Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR Verizon has recently changed its policy for unlocking phones bought via contract.
The carrier now imposes a 35-day waiting period for people who pay off their phones via the Verizon app or authorized retailers.
You’ll need to pay off the phone via a “secure” payment type in Verizon stores to immediately unlock the device.
One common requirement for unlocking a phone bought via a carrier on a postpaid plan is that it should be paid off. Unfortunately, Verizon is now making subscribers jump through hoops to unlock their paid-off devices in a timely fashion.
Ars Technica reports that Verizon has updated its postpaid device unlocking policy, now mandating a 35-day waiting period for people who pay via the Verizon app or Verizon-authorized retailers. This waiting period previously applied to payments made via Verizon gift cards.
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The company outlined the changes via its Device Unlocking Policies webpage: If you payoff 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. This window allows for the verification of the gift card’s funds to ensure they were not obtained through fraudulent or illegal means. This updated section explains why the waiting period is necessary for payments made via gift cards, but it doesn’t explain why this is necessary for payments via authorized retailers and the Verizon app.
The support page was only updated with this tweaked policy around February 11, but it also notes that the updated policy went into effect from January 27. In other words, it sounds like Verizon is retroactively applying these changes. That’s pretty poor form if confirmed, and means some subscribers are subject to changes they didn’t explicitly agree to when signing their contract in the first place.
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