Phone unlocking is a touchy subject for a lot of people. There are numerous ways to do it. Searching Google for “phone unlocking” takes you to some weird back-alleys of the internets. One can often have their phone unlocked by “a friend who works at a phone place”, but are you really going to trust the guy named “Sam” with his Persian mafia haircut, dress shirt, and gold chain to fiddle with what is most often the most (or second-most) important piece of electronics in your life?
Fast forward to my conversation with an ATT representative this morning. I’ve been with ATT for over 5 years, and I extended my contract another two years with the activation of my iPhone. My fiancee has been with ATT even longer, since I was stuck in the muck that was Sprint Wireless from the time I graduated high school until that contract ran out. She actually still has her “Pacific Bell Wireless” SIM card somewhere. But anyways. I love Sony Ericsson phones. If I did not have my iPhone, I would have some manner of Sony Ericsson phone in my pocket. They are fantastic devices. I’ve had my W810i for over a year, but she got it when I got the iPhone. She’s looking to get a Crackberry or something similar in the near, so the W810i would be moved to backup duty. T-Mobile’s prepaid service is easier (and cheaper) than ATT’s, so we have one of those SIMs that would probably go into it.
The ATT rep was very nice about it, and was able to provide the unlock code immediately via SMS. I think that this experience is a lot like people’s experience with online music. If you give folks an EASY, reasonably priced way to legitimately unlock their phone (even if they charged $5 or $10 for it) people will not be as likely to pay for shady unlocking services and that market would dry up. The fact that the unlock code is FREE is only icing on the cake. ATT’s current policy seems to be really fantastic and it is one of the reasons I will continue to be a loyal customer of theirs. I’m sure if I was requesting unlock codes multiple times per month, their willingness to provide them might be affected, but I am not a reseller. I may not always use the unlocked phone on their network (obviously, that is the whole point of unlocking.) But I will certainly send them my monthly check knowing that they are willing to make a customer happy by not holding on so tightly.