Ways to Unlock Cellular Phones via IMEI

Posted by Hertz Ennis on February 8th, 2021

Easy methods to Unlock Mobile Phones by IMEI (3 straight forward steps)

By Merri Retzer

Whenever you buy a smartphone through a cellphone provider, it's always locked to that network's service. If the company provide you with a free or discounted cell phone, you ordinarily have to agree to a 1- or 2-year contract as well. You can avoid this contract and freely swap between networks, in addition to travel outside of the country and use other networks, simply by unlocking your cellphone using the IMEI number. In order to unlock your cellphone, simply follow the three steps below.

Step 1

Find the 15-digit IMEI number. This is usually printed on the cellphone underneath the battery. You can also sometimes locate it in your cellphone's setting page or by keying in a unique code to get your mobile phone to display the number on your screen. Most of the time, the code is *#06#

Step 2

Once you have located the IMEI code of your smartphone, get in touch with your current service provider and ask them if they are willing to give you an unlock code. Based on your circumstances, they may grant your request. In spite of this, many carriers will have thier own conditions that need to be fulfilled before they will give you with an unlock code, and many may very well refuse. Frequently, if you have finished your contract, your mobile provider will likely provide you instructions on how to permanently unlock your mobile phone, but frequently they will insist you are the original owner of the cell phone (the contract on thier system is in your name). In the event that you're not, for instance, you purchased the phone secondhand, you'll need to locate an alternative unlocking strategy to unlock your phone.

Step 3

When you're not the orginal owner of the smartphone, you'll need to acquire an unlock service from a 3rd party supplier. Luckily there are a lot of online suppliers selling services by merely providing them with your phone's IMEI code, it's make and model and the network its locked to. The cost of the service and the time it takes to unlock your phone depends upon the above factors, and will vary quite significantly for more obscure handsets or networks. Using a third party unlocking service is normally the fastest and the most convenient method to factory unlock your cell phone, as it will be conducted remotely without your cell phone ever having to leave your pocession. After your phone's been sucessfully unlocked it can then be used with any carrier and in any country you want.