Phones can be a funny thing. They’ve become an integral part of our lives, but sometimes we still can’t use them exactly how we want. If you have a Huawei P9 that you purchased through a carrier on a contract or with a payment plan, you might be tied to that carrier until your contract term is over or the phone is paid off. I don’t know about you, but I hate being tied down. I like to pick my own carrier based on who has the best deal and I like to take my phone with me to other countries and pick up a local SIM when I go on vacation.
Just because I’m in another country doesn’t mean I’m going to stop looking at Reddit, does it?
Well, you can’t do those things if your phone is SIM locked to a carrier. When you pop another SIM card into your phone, it simply won’t activate on that network. So, how do we solve that? We get it SIM unlocked. There are a couple different options to unlocking your phone we’ll discuss here today.
First off, you can go through your carrier. If you bought your phone from a carrier and your account is in good standing, your device is paid off, and you’ve had the device on your account for a set number of days (varies by carrier) then you can request an unlock code.
If you purchased your P9 on a payment plan or a two-year contract through your carrier, you probably will not qualify for that at this point since it’s unlikely your phone is paid off or the contract term is up. If you don’t meet the requirements or you’re trying to unlock a used or “new to you” phone, you’ll need to go through a third-party unlocking service like Android SIM Unlock.
So, how exactly do you get your phone unlocked? Here are the steps we’ll need to take for both methods.
Get your IMEI Number
Before you do anything else, you need your IMEI number. IMEI stands for International Mobile Equipment Identifier and it’s the unique code for every device to identify it to carriers for access on their networks. Here’s how you get your IMEI number:
- Open the phone application
- Dial *#06#
- Your phone’s IMEI will pop up on the display
- Write it down in a document on your computer or a piece of paper nearby
Unlocking
Free unlocking
Earlier in the article, we talked about the requirements to get your free SIM unlock. If you’re unsure if you qualify, give your carrier a call and ask. The worst they can tell you is no and all you’ve lost is time. If you do qualify, wonderful! Here are the steps to unlocking your device with an unlock code provided by your carrier:
- Call your carrier customer service (normally you just dial 611 and hit send!)
- Request an unlock code
- Provide the IMEI number you wrote down earlier
- Your unlock code will be sent to you and should arrive within 5 days
- Replace the SIM card in your phone with one from another carrier
- Enter the unlock code when the prompt comes up
When you get your unlock code, grab a piece of paper and write it down and put that in your wallet or purse. While these steps are easy, you don’t want to be left trying to pull that information out of a document you have saved in the cloud when you have no service and no WiFi connections. Just do it the old fashion way.
Paid unlocking
If you don’t qualify for a free SIM unlock from your carrier, you still have options! You can buy a cheap unlock code from a third-party unlocker like Android SIM Unlock.
- Visit Android SIM Unlock or a similar unlocking site and enter the IMEI you wrote down earlier
- Complete the checkout process
- Your unlock code will arrive in your email in about an hour, but most of the time sooner than that
- Put a SIM card from another carrier in your Huawei P9
- Enter the unlock code in the prompt that appears on screen
It’s as easy as that. Enjoy your new (or used) Huawei P9 on any network you please.
