If you have bought your iPhone from AT&T, in most probability, it is already programmed with an IMEI lock. Therefore, you cannot operate your iPhone with any other wireless service. However, if you can get the required unlock code from AT&T once you have requested for the same, you will be able to unlock your iPhone and use it with other mobile carriers. If you are not really aware of the exact process of unlocking, here is an article on How to Get Your AT&T iPhone 5 Factory SIM Card Unlocked to help you out. But, before you start the unlocking process, make sure you meet all the requirements in a proper manner:
- You have to be a customer of AT&T.
- If you don’t hold an account with AT&T currently but was a customer previously and can provide the account number & phone number associated with that account, you can unlock the iPhone.
- The iPhone device has to be designed for being used inside an AT&T network and it must not have been reported as lost or stolen.
Let’s talk about the customer specific requirements now:
If you are a current customer of the postpaid service of AT&T then, there must not be any unpaid balance owned by AT&T or there should not be any past due payment either. There is one point that you must take a note of though. For postpaid customers, there are certain contract obligations such as service commitment which should be completely satisfied. Such service commitments associated with your iPhone device can be completed in any of the 3 below mentioned ways:
- If you’re terminating your existing AT&T contract early, you may need to pay early termination fee in certain cases.
- In case the contractual term is over, you automatically fulfill the service commitment.
- In certain special agreements, the account needs to be active for at least 90 days and there must not be any due payment for satisfying the service commitment properly.
In case you have a prepaid account with AT&T, your account has to be at least 6 months old for qualifying for an iPhone unlock.
Some Vital Information that you should know about AT&T iPhone Unlock
- If you hold an account with AT&T currently, you cannot make more than 5 unlock requests for that specific account in a single year. Once a year ends, the number however refills back to 5.
- If you are a business account holder with AT&T, you can request for unlock through the website: http://att.com/biz.
- If you are a former AT&T customer, then you can request for 5 unlock requests performer account that you have.
If you are an active member of the US military, your AT&T iPhone device can be unlocked by the mobile service provider, provided the account is in good standing. If you are a deployed member of the US military, you need to show documents verifying deployment though.
The unlocking requests have to be submitted through the online unlock request form of AT&T. You will find the same from the official website of AT&T. In general, your AT&T iPhone will be unlocked within 5 business days, but depending on the exact scenario, it may take longer.