You’ll have to excuse the Mr Blurry-cam shot, but some changes to T-Mobile’s SIM unlock policy are set for tomorrow. These changes come after a change to the long-standing unlock policy went into action this past May. T-Mobile then altered the new rules  a few days later after a petition was floated as a small group found the new set of policies to be less than agreeable. With the arrival of Simple Choice, T-Mobile changed up the SIM unlock policy to help avoid customers unlocking devices prior to paying off the full price of the device. T-Mobile included an international exception a few days later for customers often traveling overseas.

The new changes include:

• 40 days active service required for prepaid, this changes from 60 days and better aligns with the post-paid unlock policy
• 2 unlocks per year, per line of service, this changes from 90 days and is likely being changed to fall in line with JUMP!
• International exception still includes customers having two full months of monthly recurring charges (MRC) + EIP payments

As far as the reasoning for the 40 days? T-Mobile will instruct its staff to say it’s an anti-fraud measure, changing from the previous reasoning of buyers remorse. Truthfully, it is anti-fraud in a sense and I don’t see any issue with customer reps describing it using that verbiage. I’m not sure what brought about another set of changes in the SIM unlock policy necessitating a change tomorrow, other than the arrival of the JUMP! upgrade program. Still, I’m glad to see the international exception left intact allowing customers to travel without being concerned they can’t use their own smartphone.