From: https://slickdeals.net/f/17077762-at-t-128gb-samsung-galaxy-s22-ultra-5g-w-added-line-or-new-customer-activation-350-35-activation-free-w-free-s-h?v=1&page=9&sr
Unlocking and Flashing to OEM Firmware
1. ATT changed their unlock policy on 3/18 to require 60 days of service before they can unlock a fully paid device. Previously, it used to be right away if you have paid in full.
2. There two timeline 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.
3. You can use a tello number and port to ATT but you would have to make sure porting is successful by going to https://www.att.com/portstatus/. Many from z fold 3 got stuck in porting limbo and got the ATT account cancelled.
4. As with many deals here, a SIM swap method is found which can be used to unlock the device. This was working recently but not sure if ATT would fix it by the time you try it. The steps are as follows.
a. Pay in full for the phone.While your payment will quickly reflect in your account it will be at least a few hours before it updates for the unlock request.
b. 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.
c. Now go to ATT unlock portal https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/ and then choose not an ATT customer and use the IMEI of ATT phone and submit an unlock request.DO NOT attempt more than twice or you will be blocked for 24 hours.
d.Confirm the unlock request email and receive the unlock code.
e. 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 S24 ultra but in US two models are imp. S928U is carrier locked version and S928U1 is the unlocked US version. The firmware for these versions are interchangeable so you can flash the ATT model with S928U1 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 S928U1 XAA version from https://samfrew.com/model/SM-S928U1/region/XAA/ Extract as there will be multiple files.
4. Connect S24U to the windows PC.
5 .Put S24u 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.
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ATT requires 60 days active before unlocking the phone. However, there is SIM Swap method which worked well in the past for unlocking paid-off ATT phones right away.
0. Do the following steps after paying off the phone fully and then waiting for a day or so for the unlock portal to get the paid off status.
1. ATT changed their unlock policy on 3/18 to require 60 days of service before they can unlock a fully paid device. Previously, it used to be right away if you have paid in full.
2. There two timeline 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.
3. You can use a tello number and port to ATT but you would have to make sure porting is successful by going to https://www.att.com/portstatus/. Many from z fold 3 got stuck in porting limbo and got the ATT account cancelled.
4. As with many deals here, a SIM swap method is found which can be used to unlock the device. This was working recently but not sure if ATT would fix it by the time you try it. The steps are as follows.
a. Pay in full for the phone.While your payment will quickly reflect in your account it will be at least a few hours before it updates for the unlock request.
b. 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.
c. Now go to ATT unlock portal https://www.att.com/deviceunlock/ and then choose not an ATT customer and use the IMEI of ATT phone and submit an unlock request.DO NOT attempt more than twice or you will be blocked for 24 hours.
d.Confirm the unlock request email and receive the unlock code.
e. 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 s22 ultra but in US two models are imp. S908U is carrier locked version and S908U1 is the unlocked US version. The firmware for these versions are interchangeable so you can flash the ATT model with S908U1 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 S908U1 XAA version from https://samfrew.com/model/SM-S908U1/region/XAA/ Extract as there will be multiple files.
4. Connect S22U to the windows PC.
5 .Put s22u 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.
Finally i received end of 3rd day. it was memorial day holiday when i ordered hence the delay. Was able to cancel it 4th day. Will likely get bill including the activation fee which will see if can get waived . Thanks OP
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Fingers crossed. I'll update my post if the first/final bill gets adjusted.
To get the phone to work on TMobile, is flashing csc necessary? I'm afraid i'll ruin the phone
for those that are using it on tmobile, can you share what worked and what didn't work?
any advice in this regard is appreciated
To get the phone to work on TMobile, is flashing csc necessary? I'm afraid i'll ruin the phone
for those that are using it on tmobile, can you share what worked and what didn't work?
any advice in this regard is appreciated
I am using TMobile sim on this phone and it is working fine. I did not do anything except basic thing i.e. unlocking the phone.
To get the phone to work on TMobile, is flashing csc necessary? I'm afraid i'll ruin the phone
for those that are using it on tmobile, can you share what worked and what didn't work?
any advice in this regard is appreciated
You don't need to flash only unlocking is needed to get this to work on T-Mobile.
For Verizon port-out cancel to avoid any human rep. involvement, would you still recommend if past 3 day window from order/line activation date (if phone delivery is delayed/slow for example)? Or would it be better to just pay off phone in corporate store then cancelling line through live chat with a rep?
Also, do I need to actually successfully carry out the full port-out process to my current or new provider in order to "cancel" the Verizon line and fully pay off phone. In other words, if Verizon can't verify the port out is successful with the new service provider, will charges still accrue?
I don't indeed to keep Verizon number and my current line with T-mobile is under a group plan for which I'm not primary account holder so avoiding the full port-out would be ideal.
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Any-hoo, I contact Walmart customer care within 5 minutes of delivery and am told to go to a store for a return. Store refuses to accept return because its not the same device as ordered.
Customer service promises to send me a shipping label, it never arrives. Customer service then says I can keep the other phone and they are refunding my tax payment. Nothing happens.
I am going around in circles between store, phone customer service and chat customer service at this point. It dawns on me that apart from the first line customer service, there is no simply no way to escalate such situations to a more senior team within Walmart.
In between I get a fat verizon envelope with a bill for about $120 (first month service + activation + device instalment). At this point, I now want to cancel Verizon service, void the device instalment plan and have nothing to do with this deal. I contact Verizon who send me on a transfer spree in their phone tree. Over a 3 hour period, I speak to customer service, billing, NoService, Activations and Fraud with no recourse.
I go to the store again and finally get a very busy Team Lead who pushes some buttons on a screen and spits out a return receipt which his predecessor had sworn was not possible! He couldnt answer what happens to the Verizon Device Instalment plan even though the Walmart return only takes care of the tax paid for the device. He asks me to speak to Verizon because Walmart has nothing to do with a '3rd party billing situation' even though Walmart is selling the 3rd party's instalment plan.
Back to Verizon I go. I finally get a sympathetic customer service rep at Verizon who explains that unless Walmart sends them the return information in their internal systems, Verizon cannot do anything about it. She even volunteers to call me back when I am at the Walmart store and indicates that if somebody from Walmart confirms that the refund was registered properly in the system then she could submit a ticket to cancel the device instalment plan. She also suggests that I should speak to somebody in Walmart Wireless and not the customer service desk. She even helpfully suggests that the Walmart Wireless guys are to be found at the back of the store near the Electronics section, bless her soul!
I get to the store and am told there is nobody in that store who works Walmart wireless and returns are handled by customer service anyway. I get hold of another Team Leader at Customer service in the front of the store who flat out refuse to do anything about this situation. They also refuse to speak to the kind Verizon customer service rep who has now called me at the promised time slot (wow!) and is feeding me things to say to the Walmart Team Lead but nothing worked.
After being on the phone with me for a full 45 minutes while I am talking to the Team Leaders in the Walmart store, the Verizon rep gives up and says that until Walmart sends the right information to Verizon, there is absolutely nothing she can do and calling Verizon repeatedly will not achieve anything. She goes so far as to tell me the as a indirect seller of Verizon services, every Walmart store has a designated wireless person who the store can call for such matters. She also suggests that its possible that since i completed at the customer service desk in the Walmart Store, the Walmart staff did not complete the process of making the appropriate updates in their wireless system that would push the order cancelation/return information to come to Verizon systems. However nobody at the Walmart store seems to have any idea about any of this. As far as they are concerned, the return is completed and they have refunded the tax payment. At this point, I have spoken to 3 different Walmart Team Leaders with no progress.
TLDR; ordered Verizon S24U, got the wrong phone, managed to get it returned at the Walmart store to get my tax payment refunded. However the Verizon phone service and device instalment plan are still live and I cant seem to find a way to get Walmart to inform Verizon about the order being refunded so that the whole deal can be canceled. I have a bill for $120, no phone and nightmares of monthly bills for next 36 months!
Any suggestions to help resolve this? I will clutch at any straw right now.
Do they ship physical SIM card or I need to use eSIM card?
How to activate and register new phone? Just insert new SIM card or I can use my exist business AT&T SIM card?
Thanks.
Any-hoo, I contact Walmart customer care within 5 minutes of delivery and am told to go to a store for a return. Store refuses to accept return because its not the same device as ordered.
Customer service promises to send me a shipping label, it never arrives.
Customer service then says I can keep the other phone and they are refunding my tax payment. Nothing happens.
I am going around in circles between store, phone customer service and chat customer service at this point. It dawns on me that apart from the first line customer service, there is no simply no way to escalate such situations to a more senior team within Walmart.
In between I get a fat verizon envelope with a bill for about $120 (first month service + activation + device instalment). At this point, I now want to cancel Verizon service, void the device instalment plan and have nothing to do with this deal. I contact Verizon who send me on a transfer spree in their phone tree. Over a 3 hour period, I speak to customer service, billing, NoService, Activations and Fraud with no recourse.
I go to the store again and finally get a very busy Team Lead who pushes some buttons on a screen and spits out a return receipt which his predecessor had sworn was not possible! He couldnt answer what happens to the Verizon Device Instalment plan as the Walmart return only takes care of the tax paid for the device. He asks me to speak to Verizon because Walmart has nothing to do with a '3rd party billing situation' even those Walmart is selling the 3rd party's instalment plan.
Back to Verizon I go. I finally get a sympathetic customer service rep at Verizon who explains that unless Walmart sends them the return information in their internal systems, Verizon cannot do anything about it. She even volunteers to call me back when I am at the Walmart store and indicates that if somebody from Walmart confirms that the refund was registered properly in the system then she could submit a ticket to cancel the device instalment plan. She also suggests that I should speak to somebody in Walmart Wireless and not the customer service desk. She even helpfully suggests that the Walmart Wireless guys are to be found at the back of the store near the Electronics section, bless her soul!
I get to the store and am told there is nobody in that store who works Walmart wireless and returns are handled by customer service anyway. I get hold of another Team Leader at Customer service in the front of the store who flat out refuse to do anything about this situation. They also refuse to speak to the kind Verizon customer service rep who has now called me at the promised time slot (wow!) and is feeding me things to say to the Walmart Team Lead but nothing worked. After being on the phone for a full 45 minutes, the Verizon rep gives up and says that until Walmart sends the right information to Verizon, there is absolutely nothing she can do and calling Verizon repeatedly will not achieve anything. She goes so far as to tell me the as a indirect seller of Verizon services, every store has a designated wireless person who the store can call for such matters, however nobody at the Walmart store seems to have any idea about any of this. At this point, I have spoken to 3 different Walmart Team Leaders with no progress.
TLDR; ordered Verizon S24U, got the wrong phone, managed to get it returned at the Walmart store to get my tax payment refunded. However the Verizon phone service and device instalment plan are still live and I cant seem to find a way to get Walmart to inform Verizon about the order being refunded so that the whole deal can be canceled. I have a bill for $120, no phone and nightmares of monthly bills for next 36 months!
Any suggestions to help resolve this? I will clutch at any straw right now.
This was really painful to read. I am really sorry that he happened to you. I don't have much ideas about next steps but is there a Verizon corporate store that you can go to? Your return receipt should show the original order number and if you show your original receipt it should show them that you didn't receive the device for which DPP was activated. Hopefully they might be more sympathetic?
Yeah, I don't believe Walmart order will be visible but do you happen to have IMEI of the phone in the order or somewhere else?
EDIT: The Verizon bill you got might have that info. Somehow you need to show them the IMEI of the device is not the one you received and did a return at the Walmart.
Do they ship physical SIM card or I need to use eSIM card?
How to activate and register new phone? Just insert new SIM card or I can use my exist business AT&T SIM card?
Thanks.
I think it's pSIM but some reportedly got eSIMs too. You should activate it on the line you ordered as the DPP is tacked into that line. If you have reason to believe that's not the case (like Walmart forgot to scan it) then you got a free phone and should activate it on a different line.
Also, do I need to actually successfully carry out the full port-out process to my current or new provider in order to "cancel" the Verizon line and fully pay off phone. In other words, if Verizon can't verify the port out is successful with the new service provider, will charges still accrue?...
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Any-hoo, I contact Walmart customer care within 5 minutes of delivery and am told to go to a store for a return. Store refuses to accept return because its not the same device as ordered.
Customer service promises to send me a shipping label, it never arrives. Customer service then says I can keep the other phone and they are refunding my tax payment. Nothing happens.
I am going around in circles between store, phone customer service and chat customer service at this point. It dawns on me that apart from the first line customer service, there is no simply no way to escalate such situations to a more senior team within Walmart.
In between I get a fat verizon envelope with a bill for about $120 (first month service + activation + device instalment). At this point, I now want to cancel Verizon service, void the device instalment plan and have nothing to do with this deal. I contact Verizon who send me on a transfer spree in their phone tree. Over a 3 hour period, I speak to customer service, billing, NoService, Activations and Fraud with no recourse.
I go to the store again and finally get a very busy Team Lead who pushes some buttons on a screen and spits out a return receipt which his predecessor had sworn was not possible! He couldnt answer what happens to the Verizon Device Instalment plan even though the Walmart return only takes care of the tax paid for the device. He asks me to speak to Verizon because Walmart has nothing to do with a '3rd party billing situation' even though Walmart is selling the 3rd party's instalment plan.
Back to Verizon I go. I finally get a sympathetic customer service rep at Verizon who explains that unless Walmart sends them the return information in their internal systems, Verizon cannot do anything about it. She even volunteers to call me back when I am at the Walmart store and indicates that if somebody from Walmart confirms that the refund was registered properly in the system then she could submit a ticket to cancel the device instalment plan. She also suggests that I should speak to somebody in Walmart Wireless and not the customer service desk. She even helpfully suggests that the Walmart Wireless guys are to be found at the back of the store near the Electronics section, bless her soul!
I get to the store and am told there is nobody in that store who works Walmart wireless and returns are handled by customer service anyway. I get hold of another Team Leader at Customer service in the front of the store who flat out refuse to do anything about this situation. They also refuse to speak to the kind Verizon customer service rep who has now called me at the promised time slot (wow!) and is feeding me things to say to the Walmart Team Lead but nothing worked.
After being on the phone with me for a full 45 minutes while I am talking to the Team Leaders in the Walmart store, the Verizon rep gives up and says that until Walmart sends the right information to Verizon, there is absolutely nothing she can do and calling Verizon repeatedly will not achieve anything. She goes so far as to tell me the as a indirect seller of Verizon services, every Walmart store has a designated wireless person who the store can call for such matters. She also suggests that its possible that since i completed at the customer service desk in the Walmart Store, the Walmart staff did not complete the process of making the appropriate updates in their wireless system that would push the order cancelation/return information to come to Verizon systems. However nobody at the Walmart store seems to have any idea about any of this. As far as they are concerned, the return is completed and they have refunded the tax payment. At this point, I have spoken to 3 different Walmart Team Leaders with no progress.
TLDR; ordered Verizon S24U, got the wrong phone, managed to get it returned at the Walmart store to get my tax payment refunded. However the Verizon phone service and device instalment plan are still live and I cant seem to find a way to get Walmart to inform Verizon about the order being refunded so that the whole deal can be canceled. I have a bill for $120, no phone and nightmares of monthly bills for next 36 months!
Any suggestions to help resolve this? I will clutch at any straw right now.
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