How to Unlock Your T-Mobile Phone

Ready to wave goodbye to the “Un-carrier” but not to your phone?

Switching from T-Mobile to another cell phone provider isn’t rocket science. To start, you’ll need to unlock your phone—and we’ve got the deets on how.

While some cell phone carriers make unlocking your phone simple, T-Mobile’s process is a bit messy. That’s because it has a giant checklist of requirements you’ll need to meet before you can unlock your phone. What a surprising headache from the wireless provider that calls itself the “Un-carrier”!

Here’s a quick look at some of the more surprising requirements for unlocking your T-Mobile phone.

Before you unlock your T-Mobile phone . . .

• You can only request two unlock codes per line of service each year.
• You might need to give T-Mobile proof of purchase for your phone.
• Your device must have been active on T-Mobile’s network for at least 40 days—and prepaid phones must be active for at least a year.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Yeesh.

If you’re checking all the boxes on those requirements, you can call T-Mobile’s customer service to begin unlocking your phone. But before you call, make sure you have these things on hand.

What you’ll need for unlocking a T-Mobile phone:

• The primary account holder’s name and the account number
• The account password or the account holder’s social security number
• Your phone number
• Your phone’s 14- to 15-digit IMEI or MEID number

You can usually find your IMEI or MEID number under the battery cover or on the back of your phone. If you can’t find it there, just dial *#06# and your number will pop up automatically.

Are you unlocking your T-Mobile phone so you can switch to another carrier? While T-Mobile’s steps may seem daunting, the good news is using your phone on another network might be easier than you thought.

If you’re considering switching to AT&T, you should have no problem bringing your phone with you when you go. That’s because both AT&T and T-Mobile run on the global system for mobiles (GSM) network.

Here’s which cell phone providers use which networks:

• GSM: AT&T and T-Mobile
• CDMA: Verizon and Sprint

This doesn’t mean you can’t use your phone on the Verizon network, though. T-Mobile’s and Verizon’s LTE networks match up pretty well, so you should have little trouble bringing your own phone unless you only use 3G.

Swapping to Sprint, on the other hand, may be difficult. T-Mobile and Sprint don’t quite match up, but some 4G LTE devices will work on Sprint’s network. If you want to hop over to Sprint from T-Mobile, we recommend calling Sprint to make sure your phone is compatible first.

Find out which cell phone provider meets your needs with our quick and easy reviews.

• AT&T review
• AT&T vs. T- Mobile
• Sprint review
• Verizon review
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