Are you going to fly away from US and don’t want to incur the high roaming charges from AT&T? If the answer is yes and you have a locked iPhone 5S, you need to apply for unlocking of your apple device. So how do you complete the unlocking process? Here are a few steps that you should be keeping in your mind.

First of all, identify the IMEI or the International Mobile Equipment Identity number of your iPhone 5S. If you don’t know it already, just go to the Settings page of your phone, select General Option and then click on the About on your device.

Secondly, the customer support team of AT&T needs to be contacted. You can either call them or chat via the official website as well. Just let them know your iPhone 5S’s IMEI number and they should be taking care of the rest of the steps. Alternatively, you can visit the official unlock request page of AT&T and submit your information over there. Yet another option is to use a third party provider.

Finally, you need to wait for a few days for an email from the AT&T team. This email will contain detailed information on how the unlocking procedure is to be completed. Remember that the iPhone 5S you own needs to be connected to iTunes. The next two steps are taking a backup of your device and then doing the restore in iTunes. You’re done! Simple, isn’t it?

Remember that you are only entitled to have 5 unlocks per year with your account. Once the iPhone 5S is unlocked, you can use it with any international carrier.

What are the Eligibility Criteria for an official AT&T Unlock?

First of all, you need to be a current customer of AT&T and there should be no past due payments at all. If you are a former customer, you will need to look up the phone or account number. An AT&T representative may ask for the original receipt of the iPhone so make sure you have that handy. If there are any contractual terms in your postpaid connection and you are within the contractual period as well, to get out of AT&T, you may need to pay an early account termination fee and the full cost of the subsidized device before you could get it unlocked.

One point should be noted though. If the iPhone 5S that you are trying to unlock was ever stolen or lost, it cannot be unlocked via the At&t web form.

How can the Third Party AT&T Unlock Providers Help?

First of all, a huge advantage is that the unlocking procedure is most of the times completed within a few hours, at maximum a two days’ time. This is extremely useful if you are planning to fly abroad and you need to unlock your AT&T iPhone on a short notice.

Got a used At&t iPhone? Unlock it express via AttUnlocker.us

If you are a second hand iPhone 5S owner, then third party unlocking service providers can be really helpful and, in some cases, your only option. Most of the times, a second hand iPhone owner doesn’t have the original payment receipt and hence, he cannot opt for an official unlock through the device unlocking request web form. Asking the original owner to send the receipt is definitely not a good idea as he may never reply to you after selling you the iPhone 5S. The good news is that the third party unlocking service providers can unlock the phone even if you don’t have the receipt.

You need to pay a fee for these services, but they are worth it as you save yourself from dealing with a lot of hassles. There are plenty of these third party services and you are advised to choose one that’s reputed and has lots of positive reviews.

Many wonder whether unlocking AT&T iPhone is legal or not. Well, you don’t need to worry about it, iPhone unlocking is completely legal if done through the carrier.