Carrier-locked phones

Could be that the seller simply doesn't know? But if it somehow is (maybe a phone that locks to the first sim put into it, for some reason?), since carriers are required to unlock for free, you could just contact the seller and ask them to get FIdo to unlock it, first.

Could it be a phone from a corporate account? I read somewhere that some corp Bell phones are locked.

audit13 wrote: ↑ Could it be a phone from a corporate account? I read somewhere that some corp Bell phones are locked.

That's a good question - I don't believe the wireless code applies to corp plans at all? Or if it does, only a subset of it does?

wearysky wrote: ↑ That's a good question - I don't believe the wireless code applies to corp plans at all? Or if it does, only a subset of it does?

According to the wireless code (https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/mobile/codesimpl.htm), the customer is defined as being "Individuals or small businesses subscribing to wireless services, including account holders, device users, and authorized users."

Looks like large corp accounts would be excluded.

I asked the seller but they were not very forthcoming about it.

You guys are probably right that it must be from a corporate account as I see no other way it could be locked.

I still don't feel comfortable about it so I'll probably hold off for now although I can't find any affordable compact Android alternatives anywhere.

If the phone is locked, will Fido unlock it for me even if I have never been a Fido customer?

yycguy1 wrote: ↑ I asked the seller but they were not very forthcoming about it.

You guys are probably right that it must be from a corporate account as I see no other way it could be locked.

I still don't feel comfortable about it so I'll probably hold off for now although I can't find any affordable compact Android alternatives anywhere.

Have you checked out Costco and Staples? They have some affordable options.
https://www.costco.ca/unlocked-cellular-phones.html
https://www.staples.ca/collections/cell-phones-158

Most phones are big these days, so finding a compact one is hard. iPhone Mini and iPhone SE come to mind but they obviously don't fit in your criteria. Some of the Pixel phones are also relatively compact and affordable.

yycguy1 wrote: ↑ If the phone is locked, will Fido unlock it for me even if I have never been a Fido customer?

It may depend on how the phone was purchased. If it was on purchased on a corporate contract, they may not unlock the phone without approval from the corp contract administrator.

According to the wireless code for unlocking:

"Any device provided by a service provider to the customer for the purpose of providing wireless services must be provided unlocked.
If a device is, or becomes, locked to a service provider’s network, that service provider must unlock the device, or give the customer the means to unlock the device, upon request, at no charge."

The wireless defines a customer as:

"Individuals or small businesses subscribing to wireless services, including account holders, device users, and authorized users."

Looks like you need to be a Fido account holder. They may unlock it as a courtesy.

audit13 wrote: ↑ It may depend on how the phone was purchased. If it was on purchased on a corporate contract, they may not unlock the phone without approval from the corp contract administrator.

According to the wireless code for unlocking:

"Any device provided by a service provider to the customer for the purpose of providing wireless services must be provided unlocked.
If a device is, or becomes, locked to a service provider’s network, that service provider must unlock the device, or give the customer the means to unlock the device, upon request, at no charge."

The wireless defines a customer as:

"Individuals or small businesses subscribing to wireless services, including account holders, device users, and authorized users."

Looks like you need to be a Fido account holder. They may unlock it as a courtesy.

Thanks. I might just take a chance on it and if Fido won't unlock for me I'll return it.

You might want to confirm if this is a Canadian phone. Model mentioned in the title is "SMG970UZKV" which seems a US model but in product details it does say "G970WZKAXAC" which is a Canadian model.

yanksingh wrote: ↑ You might want to confirm if this is a Canadian phone. Model mentioned in the title is "SMG970UZKV" which seems a US model but in product details it does say "G970WZKAXAC" which is a Canadian model.

That's a good catch, thanks!

Fido unlocked my phone even after I left them and was no longer a customer.

I just gave them my IMEI number and told them don't have an account any more so they could not pull up my account but was happy to give me the unlocking code.

they don't seem to care if your a customer or not, some phones were still locked at the factory even after the government mandated all phones must be unlocked, so if its sitting in a box on a shelf, it does not automatically get unlocked when the law got passed so they give you a code and it complies with the law

Well despite all the talk about 'all phones should be unlocked now', I tried to use my Samsung S10+ in US and it turned out to be incompatible with most of the carriers. It only worked with T-Mobile. Was told that if you get the phone from a Canadian provider, it's IMEI is different and making it useless in other countries, networks. Best to get one from phone manufacturer directly.

incompatible and sim locked are two different things, try not to confuse them