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Galaxy Nexus unlock

Hello,
This is my first post after being referred to you guys for help from a couple of friends.
Was soooo happy to become an owner of a new galxy nexus from 3 on pay as you go. Was given a number to 3 to be able to unlock it and was told it would be no problem.
Tried to do that as soon as I got home and was told they couldn't locate the IMEI number and would take 2 weeks for it to be sorted out!
Obviously I'm dying to use my lovely new phone and so upset I've not got this problem. Is there anything else I can do to unlock the phone?
Thanks

Ami-Jane said:
Hello,
This is my first post after being referred to you guys for help from a couple of friends.
Was soooo happy to become an owner of a new galxy nexus from 3 on pay as you go. Was given a number to 3 to be able to unlock it and was told it would be no problem.
Tried to do that as soon as I got home and was told they couldn't locate the IMEI number and would take 2 weeks for it to be sorted out!
Obviously I'm dying to use my lovely new phone and so upset I've not got this problem. Is there anything else I can do to unlock the phone?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Nexus S (or any Nexus branded phone) shouldn't be locked. Did you tried different SIM?

Yep should work right away with any carrier... worst case scenario you have to enter the APN settings manually.

[c]K said:
Yep should work right away with any carrier... worst case scenario you have to enter the APN settings manually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not true. If you buy it from a carrier they will have it locked to their network. Be patient, the unlock code should come soon. The GN is still brand new
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

nbeebe24 said:
That's not true. If you buy it from a carrier they will have it locked to their network. Be patient, the unlock code should come soon. The GN is still brand new
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's interesting. i also thought, that the nexuses are never locked?! isn't it a statement by google, that a nexus phone always has to stay free, no matter where it's sold?
well, mine however is not locked, even though i bought it from a carrier...

if this is a CDMA phone if youre talking about the ESN of the phone and they flashed a different firmware for a different carrier [i.e. Sprint to Cricket] they will not release the ESN...call your carrier if CDMA and ask them the status of the ESN it usually starts with 268 or 270...
if this is a GSM phone...well it should be unlocked by default

Just for the record, I'd like to confirm, that my GN is coming from Vodafone Ireland, in the shop they said it is SIM locked to VF-IE, but when I tried different SIMs, irish/non-irish either, all worked well, no sign of the network lock.

yeah GNex should be unlocked

Tmobile nexus 5

Are the sprint, tmobile nexus 5 locked to the networks or are they like the google play store versions
unlocked for any carrier?
Can I take my sprint nexus 5 and put in a ATT sim card?
same goes for the tmobile version.

As below

FrankJL_ said:
Are the sprint, tmobile nexus 5 locked to the networks or are they like the google play store versions
unlocked for any carrier?
Can I take my sprint nexus 5 and put in a ATT sim card?
same goes for the tmobile version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The box for the one sold through Sprint says it has a sim software lock and can be used on the Sprint network only (I forget exact wording) but there have been plenty of reports of people swapping sims and it working just fine.

I believe that TMOs policy is that any phone it sells is unlocked. The exception is that if you finance the phone through them, it will be locked until the phone is paid off.

tmobiles nexus 5 is completely unlocked, whether you pay in full or payments. same with the nexus 4. at any moment you can insert a sim from another provider and itll work.

FrankJL_ said:
Are the sprint, tmobile nexus 5 locked to the networks or are they like the google play store versions
unlocked for any carrier?
Can I take my sprint nexus 5 and put in a ATT sim card?
same goes for the tmobile version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jasonamd said:
The box for the one sold through Sprint says it has a sim software lock and can be used on the Sprint network only (I forget exact wording) but there have been plenty of reports of people swapping sims and it working just fine.
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Click to collapse
LG/Google sells the Nexus 5 as a factory device - regardless of branding, the device is unlocked and available to use. There isn't yet any kind of blocking or locking of the device in this nature.

FourPointedFreak said:
LG/Google sells the Nexus 5 as a factory device - regardless of branding, the device is unlocked and available to use. There isn't yet any kind of blocking or locking of the device in this nature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can you be sure about this? While it may be true in North America, it may not be true in other parts of the world. People have said the same thing about every Nexus phone since the Nexus One, but evidence has shown that there has been locked versions of every Nexus phone prior to the N5.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

efrant said:
How can you be sure about this? While it may be true in North America, it may not be true in other parts of the world. People have said the same thing about every Nexus phone since the Nexus One, but evidence has shown that there has been locked versions of every Nexus phone prior to the N5.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
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Well all above carriers had been north american based carriers, that's what I was referring to. Clearly I can't be sure for every model of the device outside of the U.S.

Does root also unlock?

I am thinking of buying a new Nexus 5 from eBay but I will have to unlock it to be able to use in my country with a sim of my own. my question is, will root unlock it or is there is any other unlock method? is it hard to do it? thanks!

They're not locked
Sent from my Nexus 5

pepdavies said:
They're not locked
Sent from my Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're not locked if you buy it from Play or other non-carrier supplier. They could potentially be locked if supplied from a carrier and has been known amongst previous nexus devices.

They aren't locked at all, that I'm aware of. I bought mine thru Sprint, but after changing Sim cards and rebooting, it works on att and tmobile
sent from my HAMMERHEAD neXus

Confusion can arise because of the word unlock. On nexus, unlocking refers to the boot loader which allows you to change system files and root.
But as said all nexus 5 are sim-unlocked from the get go.

T-Mobile Nexus 5 won't work on Sprint

So I sold a Nexus 5 to someone my dad knows and for some reason it won't connect to sprint! They already paid me for the device.
I thought this device can work on all three major carriers and are all one model? Tried going to the store and they still couldn't activate it.
It does however detect the network but it just doesn't want to to connect at all. My T-mo card works on it and it has been factory reseted.
It's 16GB unlocked boot loader and not rooted with a stock recovery. Any ideas?
Edit: please don't tell me to tell them to switch carriers. It's their choice to be with sprint. I've read other threads with people jumping straight to that. :/
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
So I sold a Nexus 5 to someone my dad knows and for some reason it won't connect to sprint! They already paid me for the device.
I thought this device can work on all three major carriers and are all one model? Tried going to the store and they still couldn't activate it.
It does however detect the network but it just doesn't want to to connect at all. My T-mo card works on it and it has been factory reseted.
It's 16GB unlocked boot loader and not rooted with a stock recovery. Any ideas?
Edit: please don't tell me to tell them to switch carriers. It's their choice to be with sprint. I've read other threads with people jumping straight to that. :/
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
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Click to collapse
I think it is carrier locked when bought from a carrier. Only unlocked is from Google, but I am not 100% on this.

RIPng said:
I think it is carrier locked when bought from a carrier. Only unlocked is from Google, but I am not 100% on this.
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Click to collapse
All Nexus 5s are unlocked!

vin4yak said:
All Nexus 5s are unlocked!
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Click to collapse
Factory unlocked and carrier unlocked are two different things.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

RIPng said:
Factory unlocked and carrier unlocked are two different things.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Okay. I'll make myself clear.. All Nexus 5s are Factory and Carrier unlocked!

RIPng said:
Factory unlocked and carrier unlocked are two different things.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
No all nexus 5's are carrier unlocked. My device wouldn't work on Sprint period and that one is FROM Google themselves. The one I sold actually detects their networks.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

vin4yak said:
Okay. I'll make myself clear.. All Nexus 5s are Factory and Carrier unlocked!
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Click to collapse
Until the carrier locks it down because it's subsidized.
Dragn4rce said:
No all nexus 5's are carrier unlocked. My device wouldn't work on Sprint period and that one is FROM Google themselves. The one I sold actually detects their networks.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
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Click to collapse
That is like what Apple says about iPhones until the carrier locks them. You have a device issue then.
Have you tried with other carriers or than the two mentioned?

All nexus devices have never been carrier locked and would never be locked. That's why it's called a Nexus device. Carriers don't lock/alter the phone in any way after it's been already made clear that it will be Unlocked at the time of release.
@Dragn4rce: have you tried using a different Sprint Card on that device? Does it work? I've seen many issues with Nexus users who are on Sprint all over xda

Dragn4rce said:
No all nexus 5's are carrier unlocked. My device wouldn't work on Sprint period and that one is FROM Google themselves. The one I sold actually detects their networks.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
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Click to collapse
it works on sprint fine if you buy it from google play. my friend's wife has one on sprint fine.
you need to put the sprint sim LTE sim in, factory reset and go through the setup process again.

Zepius said:
it works on sprint fine if you buy it from google play. my friend's wife has one on sprint fine.
you need to put the sprint sim LTE sim in, factory reset and go through the setup process again.
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Click to collapse
same here. on sprint, got my n5 from google play

RIPng said:
Until the carrier locks it down because it's subsidized.
That is like what Apple says about iPhones until the carrier locks them. You have a device issue then.
Have you tried with other carriers or than the two mentioned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Att works too.
vin4yak said:
All nexus devices have never been carrier locked and would never be locked. That's why it's called a Nexus device. Carriers don't lock/alter the phone in any way after it's been already made clear that it will be Unlocked at the time of release.
@Dragn4rce: have you tried using a different Sprint Card on that device? Does it work? I've seen many issues with Nexus users who are on Sprint all over xda
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We used the old and they got a new. Still doesn't work they say.
Zepius said:
it works on sprint fine if you buy it from google play. my friend's wife has one on sprint fine.
you need to put the sprint sim LTE sim in, factory reset and go through the setup process again.
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We'll try a factory reset. Hoping that does it. My device is Google play and won't even work on our detect sprint So far.
The Tmo does detects it at least a d actually did say please wait for connection to be completed or somthing along those lines.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
We'll try a factory reset. Hoping that does it. My device is Google play and won't even work on our detect sprint So far.
The Tmo does detects it at least a d actually did say please wait for connection to be completed or somthing along those lines.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
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you cant swap between them without the reset. there's something that gets stored for the CDMA network to be a priority, just dont remember what it is.
make sure the sprint LTE SIM is in the phone, and factory reset/flash factory images.

If the device was purchased from Google Play or from Sprint, it should work fine on the 3 major carriers in the US (just not Verizon).
But if the device was purchased from T-Mo, there is a possibility that it won't work on Sprint.
This has nothing to do with the device not being carrier unlocked or anything like that. It is simply because Sprint may not have that IMEI in their databases, and Sprint will not permit such a device (for which they don't have the IMEI in their databases) on their network.
I see that op indicated that the device was from Google Play. Can you ask Sprint why it is not working? (ask to check if device is blacklisted, or if IMEI is missing, or something else)

jj14 said:
If the device was purchased from Google Play or from Sprint, it should work fine on the 3 major carriers in the US (just not Verizon).
But if the device was purchased from T-Mo, there is a possibility that it won't work on Sprint.
This has nothing to do with the device not being carrier unlocked or anything like that. It is simply because Sprint may not have that IMEI in their databases, and Sprint will not permit such a device (for which they don't have the IMEI in their databases) on their network.
I see that op indicated that the device was from Google Play. Can you ask Sprint why it is not working? (ask to check if device is blacklisted, or if IMEI is missing, or something else)
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There's two devices I'm talking about. Mine is GP the one I sold is TMO. and that's what I'm really worried about. It not being in the system.
PS. Tmo device detects sprint. Mine doesn't
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
There's two devices I'm talking about. Mine is GP the one I sold is TMO. and that's what I'm really worried about. It not being in the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the device causing the problem was purchased from T-Mo, then it is very likely that Sprint may not have the IMEI in their system, which is causing the activation issue. Ask the store rep to verify that. If they confirm that is the issue, ask if they can add it (I doubt they can). If they can't, try Sprint phone support (again, I don't know if they will).

jj14 said:
If the device causing the problem was purchased from T-Mo, then it is very likely that Sprint may not have the IMEI in their system, which is causing the activation issue. Ask the store rep to verify that. If they confirm that is the issue, ask if they can add it (I doubt they can). If they can't, try Sprint phone support (again, I don't know if they will).
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Why do Google play devices work then. Their IMEI didn't get added to sprint most likely.
Which BTW mine, the Google play version, didn't work with sprint at all. But the TMO version did actually detect sprint and offer an option to establish a connection (it failed after a few minutes).
Mine, the Google play, didn't offer monkey doodles about establishing a connection.
I hate CDMA carriers. Sooooo much. *sigh*
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Did the factory reset and that didn't work.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
Why do Google play devices work then. Their IMEI didn't get added to sprint most likely.
Which BTW mine, the Google play version, didn't work with sprint at all. But the TMO version did actually detect sprint and offer an option to establish a connection (it failed after a few minutes).
Mine, the Google play, didn't offer monkey doodles about establishing a connection.
I hate CDMA carriers. Sooooo much. *sigh*
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
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Click to collapse
Actually, the ones purchased directly from Google Play do have their IMEI added to Sprint (funny thing - for the first few days after the Nexus 5 was made available from Google Play, the IMEI for the 32GB ones were not in Sprint's database, and those didn't get activated. Several escalations later, and about 1-2 days later, those got added, and users were finally able to get it activated on Sprint - read more here).
If your Google play one is not working with Sprint, you should get Google to look into it. That should not be an IMEI issue.

jj14 said:
Actually, the ones purchased directly from Google Play do have their IMEI added to Sprint (funny thing - for the first few days after the Nexus 5 was made available from Google Play, the IMEI for the 32GB ones were not in Sprint's database, and those didn't get activated. Several escalations later, and about 1-2 days later, those got added, and users were finally able to get it activated on Sprint - read more here).
If your Google play one is not working with Sprint, you should get Google to look into it. That should not be an IMEI issue.
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I dont really care about mine, the fine
Google play version. I'm sticking to TMO no matter what.
But the one I sold, the TMO version, I need to get it to work. did the factory reset and still nothing.
But don't the TMO devices come from Google. I'm pretty sure they get added too once they're made sitting in Google's warehouse and then TMO orders them and ships it to the stores.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5

Dragn4rce said:
I dont really care about mine, the fine
Google play version. I'm sticking to TMO no matter what.
But the one I sold, the TMO version, I need to get it to work. did the factory reset and still nothing.
But don't the TMO devices come from Google. I'm pretty sure they get added too once they're made sitting in Google's warehouse and then TMO orders them and ships it to the stores.
Sent from my Ñ£×Ú$ 5
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T-mo devices likely do come from Google. That doesn't however mean that Sprint will have their IMEIs.
Do note that I neither work for Sprint, nor for Google (and not for T-Mo). I remember reading about this issue at s4gru and at some other sites. I don't know if that issue is still there, but you can check that by asking Sprint if the IMEI on your T-Mo nexus 5 is in their system or not.

[Q] Tmobile N5 on sprint

My brother recently got a tmobile nexus 5 on craigslist, and it turns out it can't be activated on tmobile. My question is could he use the nexus 5 on sprint or does he have to get it carrier unlocked. I've read around and some say that the phone is carrier locked and some say it isn't. Just wanted to get an answer from the reliable xda community.

jcruz767 said:
My brother recently got a tmobile nexus 5 on craigslist, and it turns out it can't be activated on tmobile. My question is could he use the nexus 5 on sprint or does he have to get it carrier unlocked. I've read around and some say that the phone is carrier locked and some say it isn't. Just wanted to get an answer from the reliable xda community.
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Click to collapse
its not carrier locked, but you might have to get level 2 support for them to add the IMEI to their system.

he cant activate it on tmobile then it must be blacklisted. if its blacklisted, it goes on a national registry. i know att and vetizon are part of the registry, if sprints on it as well then you wont be able to use it on sprint.

simms22 said:
he cant activate it on tmobile then it must be blacklisted. if its blacklisted, it goes on a national registry. i know att and vetizon are part of the registry, if sprints on it as well then you wont be able to use it on sprint.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. Not to mention the fact that there is no such thing as a carrier locked Nexus 5. If you want to take a Nexus from one carrier to another, you simply add the IMEI to their system when you activate the new service. If you can't activate it, then the phone must be blacklisted which makes you SOL. All the more reason not to buy a phone off of Craigslist.

you can check if its been blacklisted, for free, here http://swappa.com/esn

Almost positive that the tmobile nexus 5 doesn't have CDMA in the phone. Try an att Sim in the phone. If att and t mobile don't work in there, then nothing will.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app

iLikeTurtuls said:
Almost positive that the tmobile nexus 5 doesn't have CDMA in the phone. Try an att Sim in the phone. If att and t mobile don't work in there, then nothing will.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
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uh, it does have a CDMA radio. its the same hardware as the play store version which has a CDMA radio.

Zepius said:
uh, it does have a CDMA radio. its the same hardware as the play store version which has a CDMA radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have fun with that.
Sent from my Nexus 5

there is only 1 version of the nexus 5 and it does have both GSM and CDMA radios.. i did a quick search and it looks like sprint MAY activate your phone if you give them the imei minus the last digit (MEID).
https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/150262?start=0&tstart=0

iLikeTurtuls said:
Have fun with that.
Sent from my Nexus 5
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Click to collapse
<----- This guy. T-mobile Nexus 5 w/ Sprint SIM.
Proof - tell me what you want to see because the 'About Phone' screen shows model Nexus 5 w/ Android Version L. Also, during the update to L previe, Google only proviedes one firmware update for Nexus 5 hammerhead on their preview dl page.

drwx said:
there is only 1 version of the nexus 5 and it does have both GSM and CDMA radios.. i did a quick search and it looks like sprint MAY activate your phone if you give them the imei minus the last digit (MEID).
https://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/150262?start=0&tstart=0
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Click to collapse
Yes it can be done but there is a different situation here whereby the phone cannot be activated on tmob, presumably because it's blacklisted.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rootSU said:
Yes it can be done but there is a different situation here whereby the phone cannot be activated on tmob, presumably because it's blacklisted.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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True... In that case he's screwed.
--
Stephen