Howdy Folks.
Since Twigby goes all Verizon at year's end & the Visible deal is super cheap - we've done it for my partner's Twigby line.
Haven't yet completed the activation with Visible - but will do so soon & that will port her number away from Twigby, at least for a while.
Not super impressed with the phone itself - sure, it has a nice, big screen & looks slick, but it has the flimsiest thing I've ever seen to hold the SIM & SD card - and is sealed up tightly otherwise, showing that it is a throwaway phone when the battery gets too weak. Meh.
All that having been said - just for yuks I used the BYOD checkers at both Twigby & Verizon.
Both were fine with the IMEI of the Moto G, so I ask=>
Is that any indication that the phone is already unlocked - or - will it become locked to Visible upon activation - or - ???
I'm sure its recipient will be delighted with its nature & appearance, and since I also have a non-compatible phone I'll also have to do something soon for my line...
Undecided what that'll be though.
Several posters on the SD thread say that the Moto G pure is fully unlocked out of the box. mmfacemm also says in another thread that the phone is unlocked.
Having said that, if you have access to a main big-3 SIM, I would activate this phone with that instead of with Visible (e.g. I intend to activate the Moto G pure that will come in the mail later today with the main Verizon SIM from my iPhone 8 work phone.) I would do that just in case there is a policy similar to one where phones purchased from BestBuy lock to the first SIM on which the phone is used.
And if you do decide to activate with the Visible SIM, please let us know if the phone can subsequently be used on another carrier.
Thanks Bingyee.
Seeing your reply leaves me uncertain of the Visible deal & possible repercussions...?
No idea what happens if we send in the 'trade' phone & don't activate with them & don't want to get stuck paying for months of unused services in addition to whatever that phone is activated upon instead of Visible - that would be uneconomical AND SCARY !!
Frankly, since going forward easily with Twigby after ~1 month ain't happening for now due to absolutely needing replacement phones - here is how it looked to me as working out best=>
Get the $5 Visible swap & party deal - total cost $30 for 2 months unlimited;
Activate on Visible - make another account for a 2nd deal - then sort of self-refer to get that same pricing;
Just before paying for a 3rd month (hopefully ??) port into a new Twigby account & get their super-duper deal & pricing.
Is my impression somehow incorrect here - please tell me ??
Mine was definitely unlocked. Completely and permanently. I can't promise the one you receive will be unlocked but mine was and all signs point to them being unlocked. In fact as far as I can tell they only lock the latest iphones. The latest pixels are also unlocked and the older iphone 12 series and I suspect everything else is too.
Since unlocked you only have to pay for the 1st month.Use a referral and that is $5.
You.do have to transfer in a number from an eligible carrier. Probably the hardest part of the deal.
If you go back to Twigby eventually just be aware that after the initial super-duper pricing expires you may have luck asking them to continue at least 25% discount. Obviously YMMV but I have not had much resistance from them on a line I manage when I present them with the lower cost alternative(s) I am considering switching the line to.
As far as some of your other questions - I would activate, the terms say you must although some call and cancel right away and report being refunded the service charge. I think some have said they don't activate but that is not the deal and I suspect those doing it use a disposable payment method.
My personal view is that not activating falls into "this is why we can't have nice things" territory.
Thanks Redrotors.
I'm 100% fine with doing 2 months on each line with Visible in exchange for the free phone(s) !!
My query was about unlocked status so as to assess what may be needed later on, that's all.
All my efforts revolve around keeping verizon services alive as much as possible for us at the lowest possible cost.
We've been scraping by with exactly zero income for an unacceptably long time already, and before we make ourselves totally destitute care must be FULLY engaged.
Fortunately the folks we rent from are OK with our total disinterest in claiming goobermint 'benefits' and have been helpful during this time of great minimums for us.
Adding to the above is that we will try to avoid the $100 /360 day RP renewal somehow, at least until we get somewhat back onto our feet, and finally:
Good thing for AAA Plus, because when we went to pick up our 'newer' (2011) car from repairs, my 1997 car literally blew a head gasket (at the very least) when we were an hour from home & 2 hours from my mechanic's place & had to be towed to him.
I am still waiting anxiously to find out what those repairs may cost as I am determined to keep that great old car for the rest of my living days !!
Keeping sufficiant cellular talk & text services maintained whilst the world goes totally insane & so many changes are afoot brings me (once again !!) to think of the nutty times most of us here had with ringplus.
I haven't seen any indication that these phones have first-activation locks. But, unless you have an account you're already planning on keeping with one of the Big 3 motherships, I would avoid doing that. IF (and that's a big if) you tried this, and it locks to that mothership carrier, you won't be able to get it unlocked by any route other than the mothership-- and I've seen reports of phones like that locking to the mothership carrier even if activated on an MVNO of that carrier.
At least Visible's rates, and the required period for unlocking, are quite reasonable.