sometime ago, I had started a thread about unlocking a pre-paid T-mobile phone, for which I had paid full price. The thread quickly went off topic, suggesting that it was wrong to expect to have a prepaid phone unlocked.
I have a definitive answer based on my experience, which concurs with T-mobile's policy. I hope it will help those who are unsure of what T-mobile's unlocking policy is.
For information on the SIM Unlock Code, refer to the following:
- If you have a Postpaid Plan, T-Mobile will provide the SIM Unlock Code upon request to eligible customers, provided the requesting customer has a minimum of 40 days of active service with T-Mobile and did not request a Subsidy unlock code in the last 90 days.
- For customers with a Prepaid Plan, T-Mobile will provide the SIM Unlock Code upon request to eligible customers, provided the requesting customer has a minimum of 60 days of active service with T-Mobile and either a Prepaid Plan account balance of at least $10.00 or a prior refill within the last 30 days.
- T-Mobile will provide the SIM Unlock Code upon request to eligible former customers, provided that T-Mobile has such code or can obtain it from the manufacturer.
- If you paid full retail price for a device, you qualify to have the SIM subsidy unlock code provided if you meet the following requirements:
- The device must have been purchased at a T-Mobile retail store or authorized T-Mobile retailer.
- The device must be paid for completely. You must be able to fax the proof of purchase to T-Mobile.
In the past two months, I have had three T-mobile phones unlocked. The first two were pre-paid phones, and were returned. The last one was a postpaid. T-mobile does impose one unlock code per number every 90 days. But if the phone for which T-mobile had provided an unlocked code has been returned, T-mobile will provide unlock code for another phone with the same number if it has been purchased from T-mobile or its authorised dealer.