128GB Samsung Galaxy S23 FE for Metro by T-Mobile + 1-Month Unlimited 5G Plan Expired

updated 10/22/23

Answers to FAQ:

1. Summary: This is prepaid. No need to cancel. Just stop paying. Ignore the message that says $40 will be due every month, that is there just to let u know when next bill is due. if u dont pay they will suspend the service. in 30 days from then they will cancel the account. Most will pay the forced first monthly fee (that comes with initial order) and then simply stop paying. best (for added security totally optional) to use a virtual credit card like from citi for example or a privacy virtual card.

Auto pay is OFF by default. Don't do anything (don't turn ON Autopay, don't pay for the 2nd month) and the service will be suspended after the 1st month, then auto-cancelled after the 2nd month.

To have the phone unlock in 180 days. You ONLY needed to have activated the phone 180 days ago. You do not. Repeat do NOT have to pay for service for 180 days. Phones will unlock after 180 days +/- a few days. even if you only pay for 1 month.

Most people get the 1 month service. In months 2-6, phone can be use as WiFi device. or simply stored away in a drawer.

Phone can be on or off.
Phone can be factory restored anytime.
Phone can be in usa, india, argentina or wakanda.
Sim card can be in or out. [best to keep sim in phone or at least handy until unlock confirmed].
none of this affects the unlock at ~ day 180

wait 6 months. ~day 180. connect to internet using wi fi. try unlock. 1000's of folks have done this.

2. Phones are locked ONLY to Metro for first 180 days. Chances are slim to none that you can get them unlocked before 180 days to use on ANY other carriers.

There is no known ebay unlock. Do not waste your money!

a. Rare exceptions: A few phones will work on TM from Day 1 {keep reading below}

3. You can order online or in store. [if porting a number it HAS TO BE DONE IN STORE]

***major warning: avoid the store at all cost. lots of issues. forced to buy unnecessary service , cases, screen protectors, insurance, etc
avoid. AVOID. not kidding....A_V_O_I_D. end of warning***


If ordering on line [suggested/preferred method]:
(best case as there is no $20 Act fee & don't need to deal with scummy Metro employees in store):
a. if website says "find a store". that means it is temporary OOS. Check again later. preferably in morning time. stock will come in/out depending on popularity of deal
b. If order does not go through immediately. try again. try different browser. try incognito mode. try different computer. try work computer. consider modifying address like "floor 1" there is no logical explanation of why some can order 5+ (once per day) and some cannot even order once

***If you get message to call CS or go to store. DO NOT do that. You will not get any useful info from either. Best is to try again. use another computer, change address slightly etc. try ordering from work.
If you get an error of "Sorry, there was an issue processing your payment.", try a shipping address that's different from your billing address.

there is no explanation as to why u can not order.
u can have perfect credit score
make 300k a year
never before ordered from metro in your life
have won the Heisman trophy

doesn't matter

there is no explanation as to why u can not order.

**

c. once you receive the package in mail....the Sim card is there, look in a brown/white bag that looks like packing material

If ordering in store (avoid if possible):
a. $20 Activation Fee + taxes + all kind of fees will be charged (rarely is there a promo where it gets waived)
b. If you port a number. this has to be in store only. and sometimes get a larger discount on some phones
c. however, lots of potential scams from employees {read below to find out more}
d. avoid if possible. the few $ you MAY save is not worth the headache.

4. a few have claimed phone can be unlocked even if outside usa on ~ day 180.

5. During first 30 days, make sure you activate phone properly, make a call every 5-10 days (just as a example).

if u choose to keep phone sealed, u assume the risk of phone not getting unlocked.
as u never made a call, and the phone may never have fully been activated.

a. It is possible that those folks who did not get their unlock in 180 days, never fully activated their phone.
b. phone will auto activate ~ 21 days from shipping . so you cannot buy now and expect to use in 2+ months from now for the first 1 month that is included.

6. once unlocked the phones (in general, not the specific phone in this deal) will 100% work on TM & Metro.

should work on TM mvno.

may work with att + its mvno

may work on Verizon + its mvno
however this is risky because.
V needs imei to be whitelisted in V system,
one user reported:
"my Metro A53 unlocked and was able to use on Verizon.
It wasn't as easy as plug and play with the Verizon SIM card.
I went to Verizon webpage and had to enter their APN manually to get the data and group texting to work"

if planning to use with verizon or its mvno:
do your own further research to make sure this phone will work. proceed cautiously



7. For metro, the imei of phone has to married/associated with the sim.
You cannot simply take sim card and put in another phone.
Metro bundles device with SIM card, if you want to change phone you need call metro to register the IMEI of another phone to able to use. usually a fee of ~$10
(Although you cannot just take the sim and use it in another phone, you can in fact transfer the sim to another phone through the Metro app for FREE. You do not have to call CS to do this.)

8. porting
into metro
has to be done in store.
or
you can still avoid the store.
i. order online with a new number. avoiding the 20 AF + scummy M employees
ii. after you receive the number/phone. use for ~ 1 week or so as example
iii. if happy with service, you can contact metro and port your old number over the one assigned by metro.
iiii. however, how this impacts unlocking is unclear.

out of metro:
a few questions on if you can port out during first 30 days. generally it is safe to simply let plan die. however, many have reported they ported out and phone still unlocked.
-if you do want to port out, do so during the first 30 days where you have active service.
-if you try to port out after the 30 days, when you don't have active service. it may not be able to port

9. Unlocking

Most people get the 1 month service. In months 2-6, phone can be use as WiFi device. or simply stored away in a drawer. Phone can be on or off. wait 6 months.

best chance of success as follows:
when getting near the 180 day , have phone connected to wi-fi.
Try to unlock the device, once 1-2 days from day 180 onwards.

Each phone (Android or Apple) has different ways to unlock.
Generally, To unlock the phone after 180 days
Phone's settings, connection, more connection settings, network unlock

another summary from i think a moto g stylus 5g 2022
Go to settings > about > device unlock > will get an error saying i cant unlock yet because of _____(it was actually blank) then right below that it says "Try Premanent Unlock" and i clicked that wait about 30 seconds and it successfully unlock.




The sim doesn't seem to be important in unlocking.
It can be left in phone or stored safely. DO NOT THROW AWAY THE SIM until you get a confirmed unlock

x. TBD




________________________________________________________

Please read the OFFICIAL Metro by Tmobile unlock policy.


here [metrobyt-mobile.com]

Unlock eligibility requirements
We unlock mobile devices that meet the following eligibility criteria free of charge:

The device must be purchased from Metro by T-Mobile.
The device must not be reported as lost, stolen or blocked.
One hundred eighty (180) days must have passed since the device's activation date

{180 days since activation. no mention of payment requirement during those 180 days}
___________________________________________________________



======================================================
8/29/23

Metro N30 passed the IMEI Checkers at AT&T, Cricket, Qlink, T-mobile, Verizon, and Visible. Of course, your Metro N30 must be unlocked before it can accept a SIM from those providers.

========================================================



OnePlus Nord N30 5G
-T-MOBILE Model: CPH2515
-CPH2515 for single SIM .NOT HYBRID. does not have the SIM card 2 patch, which is confirmed by Oneplus.
See the FCC application image below for more details on the differences between CPH2513 and CPH2515 versions.
-Does not work on TM from Day 1 {needs to wait the 180 days}

Shipping information on the actual box:
Date: 05/XX/2023 H/W: 11 S/W: CPH2515_13.1.0.520(EX01)


--metro =CPH2515. unlocked =CPH2513 .
Some differences observed include the wording on the box is different and also in different locations. Metro version has both a Google discover feed and a metro discover feed when you swipe right. The only way I could figure out how to disable it completely was to disable Google app (no off button on that page). There is an extra piece of glossy paper in the unlocked version . unlocked version has the Google phone app. Metro version has the OnePlus phone app. Metro version has T-Mobile and Metro apps installed. the sim trays are different. a thin glass screen protector in the unlocked version.




_______________________________________________________
XDA forum for technical info specif to n30/ce3 :
https://forum.xda-developers.com/...e-3.12783/
________________________________________________________

https://www.metrobyt-mobile.com/t...olicy.html
Please read the OFFICIAL Metro by Tmobile unlock policy.

Unlock eligibility requirements
We unlock mobile devices that meet the following eligibility criteria free of charge:

The device must be purchased from Metro by T-Mobile.
The device must not be reported as lost, stolen or blocked.
One hundred eighty (180) days must have passed since the device's activation date

{180 days since activation. no mention of payment requirement during those 180 days}
___________________________________________________________

Only a select few phones work with T-mobile out of box Day 1 without being unlocked.

Phones that work with Tmobile from Day 1:
Moto g stylus 5g 2021
Oneplus N200
Samsung a53 (don't update the A53 firmware past July 2022 or your T-Mobile sim won't work until 180 days like other phones do)

note: Metro may close this loop whole at any time.

phones that DO NOT work with T-Mobile from Day 1:
Moto G Stylus 5G 2022
Moto G 5G 2022
OnePlus N20 5G
OnePlus N30 5G
Samsung Galaxy A23 5G
Samsung Galaxy A54 5G
________________________________________________________________________

How to activate:
In your shipment confirmation email, there's a link on the bottom that says track your status "here".
Click on that link, enter your order number and zip, it will show you shipment progress. At the very bottom of that page, there's a spot that says activate service. Just click on that and it will populate the phone number and activate the sim.

How to activate and avoid some common issues:
the URL:https://www.metrobyt-mobile.com/order-status

1. after you placed your order and received order confirmation email (subject should be We've received your Metro order!), you should be able to start tracking order and delivery status at the above URL
2. once you received your phone, insert sim and power up the phone. for the initial phone software setup (not activation), I connected phone to wifi and skipped all of the google things so phone would say I'm only XX% through setup which doesn't really matter. I didn't have to download any app either. before next step I'm already at phone's "desktop" without google account or phone maker (ex. moto) account on the phone
3. on your PC or whatever device you know website access would work, go to the same above URL
4. enter your order info to track your order
5. after page loaded the tracking info, scroll to the bottom and click on the button to start activate your phone/sim. go through the activation process which would setup an Metro online account if you don't already have one. make sure your phone is already powered up with sim inserted before you start the activation process!
6. you should be able to do calls and texts if activation went through properly. I have both working within less than a minute where phone shows 5G UC icon and both wifi calling & VoLTE registered for Metro by T-Mobile. you should receive an email with subject You did it! Your phone is active within 24 hours. the email with subject Ready. Set. Activate will come some time later as well. I received both emails one day after I had already activated and started using the phone with full services

________________________________________________________________

ALTERNATE method to activate your new phone

1. Use the order status page and enter the order# and zip, below the status is a link to activate.
2. Once you click this, you will see your new phone#.
3. Login to your account with your new phone# and the pin you created when creating the order
4. OTP is sent to the phone that is not yet setup - LOL
5. Setup the new phone
6. Repeat #3 and this time you can get the OTP on your new phone
7. Login - confirm auto billing option is OFF
________________________________________________________________

If purchasing in store:

{generally avoid (both corporates stores and authorized dealers).
many SD report bad expierence with both
if u want to port u must go to store.
in which case, go to a CS}

update: corporate store are shutting down.
they a a very few in number


many times M reps will make up rules...

if it sounds odd...its probably made up
like force u to buy a sim card for $15.
Most common scam=insurance.
they will say it is required. usually `~$10.
total lie.
insurance not required for any promotion to date.
sometimes they will add it as part of monthly fee.
like saying the monthly fee is $50.
when in fact it is actually 40+10 insurance.
know exactly what u r paying for before, i repeat BEFORE u pay.
get it itemized.
specifically say "I do not want insurance"
follow up with "are u adding insurance?'

________________________________________________________

For those that want to know the date when their phone will be unlocked, check this online calculator. [timeanddate.com]

the 180 days may be sooner than u think

________________________________________________________________

from other thread

Unlock on Nord n30 worked for me exactly 180 days from activation.
Prior to 180 days I would occasionally try the unlock option, and it would always say that it takes 180 days to be eligible.
On the 180th day when I tried to request unlock, it came back and said something to the effect of "NOT eligible for unlock" and right under those words, it said " try REQUESTING PERMANENT unlock ".
So I clicked on those words and a few seconds later, it said unlock was successful and asked if I wanted to restart now or later.
After restart, the phone status shows unlocked.
Initially, the wording confused me, but I am now pretty sure/guess that the "not eligible" means not eligible for a temporary unlock.
_______________________________________________

Metro by T-Mobile 180 days unlocking policy! [metrobyt-mobile.com]
180 days after activation, your phone will be eligible to unlock!
Any other information about unlocking is fake or scam!
Do not waste your money to get third party unlocking service ! it won't work.



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