Verizon hasn’t been locking LTE phones since 2008 but it recently announced a change to that policy. It said that phones won’t be SIM unlocked out of the box. Verizon is the only carrier to offer the Google Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL in the U.S. and it appears that these devices are the first on its network to be SIM locked out of the box after a decade. However, Verizon has temporarily removed the SIM lock on these devices.
The only way customers who didn’t pre-order a Pixel 3 could purchase it yesterday was through a Verizon or Best Buy location. The latter was apparently selling them at full retail even without a Verizon account.
This meant that some non-Verizon customers picked up the device hoping to use it on another carrier. They got “SIM card isn’t supported” messages when they inserted another carrier’s SIM. This confirmed that these devices were SIM locked out of the box.
There was obviously backlash from customers about this and Verizon seems to have decided against locking the devices for now. It has begun to automatically SIM unlock all Pixel 3 units with an active Verizon SIM inside them.
“At launch, there was an update related to an automatic overnight unlock on Pixel 3s, which also showed up on phones sold in Best Buy stores. We have temporarily removed it from Pixel 3 and are assessing where it will be implemented in the future,” the carrier confirmed to AndroidPolice. Verizon is looking for ways to reinstate this lock so even if it has removed it as yet, it’s quite possible that the carrier may introduce them once again sooner rather than later.
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