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crhurley's profile

Contributor

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3 Messages

Thursday, April 27th, 2017 11:53 AM

Need to Unlock GoPhone for Travel Abroad

I've had this $50 Samsung GoPhone for a month in LA, now I'm in Ireland for a month and bought a local sim card so I could use it here, mostly for maps and stuff that I need while I'm out and about. But the phone is locked to my ATT sim, and my unlock request was denied because I haven't been using it for 6 months. Considering I'm under no contract or obligation to keep using this phone, with ATT or otherwise, why does this requirement exist?? I could just as easily throw it in the trash for all the usefulness it provides to me right now, but I'd rather just keep using it with another sim if possible than pay another €100 for a functionally identical phone here. Would they seriously rather me throw it in the trash than use it with another carrier in another country?? This is stupid in every sense of the word. Is there any way around this??

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

7 years ago

Gophones are NOT sold at full retail price.   They are sold at a discount and are therefore locked to ATT for 6 months of continuous paid service.  They do not make exceptions.

If you require an unlocked phone, buy an unlocked phone.  Best Buy has a full display of unlocked android phones.  (That's where I shop....)

 

ACE - Professor

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1.7K Messages

7 years ago

You are better off  buying another locked phone in Ireland with 3 ie /Vodafone ie/ meteor.
Good luck .

Contributor

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3 Messages

7 years ago

This could have been communicated in some way before I left the US with this phone (no Best Buys in the UK), spent £30 ($40) on a sim card here, and went two days making my way through the most challenging portion of my travels without any use of cellular service or data when/where I needed it most, only to be denied for a reason that I never saw any reference to before the request was made or throughout the process.

Was planning on popping that ATT sim card right back in after 3 weeks when I got back to LA and continuing with the ATT service indefinitely, but after all this I think I'm just​ gonna go with that "trash" option. But at least they stuck to their pointless principles.

Contributor

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3 Messages

7 years ago

Yeah I mean I already bought the $40 Vodafone sim card, before I had any way of knowing ATT was gonna freeze me out, so I guess I'll just burn another €50-150 buying another useless burner phone for 3 weeks of use. Ugh.

You know, ironically since they're CDMA, I never had this problem when traveling with my Verizon phones. Always just swapped out the sim card and was up and running the second I landed in a new country.

ACE - Sage

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116.6K Messages

7 years ago

And go where?  All carriers have conditions on their prepaid phones as they subsidize them.  

All ATT, Sprint and T-mo phones postpaid phones are sold locked.  

https://www.att.com/esupport/article.html#!/wireless/KM1108214

The only carrier who sells unlocked phones is Verizon, HOWEVER, only their postpaid phones are unlocked.  The prepaid phones are locked to Verizon prepaid service for several months.  You can't even use a prepaid Verizon phone on a postpaid Verizon account.

Go where you want for service, but don't buy carrier phones if you want unlocked 

 

ACE - Professor

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1.7K Messages

7 years ago

Don't get me wrong,even if your Gophone can be unlocked.
You may end up having 2G service most time in Ireland/UK.
I had a Samsung SGH A687 AT&T Gophone unlocked.

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