Problem: My partner has the Motorola Photon Q 4G Lte Phone on Sprint. This phone is unlocked software-ware wise and has the antennas to work on Vodaphone when we are overseas in a few months. But, sprint has physically soldered the Sim Card to the mother board of the phone so you cannot remove the sim and pop in a local sim when you get overseas, forcing you to use Sprint's prohibitively expensive international roaming service.
There is a guy who advertises on the web that he can modify the phone from a hardware perspective, but, his service requires mailing the phone to him in another country. I do not think I have the skills to do physical modification to a phone,
I see some software upgrade posts on here relative to the GSM radios, but, they are a bit to technical for me. Happy to have a hardware or software solution to this.
Goal is to be able to put a vodaphone sim or program phone to work on vodaphone, or similar carrier, while over in europe.
Can anyone help?
Well, you seem to already know of the guy who you can send the phone to...
So how did you miss this thread?
Good News !!! SIM CARD MOD IS HERE !!!
You can certainly try the mod yourself, there are some good pictures and information in that thread if you want to.
There is no software way around this issue. The only solution is a hardware one, as shown in that thread.
Related
Hi, quick one please.
I have a Wizard also know as XDA Mini S branded to O2... I did recently do the update to WM6 with the Hard method, also used some software which captured settings of the phone, it told me it was SIM unlocked and I know I made it CID unlocked with the Hard thing.
What I want to know is this.
Currently on a business contract with o2, this is expiring and I have sorted out so I get a signal here on other networks by using other antenna (see my other post)... I ebayed a very cheap Orange SIM so I can test the signal, however it doesn't have a number and requires registering and I know I need to give my phone EIMI out. I also have another sim here which works as a PAYG Vodafone which is registered to another hand set.
So, when i put in either vodafone or orange sim into my so called 'unlocked' phone, it just sits there searching away and nothing really happens, no messages just search, I know I should be getting signals.
1: Is this handset locking methods but I am sure im unlocked? Is this because the EMIE and vodafone sim card is not matching?
2: As I am in a business contract with o2, if I register the EMEI number with Orange, will I upset my business phone number (must not do)
All I want to do is see how 'steady' the orange signal is here and also find out what to do next when we change our contract (this month) as I wish to retain my XDA because no 'new' XDA-type phones coming out have no antenna sockets
Any help is good
nobody here?
if i were you i would ask in the forum made specialy for your device
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=289
better chance of getting a reply from people who own the same device
the wiki is also a good place to get info
http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=HTC_Wizard
but it is a question about networks and how they work and not about a particurlar phone.
Quite stunned that nobody is actually interested in helping me on this issue, they seem to be more interested in ROMs are alike lol
Is there any other forums out there devote to Mobile Phones?
Thanks anyway Rudegar
I do a lot of HTC device hacking and unlocking, but have never done a CDMA device. Is it possible to unlock the XV6700 and use it on another USA CDMA Carrier? Also, I presume there are other ROM's to install on this device? Any guidance would help a lot.
Albatros
CDMA devices aren't actually locked per se, the device itself will work great with any CDMA network u tell it to work with as long as the service provider agrees to register your device in their ESN database. In other words all phones released by verizon have ESNs specific to verizon and all sprint phones have ESNs from sprint's database. The providers share the ESN data and know when a phone you're trying to register with them is not one of theirs. So it really comes down to your service provider agreeing to register your phone in their database (which is most likely not going to happen unless you have connections). The other and not so legal way of doing this is to clone the ESN of your old phone (which you can just throw away) and download a new prl (preffered roaming list: tells the phone which towers to prioritize) to your new phone. So it IS possible but illegal due to the ability to copy somebody's esn and charge up their bill. Hope this helps!
this might not be for cricket but its a start
http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=20090
Yes, CDMA Devices aren't locked like GSM Devices. You will need to have Cricket register the ESN (Electronic Serial Number) in their database. I have family who has done it and have worked with a guy who got a 6700 ESN changed over to Cricket.
Need to go from Cricket BACK to Verizon
I have the opposite problem - bought a used VX6700 that is already on the Cricket network, but I am on a Verizon plan (yes I was a doofuss and get my old Verizon phone wet, but it was locked LG crap anyway with no option for customizing - so GLAD to be coming back to the HTC world!)
Whenever I dial *228 to get it programmed, it says "welcome to Cricket". The Verizon 800# tech people had no clue how to get it back, even after they had me try a few unusual settings in the phone. Then they sent me to the Verizon store - they said they could not do anything, no real explanation why not. The used store I bought it from thinks they could try to reflash it - but I'm not so sure that is really necessary.
I have successfully flashed my old HTC Wizard for practice - so I know sort of what I am doing if flashing IS needed. Just hard to find information even after doing a lot of searching. There are a few threads on going from Verizon to Cricket -- but none for how to get BACK.
Thanks in advance.
Update
The phone guru guy at the Phone Smart store I bought the used phone from was able to get it back onto Verizon for me. He said something about modifying the PRN Provide Roaming Number - or at least I think that was the one - so that Verizon's towers would know to look for this phone now. So all good for now. I need to get WM6 on it soon though! Currently it is on a slightly enhanced build of WM5.
Hi guys,
Easy questions I hope:
I've never (yet) got into the area of unlocking phones and I would appreciate someone just answering a couple of questions to make sure I've got the general idea of unlocking.
1.
Am I right in thinking that you have to unlock a phone so that you can use a different provider's SIM card - instead of using one that is provided at purchase time?
e.g if I have an XDA supplied by O2, I could unlock the XDA and then use a SIM card from T Mobile?
2.
Do I need to unlock my phone EVERY time I put a SIM card from a different provider in it? Or once the phone is unlocked I do not need to do it again?
e.g. If I unlock my XDA, put in an O2 SIM card, and then go on a flight abroad, can I simply pull out the O2 card and pop in one from a local shop in a different country?
3.
Do I need to keep a record of anything before I unlock it?
e.g. Are any settings needed to be recorded BEFORE YOU START in order to unlock the phone ? Do I need to record information so that in the future I can put things back exactly as they originally were.
4.
Is there any differences between unlocking phones that have PAYG or CONTRACT cards? Are there any issues here?
Thanks for answers
Anne
In the USA a un-locked fone will bring more money used or new. and also has a wider seller/buyer market.
Once unlocked that's it. any sim anytime.
we have 5 fones between the two of us ( me and my better 1/2)
2 nokia's, a palm treo, a behold and a behold II (rooted 12/1/2009)
We have just our personal sim cards from T mobile (one each) we work weird, REALLY wierd hours. Some times our smart fones don't get charged or go dead while we are out. We just pop the sim cad into one that's got enough juice to get one of the "better" fones charged.
We both rely on our fones for our jobs.
A little know fact: in the USA it's a federal law. IF you bought your fone legitamatly. IE: not stolen. the carrier must provide you with the un-lock code in 24 hours.
The people that pay 15.00 or more to have a fone unlocked are either. Un-aware of that law. In a country where it's illegal to unlock a fone. Or knowingly have a stolen fone.
1: So yes you are right you need to un-lock the fone to use another provides fone with your sim.
2: You un-lock the fone once any sim card will work after that. AGAIN your right. (provided your in a country that has the same GSM 3g 4g network)
3: ALWAYS keep a written log of any "admin" #'s given to you for a fone.
the behold has a admin # that lets you turn on all kinds of things that are "off" out of the box. and you need that # everytime you make a adminastrative change. This maybe true with other fones as well.
4: I don't know about pay as you go. I would think once unlocked you would be able to use the fone pay as you go, so long as you had minutes on the sim installed.
I'm sure there are alot of people here that know alot more than me, and can help you further. I just got back into the cell fone game about a year ago and was out of it for about 10 years.
Things have really changed, then again they really haven't changed.
HTH
Later
Rich
One thing of note is that just because a GSM phone is unlocked, doesn't mean it'll work with every carrier, as carriers will sometimes use different baseband frequencies (there are four, 850, 900, 1800, 1900mHz I think) and some phones only support 2-3 our of 4.
I'm in Canada for example, where Rogers and Fido support GSM networks (phones that use SIM cards), Bell and Telus use CDMA (phones that have ESNs programmed into them). So if I buy a Sony Xperia X1 for example, I have to be sure to buy the American version, as Rogers only supports 850mHz, and the European version of the X1 will only support 900mHz. So even if I unlock the european version of the X1, I can't use it on Rogers in Canada.
I'm guessing you're from the UK, where the market is even more diversified. 3 Mobile for example, can only use phones that support 3G (or HSDPA). A good place to look for such specs, after finding out what frequencies your carrier supports, is GSM Arena.
I have a HTC Pro Touch phone that was my company phone for about two months before Verison took over Alltel in my area. My company switched to ATT iphones at that time. I have recently decided that maybe I could use this nice phone with ATT. Much to my disappointment I found through a little research that Alltel and ATT networks are not compatible and the phone and can't be unlocked for use with ATT.
Its seems that my only option now is to find someone with a nice phone that would like to trade hoping that they might be in the same situation in reverse. Have I missed something that can still make this phone work somehow? If not does anyone have a good idea, of how I could make a fair trade?
Thank you and I hope this post is ok for this section.
racing5k said:
I have a HTC Pro Touch phone that was my company phone for about two months before Verison took over Alltel in my area. My company switched to ATT iphones at that time. I have recently decided that maybe I could use this nice phone with ATT. Much to my disappointment I found through a little research that Alltel and ATT networks are not compatible and the phone and can't be unlocked for use with ATT.
Its seems that my only option now is to find someone with a nice phone that would like to trade hoping that they might be in the same situation in reverse. Have I missed something that can still make this phone work somehow? If not does anyone have a good idea, of how I could make a fair trade?
Thank you and I hope this post is ok for this section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could SIM unlock it, but it's not very cheap. There are some nice links in the Raph Wiki that points to SIM unlocking services.
@racing5k
You can try putting it up for sale onbay.com or amazon.com. If you want to avoid registering a selller account on any of those two site (which is free to do), you put a free listing on craigslist.com, always deal local and accept payments in cash and in person. Amazon and ebay will charge you seller/listing fees, there are no fees to list and sell on craigslist. You have a CDMA version of this phone. What you need is the GSM version, which for ATT was branded the HTC Fuze. I have the Fuze but am having a issue with it (battery indicator says it is fully charged at 34%) which I have yer to resolve.
@ZoneBlaze
sim unlock will not work, Alltel uses CDMA technology and ATT uses GSM. racing5k has a CDMA version of the phone, the two technologies are not compatible with each other.
*Mods, please move if there is a better place. I normally hang out on the development forums so I'm not exactly sure where to post*
I have a phone that I bought from Verizon and I have kept the unlimited data. I know all about my phone but next to nothing about my service.
My question is specifically about phablets (for example, this) which is basically a big ass phone, or a tablet with cell service, however you want to word it. I'd use it exclusively with bluetooth instead of holding the thing up to my head, don't worry.
I travel internationally and see them A LOT in other countries (they cannot help me though since I need one to use in the US). I am under the impression that VZ will not activate anything I did not buy from them. I don't know how solid this is but every VZ employee I have asked has confirmed this so far. I know in the past that it used to be as simple as switching out the SIM card but doubt this is still the case.
I'm sure there are some hardware specs that I need to look at that would determine the LTE/3G whatever compatibility, but I don't know the terminology. Can you help me out?
Also, I am hesitant to leave VZ because of the unlimited data and the service coverage. I live in mildly populated CT, USA and would welcome a prepaid plan if it was comparable but don't even know where to begin looking.
Thank you in advance - I really don't have anyone else to ask about this stuff.
You will want to look for international versions of the devices you are looking for. These versions carry multiple antennas that allows them to be used in different countries. As far as I know, these phones use SIM cards, which allows you to purchase an international SIM or a SIM in the country you are in, and it should work when you plug it into your device.
Is there a way to check for the antennas in the specifications instead of relying on the seller to accurately sell me the int'l version? How would you go about buying a SIM card?