Samsung Galaxy S3: How to Unlock the Phone for Free in 2 Easy Ways

If your Samsung Galaxy SIII is locked and you want to unlock it for certain reason, said that you want to go abroad and want to put the local SIM card to get their services, then you can do this easily by using two methods available as listed below. Both of these methods is easy to do, no need to pay and no root required.


Method 1: Ask your carrier to unlock the phone
The first method that you can do to unlock your phone is by asking the unlock code from your provider. Here are the complete steps to do:

1. Reach the provider through the calls or emails to ask them to unlock your phone. You can give them the explanation of what the reason that force you to unlock the phone, for instance you need to unlock the phone because you want to go to abroad, etc. FYI, some of carriers may refuse to unlock the phone until the contract is over, or you have to use their services for certain time period. If you managed to get the code then go to the next step, while if your carrier doesn't provide you the code then try to use the next methods.
2. Turn the phone off, remove your old SIM card and insert with the new one.
3. Turn on the phone.
4. You'll see an 'Enter the unlock code' screen. Enter the unlock code here. Once you've finished, now you can use the phone with the service from the new provider.

Method 2: Unlock the phone from the Service Menu
If your carrier refuse to provide you the code, then you still be able to unlock the phone by following the easy steps as listed below:

1. To make it works, make sure your Samsung Galaxy SIII is already with the Android 4.1 or above. You can check the software version through About device under the Settings menu.
   See also:How to Check Software Information on Samsung Galaxy S3 
2. Open the Phone app, then enter *#197328640# to get the Service menu.
3. In the ServiceMode menu, select the [1] UMTS.
4. Open the Debug menu by selecting [1] DEBUG SCREEN, then select [8] PHONE CONTROL.
5.  In Phone Control menu, select [6] NETWORK LOCK.
6. Next, select [3] Perso SHA256 Off. Wait for about 30 seconds then tap the Menu key and select Back.
7. Select [4] NW Lock NV Data INITIALLIZ. Wait for about 1 minute then reboot your phone.
8. Insert the new SIM card to the phone. If the code you've entered is correct, then you should not see the Enter the unlock code screen.
9. Now you can enjoy your new SIM card and all services available in it.

Well, these are two methods that you can use to unlock your Samsung Galaxy SIII for free. However, if you have your own methods to do so, then I'll really appreciate if you willing to share them through the comment below :)