How Can I Safely & Cheaply Unlock This Old Phone?

October 13, 2016 6:05 PM

I have an old Alcatel One Touch 5020T that I would like to unlock so that I can use it with an Italian sim card. I used the phone on a T-Mobile pre-paid plan. (Have a new phone and new service now). What is the safest and least expensive way to unlock the phone? I did a google search and none of the sites looked very reputable. Prices ranged from $49.99 to FREE! (if you give them your email, SSN and first born child).
posted by pjsky to Technology (6 answers total)

Have you asked T-mobile? If you bought the phone outright, they may unlock it for you. They might need some info like the account number and phone number it was bought from. Even your prepaid plan is likely to have an account number that is different than the phone number.
posted by soelo at 6:42 PM on October 13, 2016 [1 favorite]

Seconding just talking to T-mobile. I have an iPhone 5c that I needed to have unlocked after moving back to India and they did it with no problems.
posted by Tamanna at 7:26 PM on October 13, 2016

Thirding just talk to T-Mobile.

I needed to do exactly this last year, and I called my phone provider and the unlocked it for free, on the spot.

All of the above said, I'll also say that my Italian cell phone was practically useless. I think I made three phone calls during the two months I was there, and I had to do a bunch of super specific local stuff that is complicated to do without a local cell phone. If I'm ever in Europe for two months again, I'll probably either just add the international data plan my carrier offers or go without cellular service entirely.

If you are going for two weeks or less and can't come up with at least three specific tasks that cannot be accomplished in any other way, I'd just do without a cell phone on your trip.
posted by Sara C. at 7:48 PM on October 13, 2016

Response by poster: Well, I did ask my local T-Mobile to unlock the phone and I got the run around. They said they couldn't do it. But that was last year, so maybe I will try again, or try a different store..... I have an old flip phone that I am using now while in Italy. I thought it was time to upgrade to a "smartphone". I use the phone for work and I need my Italian phone number, so just using my current number with an international plan isn't a solution for me. It costs Italians a lot to call USA numbers and so I don't get my calls/texts returned!
posted by pjsky at 2:53 AM on October 14, 2016

T-Mobile's website says that there is an app you can try and if your device doesn't work with the app, you should contact them. That page has live chat and also an number to call if you are not in the US.
My carrier's website is much more responsive than their stores to these requests. Hopefully you find the same thing with T-Mobile.
posted by soelo at 7:22 AM on October 14, 2016

Try calling customer service rather than going to a store. In my experience people in the retail stores often either have a poor understanding of company policy, don't have the level of training on less common services, or aren't paid well enough to pretend like they care.
posted by Sara C. at 12:19 PM on October 14, 2016 [1 favorite]