Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones • Hacker News Board

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#31

Post by b00ty4breakfast » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:34 AM UTC

bandrami wrote: post #10

Having lived in a lot of countries over the past couple of decades, I can say this is absolutely something Americans do completely wrong. Just buy your phone at full price. The "free" phones cost significantly more than a full price phone.

it's a lot easier to pay smaller amounts over time than it is to pay a large lump sum, even if it is technically less after x number of years. Delayed gratification etc, but also sometimes folks need a phone and can't put off the purchase until they save up the upfront price. T

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#32

Post by bandrami » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:37 AM UTC

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #31

bandrami wrote: post #10

Having lived in a lot of countries over the past couple of decades, I can say this is absolutely something Americans do completely wrong. Just buy your phone at full price. The "free" phones cost significantly more than a full price phone.

it's a lot easier to pay smaller amounts over time than it is to pay a large lump sum, even if it is technically less after x number of years. Delayed gratification etc, but also sometimes folks need a phone and can't put off the purchase until they save up the upfront price. T

You can buy a no-contract Android phone for like $80

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#33

Post by hallman76 » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:37 AM UTC

jdelman wrote: post #19

I’m switching to T-Mobile.

Go a step further and switch to Mint, T-mobile's pay-as-you-go subsidiary. I'm paying $180/year for a single line. I've been on mint for ~3 years now.

On Mint your traffic is routed with lower priority than T-Mobile's main customers. In practice, I have only experienced this at busy airports and an MLB game - where basically service dropped to near zero. This is in the Boston area. Obviously not ideal if you're in those conditions regularly. Otherwise it's been awesome.

If the service is of interest my referral code is below. It gets you a $15 renewal credit for joining. Will the winds of votes love or hate a referral code? Who knows! apologies if I'm out of bounds. (I don't understand why it's out of bounds)

[0] http://fbuy.me/vks2P

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#34

Post by analog31 » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:41 AM UTC

Interesting coincidence. I just ordered a new Tracfone for 50 bucks. I had assumed the unlock policy was 1 year. The same phone, unlocked, was much more expensive. Strategically, I figured that after being a Tracfone customer for well over a decade, I probably wouldn't get around to switching for yet another year, so I'm OK.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#35

Post by jkaplowitz » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:44 AM UTC

EvanAnderson wrote: post #21

mullingitover wrote: post #18

Buy your own phone like everyone’s saying, but also use an MVNO instead of setting money on fire paying the major carriers. The better MVNOs even have multiple carriers and allow you to switch at any time.

TracFone / Straight Talk was my MVNO of choice, then Verizon bought them. >sigh (I wonder if this unlocking policy will retroactively apply to the locked Striaght Talk phone I bought back in October.)

From a different news story about this change, it doesn't apply to any phone activated before the government issued its approval earlier this month. So any phone which you activated in 2025 is not covered by this.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#36

Post by koolba » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:45 AM UTC

> AT&T’s policy allows unlocking of phones on postpaid plans after 60 days if the device has been paid in full, or after six months for phones on prepaid plans. T-Mobile’s policy allows unlocking of phones on postpaid plans after 40 days if the device has been paid in full, or after 365 days for phones on prepaid plans.

If the phone is paid in full, what is the justification for not unlocking it?

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#37

Post by delfinom » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:46 AM UTC

bandrami wrote: post #32

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a lot easier to pay smaller amounts over time than it is to pay a large lump sum, even if it is technically less after x number of years. Delayed gratification etc, but also sometimes folks need a phone and can't put off the purchase until they save up the upfront price. T

You can buy a no-contract Android phone for like $80

If you take a look at marketshare, Americans are animals that spend well beyond their means in bulk. Apple products or Samsung products dominate the smartphone market and it's the expensive ones.

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#38

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:51 AM UTC

koolba wrote: post #36

> AT&T’s policy allows unlocking of phones on postpaid plans after 60 days if the device has been paid in full, or after six months for phones on prepaid plans. T-Mobile’s policy allows unlocking of phones on postpaid plans after 40 days if the device has been paid in full, or after 365 days for phones on prepaid plans. If the phone is paid in full, what is the justification for not unlocking it?

[deleted]

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#39

Post by bandrami » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:52 AM UTC

delfinom wrote: post #37

bandrami wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy a no-contract Android phone for like $80

If you take a look at marketshare, Americans are animals that spend well beyond their means in bulk. Apple products or Samsung products dominate the smartphone market and it's the expensive ones.

And the cars! JFC every time I come back to the States I'm amazed/shocked/appalled at these suburban land tanks everywhere. Just buy a normal car!

Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones

#40

Post by dpark » Wed, Jan 21, 2026, 4:52 AM UTC

paxys wrote: post #20

kcb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My monthly plan payment would not go down if I brought my own phone.

You sure about that? Look up Visible, Mint Mobile, Total Wireless, US Mobile, Tello... Same carrier networks, same quality of service. You can even pay a bit extra for prioritized data and other fancy features. You can get basic unlimited plans for $15-30 and premium plans in the $30-50 range vs $100+ at the big carriers. The only difference is that you aren't paying for your "free" phone.

In this case you’ve switched providers, though. Might be a good idea but doesn’t say anything about whether, e.g., ATT will lower your price if you bring your own phone.

I’ve read that these virtual networks also get lower prioritization so you can get low bandwidth when the higher tier users are active. Not sure how accurate that is.