SIM lock can be unlocked immediately when purchasing in bulk from December 1st Rule change summary

Following the revision of the guidelines by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in January this year, the rules for each carrier regarding SIM unlock were changed on December 1 (including Y! Mobile and UQ mobile). Let's summarize the changes again.

By the way, only DoCoMo has changed ahead of the new rules as of May this year, and on December 1st, the three major carriers have almost the same content. However, since the explanation becomes complicated, I will introduce the three carriers together.

For example, if you unlock the SIM of your iPhone, you can use the SIMs of 3 domestic carriers and overseas carriers relatively freely.

If it is an iPhone, SIM lock can be unlocked with iPhone 6s or later. You can complete the procedure on the same day with a bulk purchase, or after 100 days with a split purchase.

First, I would like to confirm the prerequisites. SIM unlock is supported for terminals released after May 2015 (DOCOMO's Android smartphone has been supported since 2011). For iPhone, iPhone 6s series or later (including iPhone SE). The iPhone 6 and iPhone 5, which are likely to have many users, do not support it in the first place.

And, after December 1st, it became possible to unlock the SIM immediately at the time of bulk purchase. Previously, SIM lock could not be unlocked until about 6 months had passed since the purchase, regardless of whether the carrier purchased in bulk or in installments. If it is a bulk purchase, it can be done immediately after purchase.

DoCoMo will be able to unlock the SIM immediately from May of this year, and au and Softbank from December 1 at the time of bulk purchase.

In addition, the changed rule also applies to those who purchased before that, so for example, those who purchased au or Softbank's iPhone X in bulk in November should already be able to unlock the SIM.

However, please note that the following rules for split purchase will be applied in the case of a sales form such as DoCoMo's "Terminal purchase support" where the terminal price is significantly discounted on condition that the terminal is used for a certain period of time. ..

Next, in the case of split purchase. Actually, the rules have been changed as of August 1st (as mentioned above, DoCoMo changed to May).

It used to be about 6 months later that the SIM lock could be unlocked at the time of split purchase, but it has been shortened to after the 101st day. In other words, those who purchased the iPhone 8 or iPhone X in installments cannot unlock the SIM lock yet, but those who purchased the smartphone around the summer should already be able to unlock it.

The procedure for unlocking the SIM is quick online, but even au can not unlock the SIM except for the purchaser

It is recommended to go to the support site of each carrier to unlock the actual SIM. This is because a fee of 3240 yen is required for carrier shops and support phones. Find the menu on the support site and enter the device identification number called IMEI on the way (IMEI is displayed by dialing "* # 06 #" on the device). However, there are cases where a SIM from a carrier different from the one you were using is required to complete the procedure.

For docomo, access the corresponding menu from My docomo.Each carrier is prepared in a slightly deeper position

On the other hand, there are some parts that have been changed disadvantageously from December 1st. That is au. In the past, it was possible to unlock the SIM by paying a fee at the au shop even if the terminal was obtained second hand, but after December 1st, only the purchaser can apply, and 100 from the contract or cancellation. Must be within a day (DoCoMo / SoftBank has the same restrictions from before, so the rules for 3 carriers are in place).

At second-hand mobile phone stores, the trade-in price may fluctuate depending on whether or not the SIM lock is unlocked, so it seems good to complete the procedure in advance. In addition, docomo smartphones can use the cheap SIM of docomo MVNO as it is without unlocking the SIM lock, but in the case of au VoLTE compatible smartphones, the cheap SIM of au MVNO cannot be used unless the SIM lock is unlocked, so it is particularly affected. (Such restrictions are no longer allowed on devices released after August this year).

An example of a purchase service. If you unlock the SIM, the trade-in amount will increase by 5,000 yen.

Even if you unlock the SIM lock except for the iPhone, it may not always be "comfortable" to use with other carriers.

It's a bit complicated to unlock the SIM, but please be aware that unlocking the SIM lock doesn't mean that you can use it with another company's SIM without any complaints. This is because there are cases where the frequencies of other carriers are not supported.

A list of compatible frequencies on the au site. It can be seen that even if the SIM lock of the au version Galaxy Note 8 is released, it does not correspond to the 800MHz band (band 19) used by DoCoMo.

However, the story is different for the iPhone. The iPhone is basically a single model offered by three domestic carriers (that is, it supports all major bands of all three carriers), and it also supports a wide range of frequencies used overseas. One of the reasons is that the iPhone that unlocked the SIM lock is traded in relatively high in the used mobile phone specialty as mentioned above. It doesn't cost much to go through the web, so it's worth a try.