[Q] AT&T Nexus S International Unlock Help? - Nexus S Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all, my parents are heading out of the country soon. They wanted to pick up a cheap android phone to take with them and to give to a relative there, and I was suggesting the Nexus S (it's around $100 on craigslist and ebay)
However, I'm curious if there is any sort of carrier-lock placed by AT&T on their phones that makes it so I can't slap in another SIM card from an international provider?
I've always heard nexuses don't have any carrier locks, but wanted to clarify. If it does have a carrier-lock, is there an easy guide to getting around it?
Thanks in advance!

There is no lock.

Sweet! So I can just pop in any SIM card and get service (don't need data really)?

Yes. As long as the carrier supports the bands the phone uses. Almost all do.

Related

[Q] Using the Inspire 4G overseas after SIM/IMEI unlock.

Hope you guys can help me.
I will like to buy the Inspire 4G thru amazon and plan to use it in Costa Rica, where we use the same 2G and 3G bands as AT&T (850). Nevertheless I’m not sure if after the SIM/IMEI unlock, it will work with a Costa Rican SIM card? It is very common for us to buy unlocked At&t or T-Mobile phones and use them in Costa Rica.. but I have my concerns.
Last December I bought a Prepaid AT&T Phone (Samsung A107) on a trip to the US, but after doing a SIM/IMEI unlock, the Prepaid phone didn’t recognized my Costa Rican SIM card. And even before that, while still been in the US, I was not even able to use the AT&T SIM card on my unlocked Touch Pro2 (EUR version).
My worst fear is that AT&T is doing some sort of “Hard Sim Lock” to their phones.. and I will kill myself for buying an expensive paperweight.
Your thoughts and comments will be highly appreciated.
Hi, I can't 100% answer your question but I do know why your SIM cards weren't interchangeable. We lock all PUK codes on all prepaid SIM cards to where you can only use that SIM on that phone. If you would've gotten a "regular" SIM you could've used it on another carriers phone. As to why the non AT&T SIM didn't work maybe they scammed you and it never got unlocked.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Using Inspire 4G in Costa Rica.
Thanks for your explanation. So basically and after reading other posts regarding unlocking this phone, the Inspire 4G should work overseas without any inconveniences, after inserting the SIM/IMEI unlock code that you buy from any “respected” and “trusted” site (and as long as the 3G Band is 850) ?
I was going to buy the unlocked Desire HD (Eur Version), but regretfully it wouldn’t work with any Latam 3G Band (as it happened with my Touch Pro2, that only works with 3G band 2100+900).
I got an Inspire 4G on Monday, unlocked it, and my existing SIM card from another country (also in latam) worked right away. Been using it since then both in the US and back home.
So unless there is some lock on the SIM card itself, it should work fine, I think.
That’s the answer I was looking for!! You made my day. To be honest, I want to change from Winmo to Android so badly… that this phone seems to be the right deal.
Quick question just before going to amazon and start my order: Which system did you used to get the Unlock code? I have read in other forums, that some folks have been using htcimeiunlock with excellent results (I’m not related to that company by the way). I just like to hear a second opinion.
And once again..Thank you so much for your assistance!!
Got my phone unlocked
Hey
I'm from Venezuela, and I unlocked my HTC Inspire 4G from AT&T at unlockusa.com. I chose them because they're top-rated sellers at eBay and seemed trustworthy. I got my unlock code within 5 minutes, and everything worked as expected.
Hope you enjoy your new phone!
Yes, I used htcimeiunlock.com. Got my unlock code in a few minutes with no problems whatsoever.
maestroburbuja said:
Hey
I'm from Venezuela, and I unlocked my HTC Inspire 4G from AT&T at unlockusa.com. I chose them because they're top-rated sellers at eBay and seemed trustworthy. I got my unlock code within 5 minutes, and everything worked as expected.
Hope you enjoy your new phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
trestrepo said:
Yes, I used htcimeiunlock.com. Got my unlock code in a few minutes with no problems whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm 2 new members and advertising new site?
The AT&T Inspire only has North American UMTS radios 850 and 1900 Mhz. It lacks the 2100 radio necessary for 3 and 4G in Europe.
The phone will work on Europe's 2G Edge network. HTC should have put the 2100 Mhz radio in the Inspire but they didn't. This is the real gripe I have with this phone.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Doesn't the desire hd cover the european market with 2100? I suppose if you are traveling it is an issue but otherwise I see no reason for att to be adding something to this phone that already exists in one of its twins. Also it is not marketed as a "world" phone by at&t either.
Whats the key code / combination on the inspire to check the status of the sim?
I may be new on the forums, but I've been lurking for a while. Heck, I learned about that site from here, and the various threads on the forum on unlocking/rooting were one of the things I kept in mind when deciding to buy the phone.
geogkdam asked if the site worked; all I'm saying is it worked for *me*. I claim no guarantees it would work for anyone else, and frankly, I don't care much either; I'm just happy I was able to unlock the phone I bought on Monday withing a few minutes.
newter55 said:
Doesn't the desire hd cover the european market with 2100? I suppose if you are traveling it is an issue but otherwise I see no reason for att to be adding something to this phone that already exists in one of its twins. Also it is not marketed as a "world" phone by at&t either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It'll work on EDGE in Europe, which sucks for data, but at 20 bucks a megabyte while roaming, why would you want to?
I'll be taking my Inspire to London and Paris in a couple months and since I need to be reachable on my own number, I will suck it up and roam, but data will be off, so I couldn't give a crap about whether or not it's EDGE or 3G. It'll just be voice and text, and not much of that. I have an AT&T Nexus One with the 2100 band that I'll be bringing along too, I'll grab a local SIM and use that for data. I'll just have personal hotspot turned on and connect my Inspire to it.
try cellunlocker.net they unlocked it for me
yg17 said:
It'll work on EDGE in Europe, which sucks for data, but at 20 bucks a megabyte while roaming, why would you want to?
I'll be taking my Inspire to London and Paris in a couple months and since I need to be reachable on my own number, I will suck it up and roam, but data will be off, so I couldn't give a crap about whether or not it's EDGE or 3G. It'll just be voice and text, and not much of that. I have an AT&T Nexus One with the 2100 band that I'll be bringing along too, I'll grab a local SIM and use that for data. I'll just have personal hotspot turned on and connect my Inspire to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T also offers packages which would reduce your voice, data and text costs. Have you looked into them? Here's a link
I can't provide a link since I don't have the min. number of posts required to post here but Google "AT&T World" and you'll get the necessary info. The texting deal is a good deal if you plan to text between 20 and 50 texts. If less than 20 just go with the standard .50/text sent from Europe. If between 20&50 opt for the $10 one time charge (which drops your per text rate to .20/text).
I would also assume that free Wi-FI hotspots are plentiful around Europe??? Does anyone have first-hand experience with that?

[Q] How do I tell if it is carrier unlocked?

I got a free Samsung Focus today, thanks to the Microsoft giveaway for TechEd, where the first 50 from TechEd who publish get a free phone. I was told that the phone was carrier unlocked... But since I'm on Verizon, I can't use it anyway. I am probably going to sell it on ebay (although I'm considering loaning it to a couple iPhone friends for a bit, so they can get the full WP7 experience), but I want to make sure it is unlocked before I advertise it as unlocked. How do I know for sure?
Also, if I do loan it out to friends, can an ATT (or T-Mobile since it is supposedly unlocked) customer just pull out their SIM and put it in here, and go with it? Or is there something their carrier needs to do?
Thanks!
hopmedic said:
Also, if I do loan it out to friends, can an ATT (or T-Mobile since it is supposedly unlocked) customer just pull out their SIM and put it in here, and go with it? Or is there something their carrier needs to do?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, you just put in a SIM card and use it. No carrier attention needed. To test if it is unlocked, you need to find a T-Mobile SIM card, or any other non-AT&T SIM card, and put it in. If it is locked, the phone will let you know immediately and you won't be able to use the phone or cell data.
Thanks. I'll have to have one of my iPhone friends try it for me. I don't know if anyone around here is on T-Mobile.
you can usually just go to tmobile and ask for one, sometimes they'll give one to you. and it doesn't have to be activated.

[Q] Overseas Phone Questions (ATT)

Hi all,
In July I am studying abroad in Australia for about 5 months and am wondering what to do for phone service. I currently am on ATT and have an HTC Inspire 4G. What was recommended by the school is going through Global Gossip and purchasing a phone+credit. However, I also see that the website has an option to just purchase a sim card. Would it be better to unlock my phone and use the sim card or to just buy one of there phones? Also, should I rather be looking into activating the international services through ATT itself? Perhaps there are better alternative options to the ones I have outlined above? Sorry, I have never had to deal with this situation before.
Thanks!

Question about using prepaid sims on my tp2...

If I unlock a verizon htc touch pro 2 (Rhodium) will I be able to use prepaid sim card based unlimited plans on it? The kind you can get from walmart and stuff? I don't want to buy a new phone because I still love my touch pro 2 but having a verizon account isn't possible anymore so I would like to get some sort of prepaid plan for it. Thanks.
em0rox said:
If I unlock a verizon htc touch pro 2 (Rhodium) will I be able to use prepaid sim card based unlimited plans on it? The kind you can get from walmart and stuff? I don't want to buy a new phone because I still love my touch pro 2 but having a verizon account isn't possible anymore so I would like to get some sort of prepaid plan for it. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if you do the SIM unlock and get a prepaid provider that uses (regular) SIM cards.
Note this is different from the hSPL process.
I already unlocked the spl a long time ago, using mighty rom on it. Would all providers work? I'm wanting to get one of those unlimited text things from like t-mobile or even verizon. Is there any free way to unlock the phone? If not do you know the best way to go about doing it?
What do you mean by "regular" sim cards? I've never used anything but Verizon cdma on someone else's actual account so I'm not sure about sim cards. I've had lots of phones but they have all been on verizon and cdma.
em0rox said:
I already unlocked the spl a long time ago, using mighty rom on it. Would all providers work? I'm wanting to get one of those unlimited text things from like t-mobile or even verizon. Is there any free way to unlock the phone? If not do you know the best way to go about doing it?
What do you mean by "regular" sim cards? I've never used anything but Verizon cdma on someone else's actual account so I'm not sure about sim cards. I've had lots of phones but they have all been on verizon and cdma.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not all sim cards are the same size/shape. There are some adapters out there for sale, but I don't suggest going that route. If it is a major carrier, and the sim card fits your phone, and your phone is sim unlocked it should work.
em0rox said:
I already unlocked the spl a long time ago, using mighty rom on it. Would all providers work? I'm wanting to get one of those unlimited text things from like t-mobile or even verizon. Is there any free way to unlock the phone? If not do you know the best way to go about doing it?
What do you mean by "regular" sim cards? I've never used anything but Verizon cdma on someone else's actual account so I'm not sure about sim cards. I've had lots of phones but they have all been on verizon and cdma.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon = CDMA.
You need a GSM provider that uses standard size SIM cards. Some providers use different sized cards (as noted previously), but most use standard size cards.
I know verizon is cdma but the touch pro 2 has a sim slot as well because it was sold as a "world phone". So as long as I unlock it and the sim card I get fits it should work? I've only seen one type of sim card before but from a bunch of different phones and they were all the same size as the touch pro 2 takes.
As for the second part of my question I'm still a bit confused about. Is there any free way to unlock the phone? If not do you know the best way to go about doing it? Should I take it to a provider with a local store, use a site that does it, etc?
em0rox said:
I know verizon is cdma but the touch pro 2 has a sim slot as well because it was sold as a "world phone". So as long as I unlock it and the sim card I get fits it should work? I've only seen one type of sim card before but from a bunch of different phones and they were all the same size as the touch pro 2 takes.
As for the second part of my question I'm still a bit confused about. Is there any free way to unlock the phone? If not do you know the best way to go about doing it? Should I take it to a provider with a local store, use a site that does it, etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First question has been answered several times. Yes.
There is not a free way to unlock the phone.
However, if you had looked at the stickies... In this very section... You might've noticed this thread. I hope...
No reason to be rude man... I just didn't want to spend $20 on unlocking it then another $40 on the card just to find out it won't work. Not all of us are "well off", can't just throw away money like that... I could eat for weeks off that money lol...
Also I didn't look for anything on how to unlock it because, like I said, I wanted to know if the prepaid things would work on it in the first place. Thanks for all the answers though guys it has helped a lot. My phone was on my ex wife's mother's plan and the 2 year contract just ran out so she closed the account. I can't afford a new phone to go with a prepaid plan. Just trying to find a way to have a phone again so I can talk to my children and want to make sure I don't spend money I don't have on something that won't work.
em0rox said:
No reason to be rude man... I just didn't want to spend $20 on unlocking it then another $40 on the card just to find out it won't work. Not all of us are "well off", can't just throw away money like that... I could eat for weeks off that money lol...
Also I didn't look for anything on how to unlock it because, like I said, I wanted to know if the prepaid things would work on it in the first place. Thanks for all the answers though guys it has helped a lot. My phone was on my ex wife's mother's plan and the 2 year contract just ran out so she closed the account. I can't afford a new phone to go with a prepaid plan. Just trying to find a way to have a phone again so I can talk to my children and want to make sure I don't spend money I don't have on something that won't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just take your time and read as much as you can.
Wish there was a 'free way' to unlock the phone, but Olinex is still allowed to charge for that privilege... Sorry.
Mind explaining the whole unlock thing? It seems to me there are "official" sites, random people, companies, local stores, pretty much anyone can do it... Do they have to have a license to register the code on some global database or what? I've softmodded and hardmodded just about everything I've ever owned since my sms (yea that's kinda funny talking about phones but I meant sega master system...) flashcart but I don't really get this... From what I've read you get a code from someone (which can be anyone who can do it I guess) and that unlocks your device. So does that unlock your device 100% or only on networks that person/company has license to unlock on?
em0rox said:
Mind explaining the whole unlock thing? It seems to me there are "official" sites, random people, companies, local stores, pretty much anyone can do it... Do they have to have a license to register the code on some global database or what? I've softmodded and hardmodded just about everything I've ever owned since my sms (yea that's kinda funny talking about phones but I meant sega master system...) flashcart but I don't really get this... From what I've read you get a code from someone (which can be anyone who can do it I guess) and that unlocks your device. So does that unlock your device 100% or only on networks that person/company has license to unlock on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't really understand how the SIM unlocking process works unfortunately... I know Oli's works for our devices, so if you're going to pay for one that's the one to go with.

T Mobile N5 used on Sprint network?

Going to buy my friends T Mobile N5 and would like to use it on Sprint network.
Ive researched this a little and I have seen people run into trouble, saying that Sprint wont activated it because it wasn't purchased from google or sprint.
All Nexus's from North America are the same from what I understand and should be able to be used on any carrier.
Anyone have any suggestions on whether this can be done?
Thanks
Yes, all you need is a Sprint sim card
sent from my HAMMERHEAD
More accurately, if your current LTE phone has a nano SIM, then you can simply pop it out, put it in your friend's Nexus 5 and it should work. The problem comes if you need a new SIM, or if your current SIM doesn't have LTE service assigned to it. In either of those cases, you'll need to contact Sprint either for a new SIM, or to activate LTE service. At that time, they may fight you, stating that the phone isn't supported. However, if you don't back down, ask for a supervisor, or try another store, eventually you will get a reasonable person.
Worst case, call the customer service line, and say that you got a Nexus 5 from Google, and need them to send you a new SIM card. They don't have to know you didn't actually buy it from Google. Again, it may take talking to a supervisor or even multiple calls, but eventually, you'll succeed.
iammrhappy123 said:
Going to buy my friends T Mobile N5 and would like to use it on Sprint network.
Ive researched this a little and I have seen people run into trouble, saying that Sprint wont activated it because it wasn't purchased from google or sprint.
All Nexus's from North America are the same from what I understand and should be able to be used on any carrier.
Anyone have any suggestions on whether this can be done?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) the NA nexus 5 cannot be used on any carrier. it cannot be used on verizon. the other 3 major carriers are fine (tmobile, sprint, and att)
2) sprint has to add the IMEI to their databases to allow the CDMA portion to connect to their network. This is how the auth the phone to make phone calls, etc. They have added the IMEI from google play devices, and obviously the ones they sell. They do not have a list of the IMEIs tmobile sells.
jt3 said:
More accurately, if your current LTE phone has a nano SIM, then you can simply pop it out, put it in your friend's Nexus 5 and it should work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nexus 5 needs a Micro SIM. If you use a nano SIM, you will need an adapter
Zepius said:
2) sprint has to add the IMEI to their databases to allow the CDMA portion to connect to their network. This is how the auth the phone to make phone calls, etc. They have added the IMEI from google play devices, and obviously the ones they sell. They do not have a list of the IMEIs tmobile sells.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was the case till recently. Last week, I saw a Sprint store employee call customer care for a potential customer and supposedly get the IMEI added into the Sprint database for a N5 bought from T-mo. The customer had to provide invoice etc to show that he owned the device, but I think they were able to get it sorted out.
YMMV of course.
jj14 said:
The Nexus 5 needs a Micro SIM. If you use a nano SIM, you will need an adapter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Duh. I knew that. I don't know why I said Nano. I came from a Galaxy S4 Active, and remember being happy that it still had a Micro SIM, the same as the N5. Thanks for the correction.
As for the IMEI issue, I guess when the OP said T-Mo Nexus 5, I thought Play Store N5 used on T-Mo. I didn't realize T-Mo was selling them directly, and thought only Sprint was doing that. (Play Store IMEIs are in Sprint's system.) My mistake. Still, I know that they can add IMEIs to their network, but it usually requires quite a battle. This is one of the key reasons I'm not on Sprint.
jt3 said:
Duh. I knew that. I don't know why I said Nano. I came from a Galaxy S4 Active, and remember being happy that it still had a Micro SIM, the same as the N5. Thanks for the correction.
As for the IMEI issue, I guess when the OP said T-Mo Nexus 5, I thought Play Store N5 used on T-Mo. I didn't realize T-Mo was selling them directly, and thought only Sprint was doing that. (Play Store IMEIs are in Sprint's system.) My mistake. Still, I know that they can add IMEIs to their network, but it usually requires quite a battle. This is one of the key reasons I'm not on Sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya, and totally agree - it is a pain to get them to do something that is not their normal process! I'm still with them, just because they have better coverage outside of cities than T-Mo. But I'm getting tired of their terrible data speeds, and eCFSB issues - ugh
Hey All!
Thanks for the replies! You all are very helpful. I wasn't expecting any replies haha.
I'm currently on Sprint iPhone 5 which uses a Micro Sim.
First time ever going to android, so I"m excited.
I just hope that when I call Sprint to activate the N5, they wont give me crap. And hopefully they add my IMEI to their network.
Or hopefully, when I just switch the SIM, it'll work off the bat lol.
Ill just keep being persistent at getting them to activate it if not.

Categories

Resources