Sort Of Unlock Your Verizon iPhone 4S For Free

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Update: I have confirmed this will not work fully with T-Mobile USA (and presumably other US carriers, such as AT&T) SIM cards. You may get it to connect to a tower, but it will not place a call. So it’s not a true unlock like what AT&T offers (yes, that’s a jab at VZW), but it’s still quite handy if you’re heading out of the country and want to use a local prepaid SIM, instead of Verizon’s pricey international plans.

Prerequisites:

  1. Your bill must be paid in full and you must be a customer in good standing.

  2. The iPhone 4S has been activated for more than 60 days.

  3. iTunes and an iOS device sync cable. The rep said it would work over iTunes Wi-Fi Sync, but I could not get it to work.

Instructions:

  1. Call Verizon Wireless at 800-922-0204 or *611 from your Verizon Wireless phone.

  2. The robo-voice will list a bunch of options. Hit 4.

  3. When asked by robo-voice, say “unlock my phone”. It will verify you want to unlock your phone, so say “yes”.

  4. Eventually a human will answer. Tell them you want to unlock your iPhone. They will forward you to the “international” department.

  5. Tell the international rep you want to SIM unlock your iPhone 4S. They will do a bunch of stuff for about half a second and tell you to put the “international” SIM into the iPhone and connect it to iTunes.

  6. Grab a spare GSM micro-SIM, or a trimmed down SIM and put it into the iPhone. I used an old expired T-Mobile prepaid SIM that I trimmed down. If you’re feeling lucky, you can use the VZW micro-SIM that came with the device as a DIY cutting template. Be careful that you dont clip through any circuitry.

  7. Plug the device into iTunes and it will unlock itself.

  8. There is no step 8.

Updated: