recently, some manufacturers started offering unlocked devices sold straight from them, but it wasn’t until Apple started doing it with the iPhone that it became a mass-appeal/well known thing.
So overall it’s because:
Nowadays more people are aware about buying an unlocked phone instead of a carrier firmware/carrier locked device. But in the US I’d say most people only know about iPhones being offered unlocked.
They should be banned from having any unlocking restrictions after they were found to have violated the initial FCC mandates placed on them. Absolutely disgraceful. No accountability.
There’s a VERY important distinction here.
The ‘unlock’ that they are talking about here is to unlock your phone’s SIM to be able to be used with another carrier’s service.
This does not mean that the bootloader is unlocked and you will not be able to replace the OS. You will still be stuck with Verizon’s spyware-laden release of Android even when you move to a new carrier.
So, buy your devices directly from the manufacturer and make sure that the phone supports the ability to unlock (and re-lock!) the bootloader. If you need a recommendation, get a current generation Pixel and install GrapheneOS or if you won’t give up Google Play and dependent apps, LineageOS.
Imagine buying a PC and you can only use it with Comcast or att internet for the first year, manufactured trash
Trust me, pc manufacturers and Comcast are imagining this.
Not sure why anyone is still using Verizon.
US Mobile has access to their networks and it’s cheaper. Same service. Been with USM for nearly 2 years now. My parents and siblings all switched over too. Moved our numbers over with zero issues.
Verizon not in your area? Cool, USM also has access to T-Mobile and ATT.
People need to learn to shop around, especially in the current economy we’re in.
The part that gets me is that the unlock is not automatic. I don’t like the fact that it is now for a year but now also Verizon has the upper hand to just refuse the unlock to anyone they don’t like.
This is a big deal because this will hit low end customers the hardest. People who shop at Dollar General for their phones.
I remember when relatively speedy device unlocks were mandated. And before then, contracts would basically include the price of the phone in them. Now we have to pay extra for the phone, and it’s still not ours. Very cool.
Phones used to be “free” but your bill was higher to cover it. Your bill stayed the same whether you took the “free” phone or not. Now your bill is lower, but buying a phone through the carrier brings it back up. That’s been my experience at least.
ThAnK gOd FoR cApItAlIsM /s
There’s options though for those that don’t want a carrier locked device.
Last time I bought an unlocked phone a bunch of stuff like Wi-Fi calling didn’t work.
Usually wifi calling doesn’t work out of the box but if you google you can find the solution in no time
I hear ya but honestly you wouldn’t have the service let alone the devices without it.
Workers built the phone and the infrastructure not capitalism.
I jumped in the hot tub with my phone in my pocket last summer and needed a phone and couldn’t really wait for one to ship from a random eBay or swappa seller so I had to go to Best Buy.
They had nothing carrier unlocked that was newer than the 128GB iPhone 15 for $800, refurbished. All else they had was a couple old pixels and galaxies and they weren’t much cheaper.
Policies like impact the poor folks who can’t afford the cash for phones that are unlocked and are stuck paying high monthly service rates.
You swappa.com or some other way to buy unlocked phones and never have to deal with Verizon’s BS again. You can have the service with no phone issues.
So if I bought one before that date I am not held to this?
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Thanks republicans, very pro consumer, very cool.
pdxfed@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Who didn’t need this in their life? I’m so glad the CFPB has also been disemboweled.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It isn’t a gun or a fetus so they don’t care.
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 1 day ago
You just made me think of this, has anyone slapped a cell modem onto a gun yet? That sounds like something that would happen here
architect@thelemmy.club 1 day ago
They’ll be so happy to tell you how it’s actually your fault for voting for democrats and you better believe them OR ELSE.
tomiant@piefed.social 1 day ago
If you’re not feeling the freedom and amazing positive effects yet, it’s because it’s coming. Juuust over the next hill. Alllways over the next hill.