My grandmother recently started buying mystery boxes from a liquidation company, and one of the boxes contained an S25 Ultra phone. When she took it to Verizon for help, they informed her that the phone is SIM locked and would require a code to unlock it. However, she couldn't recall any more details from the conversation. After doing some research, I discovered that the phone doesn't have a SIM card at all. What are my options here? Can I just purchase a new SIM card and use it? If so, do I need a specific one? How can I identify which SIM card is needed?
4 Answers
You should know that if there's money owed on the phone, you'll need to settle that first before using it with any other carrier aside from the one it's currently locked to. Best check on that first!
If the phone is locked to a specific provider, that provider will need to unlock it for you. Make sure to reach out to them with the necessary details.
Just a heads up: when it was mentioned that it’s SIM locked, that means it can only work with a specific carrier’s SIM (or eSIM). You should check the IMEI number (usually found in the box) and use the tool that another user shared to find out exactly which carrier you need.
You can check the phone's IMEI number here: [imei.org/check-imei/sim-lock](https://imei.org/check-imei/sim-lock). It should tell you which carrier the phone is locked to, which will help you in the unlocking process.
How do I even find out which carrier it’s locked to, especially since it doesn't have a SIM card in it?