@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
I'd get a carrier to do it.
Paying the carrier $50 to unlock is definitely better than paying someone else $100+ to unlock.
But sadly that's not always an option when buying or receiving a used phone. Done deal, original owner has moved on, original carrier refuses to provide the unlock to anyone else.
Sometimes it's not even an option when dealing with the original carrier. It's a legal requirement - and a greedy money grab! - but I've learned that certain carriers obstruct and delay the process as long as possible, they're reluctant to lose business and use every (unethical) tactic they can devise to keep it. I'm willing to admit that maybe my personal experience isn't representative of the way things really work most of the time, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen to someone else.
Not everybody understands what phone locking/unlocking is about. Many people are actively disinterested in technical details, they just want a (cheap) phone that works, they don't ask the right questions, they don't test anything, they just make a quick trade and take their prize home. I don't buy carrier-locked phones, yet I keep meeting people who got a "great deal" but also got locked out.
