Factory reset to unlock from carrier: sim card in or out?

I'm preparing to factory reset my s22 because Verizon says it's unlocked and it's not. (See my previous posts.) Maybe a silly question, but I don't know anymore. Verizon has broken me.

When I factory reset, I will have wifi connection. The whole reason I'm doing this is to hopefully unlock the phone from the Verizon carrier. Would it make any difference if the sim card is out of the phone during this process? I can't do this and have it fail. I just can't.