so, long story short: i bought a Pixel 6a to replace my broken 5a. i bought said phone from Amazon, "refurbished and UNLOCKED," needless to say: it was not unlocked; in fact, it was locked by VERIZON.
i call Verizon, hoping for a miracle, wondering if they'll unlock it: they won't.
i start #googling and find a few "unlock" sites; all of which seem very shady, so i look at reviews, forum posts, etc. and finally come acorss one that, according to #SOME people "had good luck with"; the site is "The Unlocking Company."
i give this "company" my imei number, make/model/carrier, and $27: they say they'll have an "unlock code" and "instructions" to me within the next 72 hours.
so the burning question for this community is:
WILL THEY UNLOCK THE PHONE?
i am strongly inclined to think they will either 1) never get back to me or 2) say they can't unlock the phone and give me a partial refund
bets? and has anyone ever tried this before, any luck?
Verizon is the worst offender in this aspect of carrier locking. They encrypt the boot loader so you're fucked. Return the phone, and possibly cancel the request for the unlocking code if you can, and if you can't and end up getting scammed, file a dispute through your bank
This is correct. I've worked for AT&T, had a co-worker from Verizon, and have been a customer to both.
Manufacturers generally make one model of their device that's fully universal, and then carriers install their own custom tweaked firmware on them.
Verizon is by far the most locked-down and they do not unlock. You would have to flash a custom firmware specifically for the device, and even then there would probably be issues with the bootloader being locked.
It's terrible and infuriating, but you just can't take a Verizon-tainted phone to any other carrier.
Not even if your contract runs out or you pay a bit extra to end the contract?