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Overseas military cannot unlock phone
I am permanently station overseas on orders and was just told by T-Mobile customer service representatives that I cannot unlock my iPhone 16 pro since there is a balance on it. I was under the impression that active duty service members on orders overseas were allowed to have their phones unlocked with or without balance on their account. T-mobiles’ website says it should be allowed with orders, but the customer service representatives did not give me the option to send up the orders.
Does anyone else have insight on this?
The key here is having the Active Duty Military (ADM) flag on your account. Just having a regular military account/pricing does not qualify you for the military unlocking exceptions. What you need to do is e-mail a copy of your deployment orders to usmilitaryerr@t-mobile.com and request they add the ADM flag to your account. After they do that you will then be eligible for the military unlocking exceptions that bypass the normal requirements. In your specific case, it will get around still having the balance on your phone. Once you have the ADM flag on your account call into customer service and tell them you have the ADM flag on your account which bypasses the normal unlocking requirements and request for your phone to be unlocked. Typically, the customer service agent will need to put in a request to the "offline" team to perform the unlock which requires additional approval by a manager which takes 10-15 minutes. The good news is once they do that the phone is immediately unlocked. Sometimes I've had to restart the phone, but it's immediate. If the customer service agent tells you they're submitting a request and it will be unlocked in 24-48 hours then they're doing it the normal way (not ADM military exception) and it won't work. Usually that occurs when it's after hours offshore customer service agents that don't know what they're doing. In that case, just wait until normal hours when US customer service agents are on and try again. Hopefully this helps and thank you for your service!
The key here is having the Active Duty Military (ADM) flag on your account. Just having a regular military account/pricing does not qualify you for the military unlocking exceptions. What you need to do is e-mail a copy of your deployment orders to usmilitaryerr@t-mobile.com and request they add the ADM flag to your account. After they do that you will then be eligible for the military unlocking exceptions that bypass the normal requirements. In your specific case, it will get around still having the balance on your phone. Once you have the ADM flag on your account call into customer service and tell them you have the ADM flag on your account which bypasses the normal unlocking requirements and request for your phone to be unlocked. Typically, the customer service agent will need to put in a request to the "offline" team to perform the unlock which requires additional approval by a manager which takes 10-15 minutes. The good news is once they do that the phone is immediately unlocked. Sometimes I've had to restart the phone, but it's immediate. If the customer service agent tells you they're submitting a request and it will be unlocked in 24-48 hours then they're doing it the normal way (not ADM military exception) and it won't work. Usually that occurs when it's after hours offshore customer service agents that don't know what they're doing. In that case, just wait until normal hours when US customer service agents are on and try again. Hopefully this helps and thank you for your service!
Therein lies the problem. The published policy says one thing but I have been told another by T-mobile reps over the phone. Per that website:
Military and other exceptions
Deployed military personnel who are customers in good standing are eligible to have their devices unlocked upon provision of deployment papers. Please contact us for more details.I would love the opportunity to provide my orders, but have been getting shut down by reps on the phone unfortunately.
That is why I suggested reaching out to T-Mobile with a DM explaining your situation on Twitter/X or Facebook. They are a tier 2 support right from the start. They have always been very helpful the few times I have contacted them.
T-Mobile is very straight forward with their SIM Unlock Policy.
SIM Unlock Policy | Unlock Your Mobile Wireless Device | T-Mobile https://www.t-mobile.com/responsibility/consumer-info/policies/sim-unlock-policy
There are supposed to be exceptions for certain circumstances. Try reaching out to T-Mobile via a DM on either Facebook or Twitter/X. Just be aware that if approved, an iPhone can take 3 weeks and sometimes longer for the SIM unlock to go through. This is because T-Mobile forwards the request to Apple and then it is up to Apple to complete. If you had an Android device, it could have literally been done in minites.
