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[Q] How to unlock phone to use abroad?

Hi.
I'm going abroad on Jan 1 for 12 months and want to get the GSM version Moto X to bring it with me, but I don't know if this can be done.
The options are AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T requires 6 months usage before they unlock, and T-Mobile requires 40 days, of which the last 7 must be in the US. So these are not options.
I then read about various "unlock" services online, but don't know how reliable these are. What are the odds they can unlock my phone, either AT&T or T-Mobile? This link: http: //www .technobuffalo.com/2013/11/14/att-unlock-changes-putting-resellers-out-of-business/ for example claims that there was a change just 1-2 months ago so that it's virtually impossible to unlock AT&T for 3rd parties now. If I buy this phone, I need to be almost 100% certain it's possible to unlock it, or it's not worth taking the risk.
Finally, would it be possible to unlock the phone by rooting it? I understand the bootloader for the T-Mobile version can be unlocked, but have no idea if, and if so how, this helps me.
Thanks in advance.

mxx2 said:
Hi.
I'm going abroad on Jan 1 for 12 months and want to get the GSM version Moto X to bring it with me, but I don't know if this can be done.
The options are AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T requires 6 months usage before they unlock, and T-Mobile requires 40 days, of which the last 7 must be in the US. So these are not options.
I then read about various "unlock" services online, but don't know how reliable these are. What are the odds they can unlock my phone, either AT&T or T-Mobile? This link: http: //www .technobuffalo.com/2013/11/14/att-unlock-changes-putting-resellers-out-of-business/ for example claims that there was a change just 1-2 months ago so that it's virtually impossible to unlock AT&T for 3rd parties now. If I buy this phone, I need to be almost 100% certain it's possible to unlock it, or it's not worth taking the risk.
Finally, would it be possible to unlock the phone by rooting it? I understand the bootloader for the T-Mobile version can be unlocked, but have no idea if, and if so how, this helps me.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many including me have unlocked their phones. I myself had the AT&T model. Sites such as cellunlocker, unlockcode247 get you the code within a couple of days 99% of the time. The 6 months/ 40 days usage only applies if you talk to the carrier CS for the code.
If you dont want to go that route, you could always get the T-Mobile version. Comes SIM unlocked OOTB. So does the DEV Ed.
Rooting does not unlock your phone. Unlocking the BL comes handy if you do a lot of flashing.

I know this doesn't answer your question (since the post above mine does) but the Nexus 5 and Moto G are two nice smartphones that come unlocked. N5 will run you 349, Moto G 179. No contract, unlocked. I prefer the Moto X, but if you want a 100% guarantee, buy an unlocked phone.

anirudh412 said:
Many including me have unlocked their phones. I myself had the AT&T model. Sites such as cellunlocker, unlockcode247 get you the code within a couple of days 99% of the time. The 6 months/ 40 days usage only applies if you talk to the carrier CS for the code.
If you dont want to go that route, you could always get the T-Mobile version. Comes SIM unlocked OOTB. So does the DEV Ed.
Rooting does not unlock your phone. Unlocking the BL comes handy if you do a lot of flashing.
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Click to collapse
Thanks anirudh!
Are you saying that the T-Mobile Moto X without contract is NOT SIM locked to T-Mobile? It would be fantastic if that's the case. Is there an official source? I checked with Motorola a few days ago, and they told me that whatever phone I buy will be SIM locked to the operator, but they might be incorrect?
(Also, when did you unlock your AT&T phone? The article I linked says it became considerably more difficult/impossible just last month, which made me worried.)

BaconDrips said:
the Nexus 5 and Moto G are two nice smartphones that come unlocked. N5 will run you 349, Moto G 179. No contract, unlocked. I prefer the Moto X, but if you want a 100% guarantee, buy an unlocked phone.
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Thanks Bacon. Yeah, I'll fall back to the Nexus 5 if the Moto X doesn't work out.

mxx2 said:
Thanks anirudh!
Are you saying that the T-Mobile Moto X without contract is NOT SIM locked to T-Mobile? It would be fantastic if that's the case. Is there an official source? I checked with Motorola a few days ago, and they told me that whatever phone I buy will be SIM locked to the operator, but they might be incorrect?
(Also, when did you unlock your AT&T phone? The article I linked says it became considerably more difficult/impossible just last month, which made me worried.)
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Click to collapse
mxx2 said:
Thanks Bacon. Yeah, I'll fall back to the Nexus 5 if the Moto X doesn't work out.
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Moto X WILL work out. Even though the N5 is a great phone, I hate the 'bigger is better' race we have going on today. Phones like watches are tools. They go everywhere you do. The X is so much more handy than the N5. Removing the Nav Bar and using LMT makes it even better. This is EXACTLY the phone I was looking to get for so many years.
As for unlocking, I got mine unlocked a week ago. So did plenty of others. There are several threads in the Q&A/ General section on this. If however, you dont want to go that route, get the Dev Edition which comes unlocked. Also the T-Mobile edition. And dont base your decision based on what the CS says. There dont know squat about the X. They told me theres no way T-Mobile BL can be unlocked.

mxx2 said:
Thanks anirudh!
Are you saying that the T-Mobile Moto X without contract is NOT SIM locked to T-Mobile? It would be fantastic if that's the case. Is there an official source? I checked with Motorola a few days ago, and they told me that whatever phone I buy will be SIM locked to the operator, but they might be incorrect?
(Also, when did you unlock your AT&T phone? The article I linked says it became considerably more difficult/impossible just last month, which made me worried.)
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Click to collapse
AFAIK, the Verizon and T-Mobile versions are SIM unlocked. The system version for the T-Mobile version is ghost_row.retail (not ghost_att.ATT or ghost_verizon.Verizon), so there's actually no carrier in the the system version. So, the T-Mobile variant is just a retail version of the phone that has all of the available US GSM bands unlocked. Obviously, some carrier specific LTE bands may not be available, like Verizon's upper 700MHz band 13. It does support AT&T's lower 700MHz band 17 LTE, and of course T-Mobile, Verizon's AWS band 4 LTE though.

AT&T Moto X sim unlock issue

Hi
I recently bought and at&t moto x from ebay. I live abroad so I needed to unlock it and I've done it for many of my previous phones. However whatever unlock service I try it doesn't seem to work. I've tried ebay, unlock247, cellfservices & Unlockonline. None of them can find the code.
I contacted the seller, who was really nice and said He will refund me if I send it back. However that's really not feasible. He tried contacting At&t directly but they wouldn't do. The reason being the phone was given to his company directly by motorola. They develop software for android and iOS. So at&t said that they can't give the unlock code and we needed to contact motorola directly. But motorola is saying that carriers always provide the code. What do I do in these cases? Any possible way to unlock this? I don't want this to be a $300 brick or ipod :|

pyromaniac1 said:
Hi
I recently bought and at&t moto x from ebay. I live abroad so I needed to unlock it and I've done it for many of my previous phones. However whatever unlock service I try it doesn't seem to work. I've tried ebay, unlock247, cellfservices & Unlockonline. None of them can find the code.
I contacted the seller, who was really nice and said He will refund me if I send it back. However that's really not feasible. He tried contacting At&t directly but they wouldn't do. The reason being the phone was given to his company directly by motorola. They develop software for android and iOS. So at&t said that they can't give the unlock code and we needed to contact motorola directly. But motorola is saying that carriers always provide the code. What do I do in these cases? Any possible way to unlock this? I don't want this to be a $300 brick or ipod :|
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We haven't found a sim-unlock 'exploit' yet. As I understand it, AT&T will only sim-unlock devices that have been active on an account for a certain amount of time and meet certain criteria. Moto cannot provide you with the code, that is correct.
I thought the AT&T variant was already sim-unlocked for international use and only locked for domestic use though....
Could you trade it for the XT1053 (T-Mobile variant), which comes SIM-Unlocked?

samwathegreat said:
We haven't found a sim-unlock 'exploit' yet. As I understand it, AT&T will only sim-unlock devices that have been active on an account for a certain amount of time and meet certain criteria. Moto cannot provide you with the code, that is correct.
I thought the AT&T variant was already sim-unlocked for international use and only locked for domestic use though....
Could you trade it for the XT1053 (T-Mobile variant), which comes SIM-Unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No at&t is locked internationally as well. The subscriber is in good standing, but like I said the phone was provided by motorola to the seller's company. That's why at&t won't unlock it. What I don't understand is why I can't get the unlock code from the 3rd party services. Any particular one I could try?

So I tried to contact the seller
He said he talked to at&t, but at&t said that they can't provide the code and that he needed to talk to motorola directly. The phone was provided to the sellers company by Motorola for field testing and such. He thought it's a bad idea to contact motorola asking for an unlock. So talked to motorola regarding the phone and they kept saying that the carrier is the one to provide the code. I even called up at&t today and they said the won't do anything unless I provide the IMEI & phone number and SSN.
I live in Bangladesh and I really feel powerless at the moment. I don't want to have a $350 brick :|

XT1774 - Verizon Variant - Subsidy unlock does NOT enable bootloader unlocking

Hey y'all, Verizon Moto E4 Plus (XT1774) owner here. I've seen a couple posts on XDA and other Android forums about bootloader unlocking for Verizon-specific Moto devices relating to subsidy (SIM) unlocking.
As we all know, the XT1774's bootloader is locked, there is no way around that yet. I have seen people mention that subsidy unlocking allowed their bootloader to be unlocked, but from my testing that is not true.
I tried an H20-Wireless sim, and an US Cellular sim; obviously I also got an unlock code. Neither of the sims changed my get_unlock_data, so neither would unlock the bootloader.
Just wanted to disprove any of these claims so no one wastes their time. Thanks.

A.Fitz said:
Hey y'all, Verizon Moto E4 Plus (XT1774) owner here. I've seen a couple posts on XDA and other Android forums about bootloader unlocking for Verizon-specific Moto devices relating to subsidy (SIM) unlocking.
As we all know, the XT1774's bootloader is locked, there is no way around that yet. I have seen people mention that subsidy unlocking allowed their bootloader to be unlocked, but from my testing that is not true.
I tried an H20-Wireless sim, and an US Cellular sim; obviously I also got an unlock code. Neither of the sims changed my get_unlock_data, so neither would unlock the bootloader.
Just wanted to disprove any of these claims so no one wastes their time. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct. If unlocking your bootloader to customize the device is the goal, you need to steer clear of any Verizon branded devices. ATT, Sprint and a few others will also not allow bootloaders to be unlocked.
I have found that to be safe, purchase the device straight from Motorola as an unlocked device (Any US carrier/international) is the way to go. You will not get a discount like you do when purchasing through a carrier or big store name like Walmart but you will get a device that allows for bootloader unlocking.

glockman4519 said:
You are correct. If unlocking your bootloader to customize the device is the goal, you need to steer clear of any Verizon branded devices. ATT, Sprint and a few others will also not allow bootloaders to be unlocked.
I have found that to be safe, purchase the device straight from Motorola as an unlocked device (Any US carrier/international) is the way to go. You will not get a discount like you do when purchasing through a carrier or big store name like Walmart but you will get a device that allows for bootloader unlocking.
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Click to collapse
I don't know about ATT, but all the Sprint/boost/virgin mobile devices ARE unlockable. It's only the Verizon variant that isn't. This is how it's been for some time.

aj2333 said:
I don't know about ATT, but all the Sprint/boost/virgin mobile devices ARE unlockable. It's only the Verizon variant that isn't. This is how it's been for some time.
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I agree, but lately, Sprint has stopped support for bootloader unlocking. I read this directly from there site. It may be a little while tool it trickles down to current production devices but beware. And I am taking about Sprint Branded devices, and not devices you bring in on your own.

glockman4519 said:
I agree, but lately, Sprint has stopped support for bootloader unlocking. I read this directly from there site. It may be a little while tool it trickles down to current production devices but beware. And I am taking about Sprint Branded devices, and not devices you bring in on your own.
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Thanks for the heads-up. I guess I'll have to start buying retail models. A little more $, but I'm very tired of the cdma data problems on custom ROMs every time there's a new Android version or new device anyway.

aj2333 said:
Thanks for the heads-up. I guess I'll have to start buying retail models. A little more $, but I'm very tired of the cdma data problems on custom ROMs every time there's a new Android version or new device anyway.
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I hear ya. Where I live Verizon is there only network that is any good/dependable. As much as I despise BigRed, I have to use it. If I had my way I would go Boost Mobile or any other GSM network carrier. That would open up the doors for my YouTube channel and allow me to test more devices the right way and not just in WiFi. I love my OnePlus5 but can only use it with WiFi. So I can't fully enjoy it. But it would in GSM.

They do make a device that is unlocked for the US Big 4 carriers and that's what I bought. Subsidy unlock to my knowledge does not bootloader unlock your device. If I see a really good Rom come out, I'll look at it, but Motorola did a really terrific job keeping what they did to it "light". At the price I paid for it ($159.99); I might buy another one and store it, though I have read a few threads that indicate that Motorola won't update the device to Oreo.

berrywr said:
They do make a device that is unlocked for the US Big 4 carriers and that's what I bought. Subsidy unlock to my knowledge does not bootloader unlock your device. If I see a really good Rom come out, I'll look at it, but Motorola did a really terrific job keeping what they did to it "light". At the price I paid for it ($159.99); I might buy another one and store it, though I have read a few threads that indicate that Motorola won't update the device to Oreo.
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I see if you got your device from Walmart. It will would be able to remove the bootloader? Do I have have to get Verizon to take the lock off? Or has anyone been able to take the bootloader off of Walmart prepaid Verizon xt1774? This will be my first build. I could use all the advice and help! Thanks

Waltdizzle said:
I see if you got your device from Walmart. It will would be able to remove the bootloader? Do I have have to get Verizon to take the lock off? Or has anyone been able to take the bootloader off of Walmart prepaid Verizon xt1774? This will be my first build. I could use all the advice and help! Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You cannot unlock the bootloader of the XT1774. No ifs, and, nor buts.

just got new one today and was gonna to use xposed-after do some reading...smh, should have read before buying to make sure all is set to unlock and flash

Question Has anybody unlocked the bootloader on a P7 ordered directly from Visible

Considering purchasing, but I'm not sure if they are locked down like Vzw proper are.
TIA!

According to their website:
"What is Visible’s unlocking policy?
Smartphones that you purchase from Visible will be locked for 60 days after activation. After 60 days, we will automatically remove the lock unless we have determined or suspect that the device was lost, stolen, or purchased fraudulently.
Once the 60 day period following device activation expires, your phone will be unlocked."

ekeppel said:
According to their website:
"What is Visible’s unlocking policy?
Smartphones that you purchase from Visible will be locked for 60 days after activation. After 60 days, we will automatically remove the lock unless we have determined or suspect that the device was lost, stolen, or purchased fraudulently.
Once the 60 day period following device activation expires, your phone will be unlocked."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's for carrier unlock

Newbie8000 said:
That's for carrier unlock
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I keep seeing people say this now. Carrier/sim lock is now directly related to oem unlocking on new devices.
If you purchase a branded pixel device from a carrier the oem unlock option is there but cannot be toggled until the device is paid off/sim unlocked.
This applies to US carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon customers are sol.

as10158508 said:
I keep seeing people say this now. Carrier/sim lock is now directly related to oem unlocking on new devices.
If you purchase a branded pixel device from a carrier the oem unlock option is there but cannot be toggled until the device is paid off/sim unlocked.
This applies to US carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon customers are sol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm aware of this, but I'm not sure if things have changed with Visible as it is owned by Verizon and I think they use the actual Verizon network now rather than some weird cloud thing.

as10158508 said:
I keep seeing people say this now. Carrier/sim lock is now directly related to oem unlocking on new devices.
If you purchase a branded pixel device from a carrier the oem unlock option is there but cannot be toggled until the device is paid off/sim unlocked.
This applies to US carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile. Verizon customers are sol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Visible is for all intents and purposes Verizon so OP's question is relevant.

Apologies. I was responding to post #2
Carrier unlocking and bootloader unlocking is now directly related. To answer the OP, Visible is a MVNO of Verizon so I'm assuming even if they carrier unlock the device after 60 days, OEM unlock in developer settings still may not appear.

I purchased a One Plus device outright from T-Mobile (cash) and OEM unlock was present but not toggle-able. There was a message underneath stating to contact carrier. After a 15 minute chat with support, they sim/carrier unlocked the device. I tested with my Verizon sim and rebooted. Went back to developer options and surely enough OEM unlock was able to be toggled.

Guessing is always a tried and true method. If it wasn't for visible awful customer service I'd suggest you ask them!
Fate as it is, I got mine from Visible, oem unlocked a week or two later. Didn't have to pay anything off

I cannot comment about Verizon but...
Just an FYI for others asking this question about ATT.
ATT branded phones are unable to have the bootloader unlocked. Yes, you can have it Carrier Unlocked once you meet certain paramters(account paid up, phone paid off, etc) but when you have it Carrier Unlocked, the OEM Unlock feature is not even present in Dev options. If other carrier gray it out, there are tricks to enable it as mentioned above, but not ATT.
I had a rooted Honor View10 that they blacklisted. They sent me a sh*tty s10e as a courtesy and even after I carier unlocked it, the OEM unlock feature was never to be found. I researched quite a bit and found others had the same issue. Ended up trading it in for the Pixel 7 unlocked straight from Google.

Question Pixel 7 verizon locked how to unlock?

Anyone know how to unlock Pixel 7 from Verizon?

sillyshyme said:
Anyone know how to unlock Pixel 7 from Verizon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are talking about the bootloader, you can't unlock it on Verizon models.

Lughnasadh said:
If you are talking about the bootloader, you can't unlock it on Verizon models.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So how do you unlock to use different carriers?

sillyshyme said:
So how do you unlock to use different carriers?
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Click to collapse
Device Locking FAQs
To prevent identity theft and fraud, devices bought from Verizon are locked and cannot be used on another carrier's network for the first 60 days after purchase.
www.verizon.com

sillyshyme said:
So how do you unlock to use different carriers?
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Click to collapse
On T-Mobile, supposedly once you pay off the device and wait a certain amount of days (so you can't just resell it in another market), they will unlock the SIM (which pretty much the only prerequisite to unlock the bootloader) -- there are certain workarounds that one can do to get it done before this point, but there isn't a fixed method that works all the time; depends on your history with the carrier, making claims that you work as a developer and require it to be unlocked, supposedly an older method is some have simply said they are traveling internationally and "temporarily" need the SIM unlocked.
I had mistakenly believed AT&T had similar restrictions and workarounds/methods, but apparently not. There is supposed ways for AT&T, but they are less established, consistent, and reliable.
Verizon will not do it under any circumstances. Google sets aside batches meant for Verizon (carrier variant) that almost exclusively locked down bootloaders. No one is clear on the true method for how they lock it down for just that variant -- a case in the past that I was able to get a Verizon Pixel without locked bootloader is getting an RMA, but because they were inundated with exchanges, they just sent Google variants to cover for the short amount of time -- but it seems that they load the device up once at the factory to Verizon's network at least once, and that triggers the lockdown (there was an exploit before where if you do some other things and as long as you didn't put in a Verizon SIM card, you were able to get away with OEM unlock toggle before it was locked down; which is why/what happened in that RMA exchange [if you put in a Verizon SIM, it would lock it down]).
In any case, this has been the case since the first Pixel (1), and there have been bounties for unlocking Verizon variants since then that must've collectively reached more than $10k! And no one has successfully managed to do it and claim all that bag...!
For worse & worser, there is no way to unlock a Verizon variant's bootloader...
I just realized you weren't asking how "other carriers are unlocked", but how to "unlock it to use on other carriers"?
The only way is to get an unlocked non-carrier variant from Google Store, some brick and mortar stores have "unlocked" variants (Best Buy did when it first went on sale), Amazon seems to have/had it, or get it second-hand non-carrier variant from sites like Swappa....
Verizon will not do unlock bootloader under any circumstances.
I haven't seen any circumstances of Verizon "sim unlocking" the device, but they are less restrictive on that than "bootloader unlocking"; I'm sure there are ways/services that do, if not Verizon themselves. Like I stated in my crossed-out section, most carriers simply make you wait a certain amount of time (days) before offering the ability to do so -- to discourage purchasing a device then selling it in another (not official) market.