Verizon handset unlocking waiver

Verizon handset unlocking waiver refers to the Federal Communications Commission's January 12, 2026 decision to release Verizon from the rule that forced it to unlock customer phones 60 days after activation. After the waiver, Verizon postpaid devices stay locked until the balance is paid in full,^[1][2] and prepaid devices stay locked for 365 days of active service, unlocked only on the customer's request rather than automatically.^[3][4] The change reduces a customer's freedom to move a paid-for device to a competitor, and it ended a policy unique to Verizon among the national carriers.^[5] The FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted the waiver in order DA-26-43, acting on a petition Verizon filed on May 19, 2025.^[1][6]

The unlocking obligation came out of the FCC's 2007 auction of the 700 MHz spectrum band, vacated by broadcasters moving to digital television.^[7] During the rulemaking in WT Docket No. 06-150, Google submitted an ex parte letter on July 9, 2007 urging the Commission to attach "open platform" conditions to the commercial blocks, and pledged to bid on the 22-megahertz Upper C Block, which carried a $4.6 billion reserve price, if the conditions were adopted.^[8][9]

The Commission adopted a narrower version in its Second Report and Order, applying open-applications and open-devices requirements to the Upper C Block.^[1] The rule was codified at 47 CFR 27.16(e), which bars a C Block licensee from disabling features that let a consumer use a handset on another provider's network. The FCC stated that licensees may not "lock" handsets to prevent their transfer from one system to another.^[1] Verizon Wireless won the Upper C Block licenses, which bound it to these obligations.^[1]

In 2019, citing identity theft, device theft, and other types of handset-related fraud, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted a partial waiver letting Verizon lock devices for the first 60 days after activation.^[1] After 60 days, Verizon had to unlock the device automatically, whether or not the customer asked and whether or not the handset was paid off, with an exception only for devices found within that window to have been bought through fraud.^[1]

The obligation grew in 2021. In 2021, the FCC approved Verizon's acquisition of TracFone Wireless under GN Docket No. 21-112, and required Verizon to apply its 60-day unlocking policy to all TracFone devices.^[1] TracFone had previously locked its prepaid phones for a year.^[5] Moving TracFone's prepaid portfolio onto a 60-day automatic unlock set up the 2025 dispute.^[1]

Verizon filed its Request for Waiver on May 19, 2025, seeking relief from both the section 27.16(e) rule and the 2021 TracFone commitment.^[1] The petition was docketed in WT Docket Nos. 06-150 and 24-186 and GN Docket No. 21-112.^[6]

Verizon argued the 60-day automatic unlock harmed consumers, distorted competition, and subsidized international device trafficking.^[6] The petition reported that device fraud rose 55% after the TracFone acquisition forced the move from a 365-day lock to a 60-day lock, and that in 2023 Verizon lost an estimated 784,703 devices to fraud, which it said cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars a year.^[5][10] Verizon also argued the rule singled it out, because AT&T and T-Mobile faced no 60-day mandate and used lock periods of six months to a year.^[11][4] Verizon proposed that, if granted the waiver, it would follow the voluntary CTIA Consumer Code for Wireless Service until the FCC adopted an industry-wide rule.^[1]

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released a Public Notice, document DA-25-490, on June 6, 2025, seeking comment on the petition. It described the request:

The Wireless Telecommunications Bureau seeks comment on a petition for waiver filed by Verizon on May 19, 2025, in WT Docket Nos. 06-150 and 24-186 and GN Docket No. 21-112, regarding the handset unlocking rule in section 27.16(e) of the Commission's rules that applies to Verizon as a 700 MHz C-Block licensee and the handset unlocking commitment that applies to Verizon as a condition of the Commission's approval of Verizon's acquisition of Tracfone.

^[6]

The Bureau set initial comments due July 7, 2025 and reply comments due July 21, 2025, and treated the matter as a permit-but-disclose proceeding.^[6]

A coalition of consumer groups led by Public Knowledge, and including the Benton Foundation, Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, and iFixit, filed a joint opposition on July 7, 2025.^[12] John Bergmayer, Legal Director of Public Knowledge, argued that the fraud rationale did not hold up because carriers with longer lock periods reported similar problems:

First, fraud is not unique to carriers that unlock after 60 days. Carriers with much longer locking periods, such as AT&T and T-Mobile, also report high rates of device fraud and trafficking. This suggests that the issue is endemic to the business model, not the unlocking period.

^[12]

The opposition argued that device locking falls hardest on low-income prepaid customers who cannot buy a phone outright.^[12] The groups also noted that in 2024 the FCC had unanimously released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in WT Docket No. 24-186 exploring a universal 60-day unlocking mandate for all carriers, and argued that granting Verizon a longer lock conflicted with that pending proposal.^[1][13] EchoStar, owner of Boost Mobile, also opposed the waiver.^[13]

Seven state attorneys general, from Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Utah, and West Virginia, filed comments backing the waiver, arguing that rapid unlocking burdened law enforcement tracking stolen devices.^[1] The nonprofit Citizens Against Government Waste filed in support on July 1, 2025, signed by its president, Thomas A. Schatz, and endorsed Verizon's framing by quoting the carrier's petition:

These bad actors target and harm American consumers and U.S. carriers like Verizon for their own profit, by diverting unlocked trafficked devices to consumers in foreign countries.

^[14]

Citizens Against Government Waste asked the FCC to extend Verizon's lock period to 180 days to match prevailing industry practice.^[14]

On January 12, 2026, the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau released DA-26-43, granting the waiver under Section 1.3 of the Commission's rules, which permits a waiver for good cause shown.^[1] The order set out its finding:

We find this waiver to be warranted because it will allow Verizon to take action against the substantial handset fraud, including device theft and handset trafficking, that uniquely impacts its business today and that significantly spiked following Verizon's acquisition of TracFone in 2021. While this waiver is in effect, Verizon has committed to fully comply with the unlocking policies in the CTIA Consumer Code...

^[1]

Responding to Public Knowledge, the Bureau wrote that Verizon's position differed from its rivals' because of the 60-day mandate:

While fraud is not unique to Verizon, Verizon is unique in being the only nationwide operator required to unlock its handsets in 60 days... Moreover, given the evolving and growing complexity of fraud actors, as detailed in the record, we find it prudent to allow Verizon to exercise its judgment to balance concerns about fraud to its business.

^[1]

The Bureau did not grant a permanent release. It stated that the waiver would remain in effect until the Commission decided on an industry-wide unlocking approach, and it declined to limit the waiver to 180 days as some commenters had urged, finding that the CTIA Consumer Code was sufficient.^[1][15]

The waiver took effect on release, applying to devices activated on or after January 13, 2026.^[16] Verizon revised its unlocking rules to track the voluntary CTIA commitments. For TracFone prepaid devices, Verizon adopted a 365-day lock, and the unlock at the end of that term was no longer automatic; the customer had to request it.^[1][3][4] For postpaid devices, Verizon held the phone locked until the balance was paid off, and applied a 35-day delay before unlocking when a customer paid the device off online or in the app, with an instant unlock available only for a secure in-store payment.^[2]

By comparison, AT&T unlocked postpaid devices after 60 days of service once paid off and prepaid devices after six months, while T-Mobile unlocked postpaid devices after 40 days once paid off and prepaid devices after 365 days.^[4] The reporting on the change noted that a phone locked to Verizon could no longer be moved to a mobile virtual network operator on the same parent network until it was unlocked through Verizon's own channels, closing a path that some prepaid customers had used to switch.^[4]

Ars Technica reporter Jon Brodkin wrote that the order killed the 60-day automatic unlocking requirement.^[17] Appleosophy described the 60-day unlock as a perk that had set Verizon apart from AT&T and T-Mobile, and noted that a locked iPhone prevents you from using a local eSIM when traveling abroad or adding a second line from a cheaper MVNO.^[18] Ars Technica also covered the small-claims case Patrick Roach v. Verizon, in which a Kansas man sued Verizon for refusing to honor the TracFone unlock policy before the waiver was granted, and won.^[19] Switching carriers with a paid-for device, Ars Technica concluded, would now take more time and effort than before.^[3]

Light Reading characterized the decision as a regulatory win that would cut Verizon's costs and reduce churn by raising the barrier for subscribers trying to move to a rival.^[5] Fierce Wireless reported that the FCC received droves of public comments opposing the waiver, with consumers calling for more unlocked phones.^[13] The right to easily move a purchased device to a cheaper carrier is a recurring theme in the Right to Repair and consumer-ownership debate, and the waiver narrowed it for Verizon customers.^[3]