Carrier Unlock New Zealand

Are you currently dealing with a locked SIM card? This is for a variety of reasons that we will explain, and we will focus on the New Zealand market. We want to first go over what the network lock is, how it affects you, ways to unlock it, and much more. We advise you to completely read this guide as there are many misconceptions about this topic that we want to cover so you can avoid certain mistakes.

What is the Carrier Lock?

The carrier lock is a restriction that is set by your carrier to prevent the usage of any other sim card on your mobile phone. This practice has been quite common, and it is indeed not an exception in New Zealand. The reason behind this lock, often has to do with some kind of promotional deal that carriers are able to offer when locking the devices. In other words, if you want to get a deal on a device, you likely have to get a contract with the carrier in which you agree to use their services for a set amount of time. To ensure that this happens, carrier often lock your deal, making it virtually impossible to use another carrier within the same country.

How does it work in New Zealand?

The way that it works in New Zealand, is not different to how it works in the rest of the world. The lock is typically set by the manufacturer even before it is sold in the market. This cooperation helps the brands ensure a set amount of orders while the carrier receives the phone lock to the carrier. Once the phone is sold, it’s IMEI and the all the information is sent to a database where it is registered as a locked device. If one try to enter another sim card, it will reject the connection as the phone cant receive the signal. This might not always be the case, but the only exception is the usage of a different provider under another type of technology.

Why is it often confused?

There are a lot of misconceptions about the network lock, this often leads to people thinking that their phone is locked to the carrier, when in reality, it is not. Before you jump to any conclusions, we suggest you run some tests to make sure what you are actually facing to the carrier lock. 

How to check if my phone is locked?

The most common way people check if the phone is locked to the carrier is by inserting a new sim card from a different carrier on the device. Although this is correct and will often tell you if it is locked or not, it is good to note that this will not often be the case. This confusion frequently happens on Android phones as they do not give you any notifications compared to iOS. At this point, you might be wondering what we are talking about; in this case, what we might be facing is that our phone is blacklisted, and that also can mean that your phone won’t connect to any network.

What if I am facing a blacklist lock?

If you think that you have a blacklist report on your phone, you will need to perform an additional test to discard this possibility. Getting the result is very easy, and it is always free, from our personal recommendation, we use the platform IMEI24, but you are free to try the one you feel comfortable with. Once you choose the platform you want to use, you will need to provide the IMEI number, which contains all the information. They will run a check, and in seconds, it will let you know if your phone is blacklisted or not. If this is your case, we invite you to check our resources to get rid of this problem.

Unlock your phone from the Carrier

To unlock a phone from the carrier, you will need to request a network unlock code that must be submitted either to the carrier itself or on a third-party tool. The unlocking process that you pick may vary depending on your needs and, most importantly, whether you meet all requirements or not. Before you go ahead and unlock your mobile phone, please really carefully and choose the option that suits your needs.

Enter a network unlock code

The first option, and probably the most common, is requesting the unlocking code directly on the carrier. To do this, you need to verify if you are eligible to be unlocked by the network, this usually goes if you meet the following criteria:

• Good standing with the company
• Phone must be fully paid off
• Phone has never been reported lost or stolen
• You must be the original owner

If you meet these criteria, you will then need to submit an unlock request directly on your network’s customer service line. To speed up the process, we advise going directly to a branch, as this will give you more understanding of the process and will likely make it faster. If you are ready to get your phone unlocked, you now need to have the following information available on the spot:

• ID (Must have full name and picture)
• Receipt of registration of the device
• Clean IMEI Number
• Letter explaining the reason of the unlocking process

The unlocking policies might change, and each specific network is free to request more information. For the most part, this is what most carriers ask for to process your request in New Zealand. If the network considers that you meet all the eligibility requirements, you will then receive an SMS where you need to enter the unlock code manually to finalize the unlocking process.

Use a third-party tool

If you don’t want to deal with any bureaucratic process, or you don’t meet all the requirements, we suggest you trying a third-party tool to handle the process for you. We know finding the right tool might be overwhelming, that’s why the team at UnlockHere developed Nifty, an AI powered tool capable of unlocking phone by IMEI in just a matter of minutes. This tool is compatible with all major carriers networks across the globe, including the ones in New Zealand. If you would like to use this tool instead, make sure to read our full guide down below to fully comprehend how it works.

Unlock your Device with UnlockHere

Nitfy a tool developed by UnlockHere allows you to unlock your device completely online without having to deal with any bureaucracy that carrier make you go through. This tool is 100% cloud based, which means that no downloads are required or extra steps that some other services make you deal with for the most part. Using Nifty is very simple, please follow the steps below to make sure that you can complete the process easily.

Submit your request to the system

The first step to start the unlocking of your device is to provide Nifty with all the information about your device. Don’t worry, the information needed is very easy to obtain and for the most part it will only take a few minutes to complete:

• Name
• Email
• Brand
• IMEI Number

As you can see, this information is super easy to obtain and all you need is to have the phone near you. To avoid any delays, please double-check all the information before sending to the server. Any mistake on the process might result in having to do the process all over again.

Activate your order

At this stage, your request will be process and analyzed by the server. This will only take a few minutes for the server to verify if your request is viable or not. In case it is, you might need to complete a simple verification process to activate your order. All steps are going to be available to you with a video tutorial and also text.

Enjoy a fully unlocked device

Once your order is completed and activated, you will receive a second email that confirms that the unlocking of your device has been successful. All is left if your check is working or not; the best way to do that is by entering a new SIM card and checking if the phone is indeed unlocked.