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https://archive.is/ucvkn https://web.archive.org/web/20230223144317/https://www.att.com/support/article/wireless/KM1262649
Loved the fold3 but build quality is terrible. Never dropped the phone and after 15 months, there's a black stripe down the middle and the right screen becomes unresponsive to touch. The black stripe became larger and larger. It costs $550 to repair. Many other people reported same issues. Beware.
T-Mobile more expensive and oos already Frown missed it
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Let me save y'all about 4 hours, which is how long it took me to finally get to the right people to make this happen. Here is how I got this handled
I ordered a $5 Tello number, selected e-sim, received number within a few minutes. Make sure to register the pin they give you in the email, it gives you all the port out info access. Theres a code there that is needed to enter in Best Buy portal when you port it over to ATT.
Ported that number in to ATT via Best Buy portal
Picked up phone
Powered on Phone with ATT sim
Finished ALL account creation, including pin number creation etc via ATT email
Spent 3 hours getting tossed around 10 different reps and departments and supervisors via online chat, disconnected multiple times, told no multiple times, etc etc etc.
Don't bother submitting request online for unlock, it will be denied.
Just call technical support, JUST CALL!!! 1800-288-2020. Call from a phone other that the Z Fold 3. Reason you call from other phone is you will want to pop your sim in from other provider to get to the sim unlock prompt while you are on the phone with them. Tell them you need technical support, you may get tossed around one more time, but you WILL get someone that can help you.
Have your link ready that states phones paid in full at purchase can be unlocked without waiting 60 days. I had to legit provide not just the wording, but the exact link. The rep will literally navigate to it and will be super surprised and state that this is the first they've ever heard of this policy and that they always get hassled by the unlock team and ultimately never get the unlock code for the customer.
Have your receipt from Best Buy ready ready to go (I had to legit take pics with my phone and text them to a number they gave me).
After about 10 minutes with the rep, they provided the unlock code.
Make sure to input the unlock code prior to getting transferred over to cancellation department.
Get sent over to cancellation department and submit for cancellation under buyer's remorse policy.
Done and done. Save yourself a lot of time and just call them. I paid $299 plus tax and have a fully unlocked phone on T-mobile with no issues at all. ATT service is shut down, I didn't care about the Tello number, much easier to pay the $5 for a Tello than mess with a number you actually care about keeping. Just cancel the service and it is over and done with.
I obviously can't promise this is gonna work for every single person. I suppose a non-cooperative rep might not wanna go the extra mile for you, but my telephone rep was super helpful and patient. She admitted I had done my diligence with researching the terms and pushed the "unlock team" to help her with the code. YMMV of course, but this worked for me. Just be patient and courteous to the rep. I was frustrated with how long it was taking but you need to acknowledge that each new person you talk to, it is their first interaction with you, they have no idea how long you've been dealing with people. You can avoid a lot of frustration by just calling to start out instead of trying to manage the situation via online chat.
Questions, feel free to ask, perhaps I wasn't completely thorough, but that was basically what I went through. Good luck all.
Port out the line to cancel. Line automatically cancels as soon as the number it ported out (5-10 mins). You can port to Tello for $2.50.
https://slickdeals.net/f/16531969-tello-50-off-selected-plans
These phones are subsidized by the carriers and hoping people would switch or add more lines and stay with them, etc; therefore different carrier may offer different prices.
You can request unlock right away because it's paid in full with no money owed; i.e., no monthly installment,
Yes.
Port out the number to cancel right away (5-10 min, as soon as the number is ported) so that you don't have to deal with rep that doesn't allow you to cancel. You can port to Tello for $2.50.
https://slickdeals.net/f/16531969-tello-50-off-selected-plans
Yes, but you can cancel right away.
I picked up my Fold 3 this morning from bestbuy. ATT variant.
Ordered online with the porting in option as it wouldn't let me order otherwise. Used a random boost mobile number I had and have no intention of porting in a number.
BB didn't ask for anything in store, just gave me the phone and i walked out.
Received att emails after pickup, created account, created ATT PIN, jotted down account number, and saw $60 plan but $0 due.
unboxed and booted with t-mobile sim card, asked for unlock code.
tried to unlock from my att portal, but denied.
tried to unlock using the request unlock website for non att members, but denied via email
Started a chat with att to cancel service and request unlock.
I mentioned having bad service reception in my area and wanted to cancel and wanted to unlock phone to use it for work which was a different provider.
They wanted me to reset the network, but i said not interested just want to cancel.
They also mentioned that i lose my port in number if i cancelled. which was wierd since i never actually ported in the number yet.
Eventually, they said, "Since the total due balance if $0.00 there will be no charges now. Your services with AT&T will be completely shut off."
Then i asked about the network unlock, which they said they sent directly to my phone. Didn't work even though she said it was unlocked on their system. Eventually they provided the unlock code which worked.
Now my fold 3 is cancelled with att service with 0 payments or fees and unlocked so i can use my Tmobile sim.
hope that helps some of ya.
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At first I got the firmware bug error and thought "aw ATT screwed me again." But just keep mashing the button. reconnect the usb cable if you need to. It might take a few tries, but it WILL eventually update.
You know how Samsung is with hardware problems from washing machines all the way to smartphones. All buggy and it'll take several tries.
Upgrade Android OTA:
The update in Setting quickly said "You're on the latest version" (or similar) even I'm on ATT 5G for the whole night + a few restarts. I decided to factory reset the phone and realized there was a setup wizard which I didn't complete when I powered the device on at the first time. Therefore after this reset, I completed the wizard (skipped steps where a "skip" button was offered, such as login google account, login samsung account, att cloud service with monthly charges, but I completed all other steps to the end). I especially remembered where was a step saying to setting att related software. I guess that was the key.
Then I went to the Update and updates just pop-up. It takes ~8 updates to be latest (Android 13 with March 2023 security patch). The SIM manager & 2nd IMEI (for Esim) showed up after 5~6 updates.
Activation:
After ordered on bestbuy.com. I received emails from att to setup online account and to setup pin. I later picked up the order in store at the checkout counter. I wasn't requested to visit the wireless counter. I brought the device home, turned it on with sim coming from the phone package. I could make calls. (But later I realized I couldn't receive call & sms).
Unlock:
Unlock using IMEI (as non-customer) option worked well for me. Even after I inserted the att sim coming with the phone into a different phone and made call, the account page still showed the fold phone under my phone number. But after I clicked "manage device" there, I actually saw the other phone model (iphone). So if you didn't see it updated, try to get into "manage device" to be sure. I think this also explained why people went through after cancelling the service", because after that, the device + line would be gone (no longer associated with any att account).
Port-out:
I couldn't do that with Tello: This phone number cannot be ported to Tello. Please check the status of the phone number with your current carrier. I latter realized I didn't fully finish port-in to att. You can go to att.com/portstatus to check the status of port-in. I realized to update the account # (different from phone #) and PIN to finish the port-in (to att).
Cancellation:
I don't find a way to do this via chat or on the website. I decided to call (as port-out to tello failed). The representative talked a lot to make me stay and upset me by warning me I'd need to pay the first bill but she couldn't tell how much it was.
She suggested me to stay for the 1st month as I anyway needed to pay, but I insisted to cancel (so it would be within 14-day). Let me see what the bill will look like. I used the new att line to make the cancellation call, so the call actually dropped when she said she would proceed.
I didn't see the device or the line on my att account ~1hr after the cancellation call.
Upgrade Android OTA:
The update in Setting quickly said "You're on the latest version" (or similar) even I'm on ATT 5G for the whole night + a few restarts. I decided to factory reset the phone and realized there was a setup wizard which I didn't complete when I powered the device on at the first time. Therefore after this reset, I completed the wizard (skipped steps where a "skip" button was offered, such as login google account, login samsung account, att cloud service with monthly charges, but I completed all other steps to the end). I especially remembered where was a step saying to setting att related software. I guess that was the key.
Then I went to the Update and updates just pop-up. It takes ~8 updates to be latest (Android 13 with March 2023 security patch). The SIM manager & 2nd IMEI (for Esim) showed up after 5~6 updates.
Activation:
After ordered on bestbuy.com. I received emails from att to setup online account and to setup pin. I later picked up the order in store at the checkout counter. I wasn't requested to visit the wireless counter. I brought the device home, turned it on with sim coming from the phone package. I could make calls. (But later I realized I couldn't receive call & sms).
Unlock:
Unlock using IMEI (as non-customer) option worked well for me. Even after I inserted the att sim coming with the phone into a different phone and made call, the account page still showed the fold phone under my phone number. But after I clicked "manage device" there, I actually saw the other phone model (iphone). So if you didn't see it updated, try to get into "manage device" to be sure. I think this also explained why people went through after cancelling the service", because after that, the device + line would be gone (no longer associated with any att account).
Port-out:
I couldn't do that with Tello: This phone number cannot be ported to Tello. Please check the status of the phone number with your current carrier. I latter realized I didn't fully finish port-in to att. You can go to att.com/portstatus to check the status of port-in. I realized to update the account # (different from phone #) and PIN to finish the port-in (to att).
Cancellation:
I don't find a way to do this via chat or on the website. I decided to call (as port-out to tello failed). The representative talked a lot to make me stay and upset me by warning me I'd need to pay the first bill but she couldn't tell how much it was.
She suggested me to stay for the 1st month as I anyway needed to pay, but I insisted to cancel (so it would be within 14-day). Let me see what the bill will look like. I used the new att line to make the cancellation call, so the call actually dropped when she said she would proceed.
I didn't see the device or the line on my att account ~1hr after the cancellation call.
Upgrade Android OTA:
The update in Setting quickly said "You're on the latest version" (or similar) even I'm on ATT 5G for the whole night + a few restarts. I decided to factory reset the phone and realized there was a setup wizard which I didn't complete when I powered the device on at the first time. Therefore after this reset, I completed the wizard (skipped steps where a "skip" button was offered, such as login google account, login samsung account, att cloud service with monthly charges, but I completed all other steps to the end). I especially remembered where was a step saying to setting att related software. I guess that was the key.
Then I went to the Update and updates just pop-up. It takes ~8 updates to be latest (Android 13 with March 2023 security patch). The SIM manager & 2nd IMEI (for Esim) showed up after 5~6 updates.
Activation:
After ordered on bestbuy.com. I received emails from att to setup online account and to setup pin. I later picked up the order in store at the checkout counter. I wasn't requested to visit the wireless counter. I brought the device home, turned it on with sim coming from the phone package. I could make calls. (But later I realized I couldn't receive call & sms).
Unlock:
Unlock using IMEI (as non-customer) option worked well for me. Even after I inserted the att sim coming with the phone into a different phone and made call, the account page still showed the fold phone under my phone number. But after I clicked "manage device" there, I actually saw the other phone model (iphone). So if you didn't see it updated, try to get into "manage device" to be sure. I think this also explained why people went through after cancelling the service", because after that, the device + line would be gone (no longer associated with any att account).
Port-out:
I couldn't do that with Tello: This phone number cannot be ported to Tello. Please check the status of the phone number with your current carrier. I latter realized I didn't fully finish port-in to att. You can go to att.com/portstatus to check the status of port-in. I realized to update the account # (different from phone #) and PIN to finish the port-in (to att).
Cancellation:
I don't find a way to do this via chat or on the website. I decided to call (as port-out to tello failed). The representative talked a lot to make me stay and upset me by warning me I'd need to pay the first bill but she couldn't tell how much it was.
She suggested me to stay for the 1st month as I anyway needed to pay, but I insisted to cancel (so it would be within 14-day). Let me see what the bill will look like. I used the new att line to make the cancellation call, so the call actually dropped when she said she would proceed.
I didn't see the device or the line on my att account ~1hr after the cancellation call.
1. There are many models of z fold 3 but in US two models are imp. F926U is carrier locked version and F926U1 is the unlocked US version. The firmware for these versions are interchangeable so you can flash the ATT model with F926U1 firmware.
2. Download patched odin v3.14.1_3B_PatchedD.zip from https://forum.xda-developers.com/...1.3762572/ as regular odin does not allow flashing mismatched firmware.
3. Download the firmware from F96U1 XAA version from https://samfrew.com/download/Gala...OYZ2FWB3/. Extract as there will be multiple files.
4. Connect z fold 3 to the windows PC.
5 .Put z fold 3 in download/recovery/odin mode. Power down. Press Volume up and down together and then press Volume up to go into recovery (a green screen would appear).
6. Start odin and then select different files for different categories and then start.
7, It should be now the US unlocked version.
Someone was saying the Mac smart switch might get it to update but I've not tried it as I wanted to get rid of ATT bloat.
i tried thru the att website to unlock it and got denied
"The service on your mobile number hasn't been active for at least 60 days."
then i called customer service 3 times and all said the same thing
cant unlock had to wait 60 days
so i gave up it wasn't too important for me to unlock it.
then i ported out the phone number to cancel the service. EDIT ported out to tello
two days later after i cancelled my service
i went on the AT&T device unlock website and submitted a unlock request.
went into my email to confirm the request.
about 1 minute later i got the email saying it got approved!!
"Heads up! We approved your unlock request."
just wanted to share my experience with unlocking the device i was really surprised when i got the approved email looks like you don't have to be wasting your time battling with the service reps
hopefully this works for everyone!!
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since i ported out and cancelled my number
under 14 days they can not charge you.
my att account online was showing i had to pay 118 dollars
the rep said it will update and i will not have to pay.
i told the rep i joined another cheaper family plan
so they would stop questioning why i cancelled
ATT said unlock was not successful and is going to create a case. Anyone had the same problem?
Edit: flashed unlocked ROM and it works fine now. Incomplete CSC in AT&T's firmware?
Before terminating service, I had made one attempt to get the code using the AT&T app on the phone which came back with a message and a url to check the device lock status. I forwarded the message to my other phone and this evening checked the url. surprised to see that the request was not only approved but I had the unlock code.
So for anyone who has hit the wall, try this as a last resort and see if it gets you anywhere
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1st, activate your AT&T service.
2. Take out Sim and put it in an unlocked iPhone.
3. Wait for your Att account to show the iPhone.
4. Request unlock via the imei number
5. Enjoy
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