Since I haven’t purchased a phone from a wireless company in a decade, I don’t think I’ll go back. To be honest, every company is bad. Verizon seems to be getting worse. I have their Visible pre-pay plan, which is decent. But I use an old iPhone 12 on it. Seems now that Verizon doesn’t want to let anyone go. If you pay off your device, you won’t be able to have it unlocked for over a month after.
According to Ars Technica, you have to wait an additional 35 days after you paid off your device to unlock it. They claim it is for fraud verification purposes. Whatever that’s suppose to mean. Oh, and they made it more difficult than that.
“Payments made over the phone also trigger a 35-day waiting period, as do payments made at Verizon Authorized Retailers,” according to the piece. “Getting an immediate unlock apparently requires paying off the device plan at a Verizon corporate store.”
“If you payoff [sic] a device payment agreement balance online or in the My Verizon App, or if a Verizon Gift Card is used to purchase a smartphone or pay off a remaining balance, the unlocking process will be delayed by 35 days,” the current version of the policy says. “This window allows for the verification of the gift card’s funds to ensure they were not obtained through fraudulent or illegal means.”
Verizon Doesn’t Want You to Leave
Even if you paid at a corporate store with a “non-secure” payment, you would have to wait 35 days. What is a “non-secure payment”? Glad you asked. To them, “a ‘non-secure’ method (like a Verizon Gift Card, paper check, or magnetic stripe swipe), there is a 35-day security delay before the unlock triggers to prevent fraud,” the spokesperson said. You can pay in cash, a credit card with an EMV chip, or contactless payment. You know, Apple or Google Pay.
For people that purchased pre-paid devices from Verizon, it will be locked for 365 day “of paid and active service.”
The concept is pretty obvious, they don’t want you to leave. The idea is to make it so difficult that you will throw up your hands in defeat. When I lived in LA, I had three corporate owned stores around me. But, they were a bitch to get to.
The extra 35 days would take you into one to two extra billing cycles. They recently fought a rule that would require them to unlock the device after 60 days of service. Thus allowing people to get it unlocked, cancel service and start with another one quickly. Verizon figures they will frustrate you into keeping their service, why else would they require you to do it in person? It brings up another question, how many people are bailing on Verizon any given month?