Text 31944, 256 rader
Skriven 2009-05-01 11:18:42 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Kommentar till text 31934 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
Ärende: Unlocking services (was: Message prices)
================================================
01 May 09 09:13, Robert Bashe wrote to Roy Witt:
RB>>> Although it's true that most phones can be "unlocked", the
RB>>> procedure is often difficult and requires special equipment and
RB>>> programs.
RW>> For $10, you can get it unlocked thru an unlocking facility, right
RW>> over the air. Takes less than an hour from the time your payment is
RW>> credited to his account via PayPal. All he needs is the IMEI number
RW>> of your phone.
RB> I know the procedure, but unfortunately it doesn't work on current
RB> Nokia phones (but did up to a couple of years ago), and never did on
RB> Motorola or - as far as I know - the other manufacturers.
Bob, I have Motorolas and one Blackberry cell phones. None of them are
locked. The Blackberry was originally on the T-Mobile system and is now an
AT&T phone. The Motorolas, 2 of which started out life on Cingular
Wireless, are now AT&T and can also be used on T-Mobile.
RB> In such cases, you have to hook up the phone to a "programming box"
RB> and use special software to "flash" the EEPROM.
Old School. I watched as a tech did that when I started with Verizon,
c1997...there were no such things as SIMs (at least here) in those days
and all phones had to be programmed that way.
RB> For details see:
RB> http://unlockme.co.uk/phpBB2/index.php
See if the tinyurl works, if not, copy this...
http://cgi.ebay.com/CELL-PHONE-UNLOCK-CODE-NOKIA-SONY-SAMSUNG-GSM-UNLOCKIN
G_W0QQitemZ280334866096QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2803
34866096&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A3|65%3A12|39%3A1|24
0%3A1308|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A100
http://tinyurl.com/cvy2pw
They advertise:
UNLOCK YOUR PHONE TO WORK ON ALL COMPATIBLE GSM NETWORKS!
This is a Permanent Unlocking.
Your phone will never become locked again.
There is no need to send in your Phone!
All you need is the unlock code and instruction from us.
No Cables! No Software! No Damage!
RB>>> If you have someone near you who can do the job and you can bring
RB>>> the phone over to them, this can be simple. But if you have to send
RB>>> it off somewhere, the job can become more expensive than it's worth
RB>>> to remove the lock.
RW>> Old school, Bob.
RB> New school, Roy. Nowadays (and with anything but Nokia), you need
RB> fairly expensive hardware (around EUR 200) to unlock most phones -
RB> I've only seen an unlock code calculator for a few isolated Nokia BB5
RB> models, not the newer stuff. And the unlocker needs to physically
RB> possess the phone - no more Internet unlocking by code.
Old School, Bob See URL above...
RB> Too bad, but it was too good to last...
RB>>> I might add that privately "unlocking" a phone is illegal in some
RB>>> countries, such as Germany...
RW>> It's not illegal to do so in the states. In fact, I've taken a new
RW>> phone aquired from other than provider and had them burn and install
RW>> a new SIM.
RB> Since when are SIMs "burned"? We _are_ talking about GMS phones,
RB> aren't we?
Ok, wrong nomenclature. They're programmed...
RB> By the way, nothing says that a phone acquired from another provider
RB> _must_ be SIM-locked, although it _can_ be.
If you aquire one from the provider you're intending to use, they only
give/sell you a cell phone that is locked to their system.
RW>> One doesn't even need to do that, if they already have a registered
RW>> SIM. Just put it in the phone and you're ready to go.
RB> If there's no SIM lock on the phone or the SIM you want to install
RB> comes from the same provider as the one you bought with the phone, no
RB> problem. I've done this too.
If you provide me with a T-Mobile SIM, I can remove my AT&T SIM and insert
the T-Mobile SIM into my 'unlocked' phone and operate it on their system.
There's no SIM lock here that I know of.
What is locked is the capability to operate on the frequencies used by
the other systems. On an unlocked phone, Under 'Settings' - 'Networks' -
'Available Networks' - I find both AT&T and T-Mobile are available.
When I 'View' T-Mobile, I see this code; 310-260 and on AT&T I see this
code; 310-410. I only have an AT&T SIM, but if I had a T-Mobile or a
'Dual' SIM, I can 'Register' the phone with either provider.
RW>>>> The pay-as-you-go (PAYG) Motorola I bought didn't get a chance to
RW>>>> be used as a PAYG phone. It was put into service on my existing
RW>>>> account SIM card.
RB>>> No problem as long as the phone has no SIM lock.
RW>> I've never seen or heard of a phone like that.
RB> Possibly this is something that does not exist in the States, but at
RB> least in Germany, the "bare-bones" mobile phones are often sold in
RB> packages with a SIM of a provider at cutrate prices (provider
RB> subsidy) and are SIM-locked to the provider. The provider makes it's
RB> money through the relatively high phone rate you have to pay. Two
RB> years after the purchase, you can ask the provider for an unlock code
RB> (DON'T CONFUSE THIS with the codes you can get for Nokia DEC-3 and
RB> DEC-4 phones from various sources including the one I cited above, as
RB> nobody but the provider can supply unlock codes for newer Nokia
RB> models), which you get free. Any time before that, you have to pay
RB> (generally) EUR 100 for the code. After you enter it, you can use any
RB> SIM you like.
The difference I see is the 'two year implied contract'...If your
pay-phone's minutes run out of minutes, and you don't replenish them, you
lose the number, unless you re-activate it by buying more minutes. There
is no contract required with any carrier to use a pay-phone. And frankly,
I wouldn't even consider a Nokia made phone for this, since more modern
phones, like the Motorola RAZR V3 is much more capable than the Nokia.
RW>> They call it 'Pay as you Go' calling. AFAIK, no SIM card is locked.
RW>> I've taken a prepaid phone's SIM out of the pay as you go phone and
RW>> have used it in one of my non-payg phones.
RB> Sure, no problem there. The SIM lock isn't in the SIM, but in the
RB> phone. Yopu can use the SIM you got with a locked phone in any
RB> unlocked phone.
RB>>> In Germany, you buy a prepaid SIM card either on the Internet or in
RB>>> a shop, and must provide your personal data (name, address,
RB>>> birthdate and in a shop your personal ID number) to do this - a
RB>>> legal requirement intended to make "anonymous" cellphone calls
RB>>> difficult. The purpose is to reduce criminal use of cellphones.
RW>> Your phones don't have the feature that allows ID number blocking?
RW>> i.e. all of my phones can be set to not show the number I'm calling
RW>> from.
RB> You can do that for an individual call (menu entry), but I'm not sure
RB> whether you can shut off the feature completely or not. However, the
RB> point of the law (which also applies to phone contracts) is to make
RB> sure a call can be traced (by the police) back to a specific SIM
RB> owned by a known person.
Which is why you can only get a phone with a locked SIM in Germany.
RB> Naturally, this isn't airtight. A criminal can buy "pre-owned" SIMs
RB> with practically no balance on them, load a few Euro, and use the
RB> phone with a SIM registered to another person.
Available on Ebay for a song.
RB> He/she then throws the SIM away and uses another one for the next
RB> call. In theory, you can't buy a SIM in Germany without registering
RB> your personal data. In practice that's no real problem, as such
RB> "pre-owned" SIMS are easily found at Ebay and even a local flea
RB> market.
Yeup.
RW>> There's also another feature to defeat that, which disallows blocked
RW>> phone numbers from ringing your phone.
RB> But you have to know the numbers in in advance ;-)
Yeup...call me once, shame on you, call me twice, shame on me. ;o)
RB> And at any rate, that has nothing to do with the German law requiring
RB> registration of SIMs.
Which is where 'another feature' comes in.
RB>>> At any rate, your new prepaid SIM (bought with a certain starting
RB>>> balance generally ranging from EUR 5 to EUR 10) is activated as
RB>>> bought, or by making one call to the provider's computer (I've had
RB>>> both kinds) without any need for entering anything - just the call
RB>>> activates the SIM.
RW>> Similar to unlocking it.
RB> Not quite. Dialing a phone number and entering an unlock code (in an
RB> older Nokia) are two completely different things. The phone number is
RB> simple. The code entry is not - and yes, I've done this kind of thing
RB> in the past. Not only do you have to generate a valid code (which is
RB> easier said than done), but the entry is time-dependent. If you
RB> hesitate for more than a second or so between digits, the entry is
RB> void. And if you make mistakes in the entry, the phone will lock
RB> completely (can then only be unlocked with hardware and software)
RB> after 3-5 failed tries, depending on the phone's firmware.
You can't use the 'address book' to write it to and then use that address
to call the number and then send the code?
**phone number**ppp**unlock code** -
Where each 'p' is a one second pause. Use as many pauses as you need for a
certain amount of wait time before the phone enters the code.
You can use any other phone to determine the amount of pause needed.
RB>>> You can also buy "packages" of a (usually simple, cheap) SIM-locked
RB>>> phone with the SIM of some provider. These are relatively cheap
RB>>> (subsidized), but lock you into an expensive rate for two years.
RW>> Man...they've got you coming and going.
RB> All depends on how much you phone. If you only phone rarely, such
RB> packages are a good deal because of the subsidized phone. If you're a
RB> frequent phoner, you're better off with an unlocked phone and a SIM
RB> from a discount provider - or a contract (two years minimum, but
RB> prices lower than with the prepaid SIMs).
My friend, Andrew, who has one of these pay phones, is always complaining
that he's burning 25 cents/min and has to hang up...meanwhile, I have
unlimited minutes, plus rollover minutes to talk all day and night long.
Of course, if he only had to pay 5 cents/min, he'd still bitch about the
cost.
RB>>> Apparently the situation in the Netherlands is different, as
RB>>> Michiel has noted that no identification is required to buy a
RB>>> prepaid SIM there.
RW>> Nor here.
RB> ;-) The Germans are thorough. But the registration system here only
RB> catches dumb criminals, as I explained above.
Which reminds me of the days before digital cell phones when criminals
were quite capable and they'd listen in on the scrambled analog cell
phones. Stealing such things as bank account #s and passwords, credit
card numbers, etc. in daily banking access.
R\%/itt
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