PcMag: How To Unlock Your Phone

How To Unlock Your Phone
12.07.06
Total posts: 3


By Sascha Segan



Now that the Copyright Office has given a green light to unlock your
GSM or iDen phone, you can save money on a new phone - provided you
can find it unlocked, or unlock it yourself. Depending on your phone,
you might be able to do that by punching in a code, by buying a cable,
or by sending it to a professional unlocking service. This applies to
Cingular, T-Mobile and Nextel phones; Sprint, Verizon and Alltel
subscribers are out of luck, for reasons I'll explain below.

If you've had a T-Mobile phone for 90 days, or you've run out of time
on a Cingular contract, you can get an unlocking code just by calling
your carrier. Tell your carrier's customer service representative that
you're traveling abroad and want to use a foreign carrier's SIM card.
If they don't give you the code, stick by your guns and ask for a
manager.

If you don't fulfill those requirements - say you've just bought a
phone off of eBay and it turns out to be locked, or you want to use a
phone locked to a foreign carrier, or you want to make a prepaid phone
into postpaid - you have a bunch of different options.

If you have an older or more basic Nokia phone, including the 1100,
6230, 6820 or 7650, you can use a free, online calculator to figure out
your unlock code. Check out the instructions at
http://nokiafree.org/forums/t64045/s.html and then use the calculator
at http://unlock.nokiafree.org/ to find the code.

Owners of a few GSM Pocket PC smart phones made by HTC - the Cingular
8125 and 8525, and T-Mobile MDA - can use another free tool, at
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=240784.

For most other phones, you have to buy something, whether it's software
or a service. Many phones, including Sony Ericsson phones,
Blackberries, some Treos, some LG phones and HTC smart phones can be
unlocked with software and a special cable, according to Alex
Parkhomovich of CellCorner.com in Astoria, NY. Running the software
taps into a remote database of unlocking codes and transmits the right
code to your phone. All told, expect to spend $15-60 for the cable
and/or the license to unlock one phone.

Many more recent phones either require hardware modifications or aren't
unlockable at all, according to Evan Silbert, president of Warlox
Wireless (www.iunlock.com) in Boston. Silbert only does "postal
unlocking" - you send him a phone, he unlocks it and sends it back to
you, charging around $25 for the service. Postal unlocking is the best
bet for non-expert users, Silbert says, because he guarantees success
and his experts won't damage your phone.

On recent Motorola phones, that involves disassembling the phone,
drilling into a shield over the main circuit board to tap into the
right contacts and kicking the phone into a special diagnostic mode to
get at the unlocking code. Recent Samsung phones can be unlocked with a
software-only process, Silbert said.

If you're really hard core, you can buy gadgets like the NsDongle for
unlocking Samsung phones and the Smart Unlocker box for many Motorola
phones from CellCorner. But that kind of unlocking hardware costs $200
or more, so Parkhomovich suggests buying unlocking software or services
instead, which cost $15-60 from him depending on the device.

Unfortunately, some very new phones can't be unlocked at all. The
hackers are working on it, but if you can't find your phone on the
lists at CellCorner, iUnlock, or other unlocking shops like
TheFoneDoc.com and GSMLiberty.net, you may be out of luck.

Once your phone is unlocked and moved to a different network, you'll
have to reprogram the phone's data settings so you can access the Web
and send and receive picture messages. T-Mobile users can get their
settings at http://tmobileus.wdsglobal.com/phonefirst; Cingular users
should call 611 and ask to have their MMS and WAP settings pushed to
their phone number.

The various unlocking services all unlock different phones for
different prices, so it's worth shopping around to find the best
service and the best deal. HowardForums has a good list of unlocking
shops (http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=63).
next >

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2069846,00.asp

"Ablang" <ron916@gmail.com> wrote in news:1167452007.399993.303650@
73g2000cwn.googlegroups.com:

> The various unlocking services all unlock different phones for
> different prices,

Too bad our licensing agency, now a slave to the CTIA, doesn't just stroke
the pen and refuse to give "type approval" to any phone that
locks.....eliminating this problem for consumers...


--
http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/verichip.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VeriChip
http://www.verichipcorp.com/
Tracked like a dog, every license/product/tax.
Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor,
free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their
foreheads:
17 and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the
name of the beast, or the number of his name...

On 29 Dec 2006 20:13:27 -0800, "Ablang" <ron916@gmail.com> wrote:
: How To Unlock Your Phone
: 12.07.06
: Total posts: 3
:
:
: By Sascha Segan
:
:
:
: Now that the Copyright Office has given a green light to unlock your
: GSM or iDen phone, you can save money on a new phone - provided you
: can find it unlocked, or unlock it yourself. Depending on your phone,
: you might be able to do that by punching in a code, by buying a cable,
: or by sending it to a professional unlocking service. This applies to
: Cingular, T-Mobile and Nextel phones; Sprint, Verizon and Alltel
: subscribers are out of luck, for reasons I'll explain below.

Forgive me for pointing this out, but I do believe that you forgot to explain
those reasons below.

Indeed, someone in this or a related thread stated that Verizon doesn't lock
their phones. If true, does this put us back in luck?

Bob

: If you've had a T-Mobile phone for 90 days, or you've run out of time
: on a Cingular contract, you can get an unlocking code just by calling
: your carrier. Tell your carrier's customer service representative that
: you're traveling abroad and want to use a foreign carrier's SIM card.
: If they don't give you the code, stick by your guns and ask for a
: manager.
:
: If you don't fulfill those requirements - say you've just bought a
: phone off of eBay and it turns out to be locked, or you want to use a
: phone locked to a foreign carrier, or you want to make a prepaid phone
: into postpaid - you have a bunch of different options.
:
: If you have an older or more basic Nokia phone, including the 1100,
: 6230, 6820 or 7650, you can use a free, online calculator to figure out
: your unlock code. Check out the instructions at
: http://nokiafree.org/forums/t64045/s.html and then use the calculator
: at http://unlock.nokiafree.org/ to find the code.
:
: Owners of a few GSM Pocket PC smart phones made by HTC - the Cingular
: 8125 and 8525, and T-Mobile MDA - can use another free tool, at
: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=240784.
:
: For most other phones, you have to buy something, whether it's software
: or a service. Many phones, including Sony Ericsson phones,
: Blackberries, some Treos, some LG phones and HTC smart phones can be
: unlocked with software and a special cable, according to Alex
: Parkhomovich of CellCorner.com in Astoria, NY. Running the software
: taps into a remote database of unlocking codes and transmits the right
: code to your phone. All told, expect to spend $15-60 for the cable
: and/or the license to unlock one phone.
:
: Many more recent phones either require hardware modifications or aren't
: unlockable at all, according to Evan Silbert, president of Warlox
: Wireless (www.iunlock.com) in Boston. Silbert only does "postal
: unlocking" - you send him a phone, he unlocks it and sends it back to
: you, charging around $25 for the service. Postal unlocking is the best
: bet for non-expert users, Silbert says, because he guarantees success
: and his experts won't damage your phone.
:
: On recent Motorola phones, that involves disassembling the phone,
: drilling into a shield over the main circuit board to tap into the
: right contacts and kicking the phone into a special diagnostic mode to
: get at the unlocking code. Recent Samsung phones can be unlocked with a
: software-only process, Silbert said.
:
: If you're really hard core, you can buy gadgets like the NsDongle for
: unlocking Samsung phones and the Smart Unlocker box for many Motorola
: phones from CellCorner. But that kind of unlocking hardware costs $200
: or more, so Parkhomovich suggests buying unlocking software or services
: instead, which cost $15-60 from him depending on the device.
:
: Unfortunately, some very new phones can't be unlocked at all. The
: hackers are working on it, but if you can't find your phone on the
: lists at CellCorner, iUnlock, or other unlocking shops like
: TheFoneDoc.com and GSMLiberty.net, you may be out of luck.
:
: Once your phone is unlocked and moved to a different network, you'll
: have to reprogram the phone's data settings so you can access the Web
: and send and receive picture messages. T-Mobile users can get their
: settings at http://tmobileus.wdsglobal.com/phonefirst; Cingular users
: should call 611 and ask to have their MMS and WAP settings pushed to
: their phone number.
:
: The various unlocking services all unlock different phones for
: different prices, so it's worth shopping around to find the best
: service and the best deal. HowardForums has a good list of unlocking
: shops (http://www.howardforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=63).
: next >
:
: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2069846,00.asp