Thinking about going on an international trip or changing GSM carriers? Well you'll need to unlock your phone to use it with compatible carriers. Now there are many shady sites that will supposedly give you a subsidy unlock code for your phone. Most of them have a small fee from five to ten dollars, but I don't understand why you would trust such a site. For all you know the company may give you a fake code, and I wouldn't want to take that chance. What most people don't know is that their wireless carrier will give you the code for no cost. Just as long as you have had an active line for at least 90 days and you have your phone's IMEI number. The IMEI number is normally found on the back of your phone under the battery. If not found there you can obtain it by typing *#06# in your phone.
Next if you are a T-Mobile user you just call the customer service number (1-800-937-8997) and request for the subsidy unlock code. They will normally ask if you will be using the phone internationally and you just agree (even if you aren't hehe). And that is it, they will ask for an email address so they can send you the unlock code and you should receive it within 24 hours. Once you have your code, the quickest way to unlock your phone is to put in a sim card from a different carrier and when it starts up it will ask for the subsidy code then.
Now if you have an AT&T phone that you want unlocked the process is very similar. But one thing is that they suggest you have an international roaming feature on your account, to obtain the code. But other than that you just call their customer service (1-800-331-0500) and ask for the subsidy unlock code. I am not experienced with their process, but here is a site where one person explains it in detail: Unlock AT&T Phone. Now if for some reason you are not able to obtain an unlock code for your AT&T phone, I've heard that T-Mobile sometimes unlocks AT&T phones as well, I'm not sure if it is free, but it's worth a try.
I am a T-Mobile customer and just recently unlocked my Razr 2, and the process took around 12 minutes on the phone. I really like this process much better than entrusting a site i've never heard of with my money and maybe even my phone number. I suggest that you try this process before any other one. Thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave them.
