iPhone 15 Pro Max What is your usual experience w eSIM unlocking?

[blackxacto]

Paid off an iPhone 15 Pro Max 6 months after purchasing from Verizon. This week, I closed my account and tried to switch carrier. Verizon says I am closed out. Yet, the iPhone says the eSIM is locked. Having never experienced this I reset the iphone twice. The iphone is still locked. Verizon says its unlocked. Late yesterday it unlocked. I felt like I was at a Mad Hatter Tea Party. Is this the usual experience switching carriers? I have never done this before.

 

[Apple_Robert]

What you described is not unusual. It happens from time to time with all the carriers (for one reason or another).

 

[russell_314]

What you described is not unusual. It happens from time to time with all the carriers (for one reason or another).

I’ve had a similar experience buying a phone from spectrum. This is why I only buy unlocked phones now. I’ve heard stories about carriers remotely locking privately owned devices but I’ve never experienced that.

 

[blackxacto]

So the carrier says it's unlocked. It's crazy. They even said it must be Apple. Phone reads locked. Who do I believe? Reset has no effect. I won't be buying a phone from ANY carrier again. Thanks. Without a phone I really felt alien.

 

[russell_314]

So the carrier says it's unlocked. It's crazy. They even said it must be Apple. Phone reads locked. Who do I believe? Reset has no effect. I won't be buying a phone from ANY carrier again. Thanks. Without a phone I really felt alien.

Apple is the one that locks and unlocks the phone. The problem is they only do it for the carrier. You can’t call Apple and ask for your phone to be unlocked. The carrier needs to do this so it’s the carrier’s fault that your phone is not unlocked. I went back and forth with spectrum on this one and finally got it unlocked.

The problem arises when your carrier just says meh not our problem and pushes the responsibility on to someone else. This is why I am against the whole locked phone thing. In the USA apparently Verizon scratched the FCC chairman in that special place so they’ll let them lock iPhones for a longer period of time.

 

[eyoungren]

Several years back, as a condition of being allowed to use a specific wireless spectrum license, the FCC mandated that Verizon unlock all LTE capable phones from day one. This was well before eSIM. Verizon phones were sought after because they came unlocked as a result of this mandate.

A few years ago, Verizon successfully argued to the FCC to be able to hold off unlocking. I forget what the original amount of days were, but they eventually settled on 60 days which is the current policy. That include eSIMS.

So, buy a Verizon iPhone, it automatically unlocks after 60 days whether you've paid it off or not. It helps to know each carrier's unlock policy. They post them online.

Your iPhone would have been unlocked 60 days in, not because you paid it off 6 months later. What happened IDK. It's eSIM and I have yet to experience the 'joys' of using eSIM (I'm still using physical SIM cards). But your phone should have been unlocked long before this - because Verizon/spectrum license/FCC.