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Edited March 20, 2024
at 10:38 PM
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https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sams...Id=6530811
S23 for $299
S23+ for $399
S23 ultra for $549
IMO great price for S23U
The VZW S23 is $50 more. VZW one unlocks after 60 days even if you cancel the account. For ATT read below for instant unlock.
1. There are two timelines for the cancellation. If you cancel a line before 3 days it was active then the activation fee is waived. If you cancel it within 14 days from activation under buyers remorse then no bill is charged but activation fees need to be paid. The line activates on right when you place the order not the day you receive the phone on hand so you might have to pay the activation fee of $35.
2. You can get a new number in a best buy store or you can use a tello number and port to ATT to do this all online but you would have to make sure porting is successful by going to
https://www.att.com/portstatus/.
3. You can use SIM swap method method to unlock the device.
4. When you receive the phone activate it on ATT with the SIM provided. Make sure it shows up on myATT app/in the web so ATT knows and registers the IMEI in the network. Then put the SIM in another unlocked phone, reboot, make some calls and make sure this unlocked phone is now showing under the line in app/web portal.
5. Now go to ATT unlock portal
https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/ and then choose not an ATT customer and use the IMEI of s23 and submit an unlock request.
6.Confirm the unlock request email and receive the unlock code.
7. Only cancel the line after you have unlocked the phone.
Then after unlocking if you are feeling adventurous and want to flash the phone to an unlocked firmware to get rid of ATT bloat you can follow these steps. It's actually very easy to do with Odin.
1. There are many models of s23U but in US two models are imp. S918U is carrier locked version and S918U1 is the unlocked US version. The firmware for these versions are interchangeable so you can flash the ATT model with S918U1 firmware.
2. Download patched odin v3.14.1_3B_PatchedD.zip from
https://xdaforums.com/t/patched-o...1.3762572/ as regular odin does not allow flashing mismatched firmware.
3. Download the firmware from S918U1 XAA version from
https://samfrew.com/firmware/mode.../Desc/0/10 Extract as there will be multiple files.
4. Connect S23U to the windows PC. Make sure developer mode is turned on in the phone.
5 .Put s23u 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.
Cancellation of the ATT account and bill thereafter
== Will ATT send me a bill after the account is cancelled?
Firstly, keep the ATT buyers remorse policy handy when you talk to them. See
https://www.att.com/wireless/return-policy/ click on "Consumer and Signature Customer Program Devices and Accessories" and here are the policy terms
"Service Cancellations within 14 Days. You may call us at 800-331-0500 to cancel wireless service. You are responsible for all applicable fees, prorated access charges, taxes, surcharges, or other charges through the termination date. AT&T will refund your activation fee, if any, if service is terminated within 3 days of activation. The charges for service used on the account before the service termination date may be applied against any down payment."
ATT will send you a bill with the full amount even after you cancel your account so you have to do couple of things to get rid of charges.
1. When you open the bill in myATT app/att website there will be something called "Don't recognize this fee" under the activation. You can click on it to get rid of a activation fee. This is an instant and automatic credit. Also this works even if you cancelled the account after 3 days.
2. Chat with CS to get rid of rest of the charges. Make sure to not fall for credit in the next bill/adjusted in the next bill, Be polite but persistent that you want charges to be credited now. Bring up the policy if you have to.
See
https://slickdeals.net/f/17327499-oneplus-nord-n30-5g-128gb-unlocked-chromatic-gray-cph2513-best-buy-0 recent interactions with ATT CS.
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Believe it or not, that type of gaming is tracked and no one will be able to fix that for you.
Ex-AT&T employee.
PS: If you don't care, that's fine. But If you do, then you should be aware of this and pick your deals carefully.
Also s24 have similar att offers through best buy for +$100 to $150
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Yes for a new ATT account altogether you will have to go to store if you don't port a number.
So if shipping says it will arrive on Wednesday at the earliest, you won't meet the 3 day cut off. Is that right? TIA
Most likely but it depends when the line is created/activated which they do just before shipping, not when you place the order.
-None of my local best buys had any S23s in stock so I had to do this fully online. I didn't want to mess with porting my number in and then back out, so I folloo OP's advice on using tello. For $5 I immediately had a number I could port with an Esim (came in handy later) and cancel the plan at any time.
-Placed the order with Best Buy using the Tello number. They called the next day and needed my ATT account pin to establish service, which I hadn't setup yet, so it was the last 4 of my SSN. Some weird stuff going on with shipping, as Best Buy sent an automated email saying it was delayed and tracking info was unavailable, but it showed up 2 days after my order.
-The hardest part was getting the new S23 setup and connected to ATT. I don't know if something was up with the SIM card they sent, if things were weird because of porting, or something got setup wrong on my new account. Phone would show bars but no data and calls wouldn't go through. Spent an hour on the phone with customer service getting it straightened out. Seems like they never setup my plan right and the APN profile it was trying to use was all wrong. Eventually got it straightened out, phone still wouldn't send texts, could receive and had data and connected to the network, which was all I needed anyway.
-Sim swapped into my Galaxy S10E (RIP small phone king). Verified the S10 was showing on my ATT account and put through the unlock request for the S23 using IMEI. Made sure to use phone number and email unassociated with the new account. Unlock request went through without an issue.
-Something not mentioned in the instructions: YOU NEED A SIM FROM ANOTHER CARRIER TO GET THE UNLOCK CODE ENTRY BOX TO POP UP. I tried a few different phone dialer codes from Google to no avail. Unfortunately I'm primarily using ATT prepaid, so my SIM didn't work to get the unlock box to pop up. (Interestingly the locked phone worked just fine on ATT prepaid. I didn't extensively test but I had 4G data and bars with the prepaid SIM inserted). What I ended up doing was using the Tello Esim to get the phone to generate the unlock code entry box. Entered the code and was unlocked. So even though the number was already ported out of Tello, the Tello Esim still worked to get the code box to show up.
-Chatted with ATT customer service to request cancellation. Typical "are you sure" run around but they ended up cancelling the line without much hassle. Interestingly, the CS rep said I had a $0 balance. My ATT account online shows a $0 balance as well. We'll see what the final bill looks like but it appears I won't have to do any run around to get charges reversed or anything.
-Followed the odin instructions as well as used frija to get unlocked firmware. Frija downloaded much faster than the link in the instructions. Use xaa for the csc code. Was able to flash the new stock unlocked firmware. One of the files takes a while to load into Odin, so don't fret if you're waiting on it for a few minutes. It's 10 GB of data after all.
$300 unlocked S23 is super slick for me. Big thanks for finding and posting this deal!
To unlock the phone I also ended up using the Tello eSim (to trigger the unlock code prompt) because my existing service sim was also eSim. I used a fake name and email in the unlock form with the s23 IMEI. I think this is an important detail many do not follow. Do this on a computer you're not logged into anything on, in an incognito tab, with a random name, email and phone number. I think if it ties any of those details to the purchaser of the phone, it will refuse unlock due to 60-day rule.
You can try that, however I don't have anyone confirming that they do indeed unlock it after 60 days wait. For VZW, it gets automatically unlocked but for ATT you have to request unlock. Many people have reported that when you cancel the account then unlock website gives you an error "service has been cancelled within 14 days" I'm not sure if that status changes after 60 days.
To unlock the phone I also ended up using the Tello eSim (to trigger the unlock code prompt) because my existing service sim was also eSim. I used a fake name and email in the unlock form with the s23 IMEI. I think this is an important detail many do not follow. Do this on a computer you're not logged into anything on, in an incognito tab, with a random name, email and phone number. I think if it ties any of those details to the purchaser of the phone, it will refuse unlock due to 60-day rule.
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To unlock the phone I also ended up using the Tello eSim (to trigger the unlock code prompt) because my existing service sim was also eSim. I used a fake name and email in the unlock form with the s23 IMEI. I think this is an important detail many do not follow. Do this on a computer you're not logged into anything on, in an incognito tab, with a random name, email and phone number. I think if it ties any of those details to the purchaser of the phone, it will refuse unlock due to 60-day rule.
Ship to your home address is activated first and then shipped.
Ship to store get activated during pickup but I couldn't get it unlocked with ship to store, keep getting wait 60 days and then cannot unlock as you cancelled within buyers remorse period even when I started the phone on my old account.
I ended up with activation fee + prorated monthly charges and $45 best buy restocking fee.
So unless someone had success with ship to store, I'd advise you to get it shipped to your home address.
Ship to store get activated during pickup but I couldn't get it unlocked with ship to store, keep getting wait 60 days and then cannot unlock as you cancelled within buyers remorse period even when I started the phone on my old account.
I ended up with activation fee + prorated monthly charges and $45 best buy restocking fee.
So unless someone had success with ship to store, I'd advise you to get it shipped to your home address.
1. Did you use a different name and Email ID while submitting an unlock request ?
2. What steps you feel you could have done differently now?
1. Did you use a different name and Email ID while submitting an unlock request ?
2. What steps you feel you could have done differently now?
I would do ship-to-home instead of ship-to-store for pickup.. as that is the only step I did differently from others.
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