T-Mobile locked phones on eBay

[below20]

I am a postpaid T-Mobile customer, will I run into problem with buying T-Mobile locked phone from eBay if I want it unlocked?

I am curious why there are many phones sold as T-Mobile locked, by reputable seller with 100K+ reviews. I suppose if they are stolen phones, T-Mobile should have black listed their IMEI. What about phones on EIP? Will T-Mobile let other use it on their network but also refuse to unlock it?

[PaulCrawhorne]

All it means is the original owner did not comply with the unlock requirements.

Yes they might get blacklisted after you buy it.

Good high volume seller, or an individual your spidey sense says is OK. Better to buy new unlocked of course

[jet1000]

I am a postpaid T-Mobile customer, will I run into problem with buying T-Mobile locked phone from eBay if I want it unlocked?

Here's T-Mobile's full unlock policy. You can see that there are risks if you choose to by a preowned locked device:

https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibil...-unlock-policy

[below20]

What I don't understand is if the device is not yet paid off, shouldn't T-Mobile go after the original owner until they cough up the money? Or T-Mobile just let it be but neither block the device nor unlock it?

[PaulCrawhorne]

Paying off the device is just one necessary condition for getting unlocked.

ALL the other conditions must also be met.

Yes TMO can blacklist, for many reasons, but it may not do so in a timely manner.

Just because the device is not blacklisted now, does not mean it won't be tomorrow or in a few months...

[jamssx]

I bought a reconditioned iphone off a reputable reseller (not ebay) and even that turned out to be blacklisted. Luckily since it was a good dealer I was fully refunded. You need to be very careful with second hand phones these days.

[robbyrobby]

i believe a lot of those are devices that have either defaulted on EIP or will eventually, some might eventually get paid off and qualify for unlock

i suspect most end up sold for overseas export and are unlocked via third party methods(hacked unlocked with USB connection to a computer)

[RFK]

Never ever buy used phones locked to operator. The chance that you will not be able to unlock it is 50% or more. If original owner couldn't unlock (and to sell for higher price), why do you think you will be able to unlock it?

[RFK]

i suspect most end up sold for overseas export and are unlocked via third party methods(hacked unlocked with USB connection to a computer)

Most of T-mobile phones can't be unlocked via USB. Only few can be unlocked by this way.

[robbyrobby]

Most of T-mobile phones can't be unlocked via USB. Only few can be unlocked by this way.

pretty much all Samsungs and most Oneplus and Motos which pretty much includes most Android models. iPhone cannot be since lock status is on Apples servers not the device.

a lot of the less popular brands there are no solutions since there is so little demand to unlock them to begin with and so the reverse engineering never happens to obtain the solution.

[below20]

I have done remote USB unlock a few times. Each time I have to spend hours preparing a PC to be connected and wiped clean after the process. The process is too secretive and sometimes there is strange behavior on the phone after unlocking. When there is connectivity issue, I don't know if it is with the network or because it was hacked. They all survive a factory reset. But there is no guarantee that they will survive a firmware update.

[jet1000]

What I don't understand is if the device is not yet paid off, shouldn't T-Mobile go after the original owner until they cough up the money? Or T-Mobile just let it be but neither block the device nor unlock it?

The original owner could still be making payments. So T-Mobile is still getting their money. So it's not a matter of going after the original owner.

But often T-Mobile gives a subsidy for a new phone but they split that amount over 24 months. For example, one might buy a new phone and T-Mobile says they're giving $480 off. But really it's $20 off your monthly payment for the next 24 months. The original owner would lose money if they paid it off early.

But per T-Mobile's unlocking policy, they won't unlock the phone until paid off. Now the owner could sell it to you and you could use it on T-mobile just fine. You just couldn't unlock it until he finished paying it off.

[dfriz]

The Tmobile phones i've gotten from Ebay worked OK on a Tmo MVNO, but wouldn't work on ATT or Verizon.
When I got one in I tried my Tmo SIM in it, if it worked, was good to go.

It's best to get a Tmo or Metro phone that's unlocked, if you are going to use a Tmo MVNO like Tello, etc, since it will have the 600 mhz band.
If the phone you got from Ebay won't work with your Tmo SIM, return it unless it was AS-IS for parts.

[RFK]

Some new T-Mobile locked phones do not work on T-Mobile's MVNOs. Examples: OnePlus Nord N200 5G, Revvl 5, Revvl 6

Revvl 5 and 6 could be unlocked for non-US operators but not for T-Mobile MVNOs.

[RFK]

pretty much all Samsungs and most Oneplus and Motos which pretty much includes most Android models.
.

I know that some Samsungs can be unlocked using USB. But majority of T-Mobile locked Android models can't be fully unlocked. Go to Ebay and search "T-Mobile remote unlock". Samsungs - yes, anything else - questionable.