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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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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.
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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.
The phone app atleast let you submit the request.
This gets more interesting. After canceling ATT service on the 28th, i logged into the Tello acct this morning and it showed the phone # as active. So i regenerated the eSIM QR code and used the Fold3 to configure, got the network lock message, punched in the unlock code and the Fold3 is now happily running on Tello.
This is without porting out the # from ATT.
Seems like theATT port-in reverts if you cancel service within a few hours of the # being ported in. I had canceled mine within 3 hours after getting nowhere with the unlock code request.
0. Check that your AT&T account is not suspended. Mine was suspended as I did not port a number over (I saw others did not have to successfully and was feeling cheap with the $3 google voice port). If it is suspended I believe you will likely have to call them and setup a real number for this method to work as you will need to be able to call-out from the AT&T sim, but tbh I was able to get the Fold 3 number to register on myAT&T via the 611 customer support number, did not try it on the second phone though. PAC Port activation center direct number
866-895-1097, was most helpful for porting
- Receive Fold 3, insert AT&T sim card that came with it
- Let the phone setup, login/setup your myAT&T account
- Make a call ON DATA with the Fold 3 (wifi calls will take over at times, or maybe data needs to be running for the phone to register, either way this was faster/showed up for me)
- Check myAT&T account from the app you will see "My Wireless Devices" with a picture of the Fold 3 below "Make a Payment" (this is different from online at att.com; but you will see a Fold 3 there as well, I do not recommend checking here, explained later)
- If you do not see it, try restarting the phone with sim in? Then turn off wifi, make a few calls, maybe click a few sites? This update on myAT&T app was within 10, likely 5 minutes for me when it did work.
- Now that you see the Fold 3 on your AT&T account, take the sim out and put it into an UNLOCKED phone, preferably a NEWER NAME BRAND phone that would likely be in their system
- I first did a newer OnePlus that did not work, then an older iPhone 6s that didn't work, iPhone 11 Pro worked.
- Restart the phone with the AT&T sim card in. Turn off wifi to avoid wifi calling. Make a few calls.
- Check the AT&T app you should see the new phone replace the Fold 3, in my case the iPhone 11 Pro
- NOTE: This did not update on the AT&T website from browser/desktop, I didn't have any options yet and wouldn't find anything soon for 24-hours so I gave it a shot since it updated in the app.
- Go to https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/
- Submit an unlock request
- Do you have a mobile number from AT&T? No
- Provide IMEI# (Call *#06# on the Fold 3)
- Check the box: I've read the legal info. I agree to the device unlock eligibility requirements.
- next etc. etc.
- Last note is my adblock was getting in the way so I opened the "Confirm your device unlock request within 24 hours" email via a chrome incognito browser. It was initially saying link expired, but I just kept refreshing and reconnected my wifi then went to a new browser like mentioned
- Received the approval in 2 minutes after. My code was 16 digits. Beware people have been saying they have received short 8-digit codes from reps, and there is a 5? try limit before it is locked
- If you are denied, try again in 24-hours, idk what other things to tweak than another phone; but at this point I would say file complaint with FCC (did this when I was first denied, went thru multiple reps/depts then up 2 chains of supervisors and they just iced out nope policy changed not possible even if you purchased before):
- By Email: https://consumercomplai
- (see below for what I wrote directly as you can use for reference/change dates/etc)
- FCC by phone: 1-888-225-5322
- At least one person has posted this route worked for them, but it seems they have daysss (maybe 30) to respond, so don't depend on it; I haven't cancelled AT&T yet but I'll mention FCC if they don't cancel costs
That's all I got, hopefully this helps! Best of luck everyone, and I just want to say I'll likely never be signing up with AT&T due to their customer service experience towards the consumer.Update on Cancellation: For cancellation, I called in via the 611 number. Asked for the cancellation department, they called me back I said I've had to talked to tons of different reps, supervisors, supervisors of supervisors, and a person from the "office of the president of at&t" and things just aren't working out. The monthly fee, activation fee, and hidden "All surcharges, taxes & fees:" on billing just add up to too much and I want it canceled under buyer's remorse policy with the fees waived as I haven't had my sim/active for over 2 days even yet. They said sure, buyer's remorse should waive the charges. Note: I did goof and called using the AT&T sim to make sure they wouldn't have any issues identifying and the call disconnected when they canceled services. Calling back now, but sounds smooth otherwise, likely won't update anything else here unless there's issues.
My FCC Complaint:
Unfortunately sold out within 250 miles of WIchita Falls so I could not order.
I got tempted in doing this deal so I could upgrade my backup phone line, which is currently a 2016 iPhone SE, get near flagship (though out of date) features, and not have to pay flagship price.
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ATT shows 180 dollars bill. I called customer service and asked what for? They have no clue. says charges should be credited,
AT&T seems to be worse for new line of service if planning to terminate sooner.
Too bad I didn't notice this deal in time. Out of stock in my area, no delivery available either. I may have just gone with Verizon for $100+ more since they unlock regardless after 60 days, and ATT seems to continually have problems with their portal.
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