Verizon changes policy on locked smartphones

It will take at least a year for new TracFone users to get their phones unlocked.

Verizon is changing the terms for the unlocking of its prepaid phones sold through TracFone.

The change comes after the Federal Communications Commission removed the requirement to automatically unlock phones 60 days after activation.

The company had to follow this requirement due to limitations on Verizon’s spectrum licenses and the conditions it had to follow when acquiring TracFone.

Now, the newly updated policy for TracFone phones states that devices will be locked for a year, with customers having to request the unlock rather than it being done automatically, notes ArsTechnica.

The policy states that users who activated their phone on or after January 20th of this year can request unlocking after 365 days of paid and active service.

Users who bought their device before this date are still eligible to get their phone unlocked after 60 days.

Users who wish to have their phone unlocked after a year will have to keep it active and pay for the service during that time. Otherwise, the wait for the phone to be unlocked may be even longer.

The company also notes that the unlock will no longer be done without the user’s request.

The reason behind this change was that the 60-day unlocking rule was often exploited by criminals.

A locked phone is one that works only with a specific cellular carrier (for example, AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile). Nevertheless, such a device can be unlocked once the user fulfills the terms of a contract.

The updated conditions aren’t entirely new, as the same lock-in terms were in place before TracFone was bought by Verizon in 2021.

In 2015, the company agreed to unlock phones after being accused of failing to comply with its promise to unlock phones for those in the Lifeline subsidy program.

The one-year lock-in period was later changed to 60 days as a condition of its merger with Verizon.

It’s been shared that TracFone isn’t the only company following this change. Straight Talk, Net10 Wireless, Clearway, Total Wireless, Simple Mobile, SafeLink Wireless, and Walmart Family Mobile are also changing their policies.

Besides the news about the company’s updated policy, it has recently been in the limelight for its connectivity issues. The Verizon outage affected 180,000 users in New York City, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, and Charlotte. It’s been reported that the outage even disrupted 911 calls.

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