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[Q] Do I need and Unlock or what?

I have some experience rooting and flashing phones, but rarely are phones network locked in South Africa.
But My friend brought home a T-Mobile Prism from USA, which when we put in a different sim card and the phone wants a code before it will allow data.
Are there programs (like Odin for Samsung's) that I can unlock it with (is that the term?) or does one need to pay those dodgy looking sites for a code?

Could I just root the phone and flash stock firmware to get rid of the lock?

Bump

tpex said:
I have some experience rooting and flashing phones, but rarely are phones network locked in South Africa.
But My friend brought home a T-Mobile Prism from USA, which when we put in a different sim card and the phone wants a code before it will allow data.
Are there programs (like Odin for Samsung's) that I can unlock it with (is that the term?) or does one need to pay those dodgy looking sites for a code?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you must have a proffesional tool\box to unlock it.this is network lock.also you may use a netunlock by imei service from internet

Galaxy S6 region lock

I have read basically all the region lock threads so far......
My phone says "no sim card | emergency call only"....so i'm pretty sure mines is region locked (UAE Galaxy S6, used in the US now)
I tried contacting the country specific Samsung customer support. Here are a few responses from the UAE agent:
aeagent012 said:
Unfortunately in this case you will be in need to send the device to one of the service centres in UAE to remove the region lock.
and
If the device covered under warranty, we can unlock it for free.
and
We apologize for the inconvenience, you can send the device and provide us with the number that you will receive from the service centre and we can file complaint to unlock for free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically....My response was....#1 I need to send/ship it over to UAE service center #2 Under warranty its a free unlock #3 I told them I wasn't under warranty and basically didn't want to pay......and the agent reasoned with me and said they will basically do the unlock for free if I send it.
At last, Now the agent told me to send my IMEI to their R&D department. I will try that
@saar17
Question: Without sending the phone in.....how is the region unlocked achieved? It is an actual code, if so where would I enter the code anyway, no pop-up menu says enter any code.....Or is it a dialpad code? The only indication of the lock is my phone saying "no sim card".....With card inserted and full signal. No type of "enter code" menu.
Secondly..........Has anyone tried to odin flash stock firmware from country you want the phone to work in? (Example: Flash North American firmware to my UAE region locked phone)
Can anyone disprove the theory of buying the original country specific sim to put in.....even in different country. Or does the call absolutely have to be made with region sim in that actual region?

I got a UAE S6 and when I first put my SIM card in it said the same no sevice thing. Then it updated to 5.1.1 and it was fine. Guess I dodged a bullet.
Sent from my SM-T710 using Tapatalk

I also have a UAE S6 but I never had SIM lock issues when travelling. Worked fine in Egypt and Lebanon as well as the UAE.

I got it in Canada so it would have been a real problem if I had to send it away.

SIM unlock?

Please post experience with S7 SIM (carrier) unlocking here, specifically third party websites that offer an unlocking service.

I bought my phone out right from T-mobile. And their unlock app that comes on the phone does not work

HTCMDA said:
I bought my phone out right from T-mobile. And their unlock app that comes on the phone does not work
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It works but you have to know what you're doing with it. Did you contact Tmobile for unlock code. We unlock and blacklist repair the Sprint, Tmobile, etc. The Tmobile ones have to go through that app during the process

supreme83 said:
It works but you have to know what you're doing with it. Did you contact Tmobile for unlock code. We unlock and blacklist repair the Sprint, Tmobile, etc. The Tmobile ones have to go through that app during the process
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea man i called...they sent an email with instructions.. email stated this phone doesn't require an unlock code as it has a built in unlock app. follow the directions below blah blah balh
bottom line, it doesn't work. why? because there's hidden rules and crap that need to be met 1st by t-mobile. prepaid people need to spend at least 100 dollars in refills before the phone is eligible. post paid people need to have the phone active on t-mobile for a minimum of 45 days and your account cannot be cancelled during that time.
well seeing as how i'm on prepaid... i walked in, made a new customer purchase as a post paid user, then cancelled my line after i got my gear vr and netflix code... which wasn't even 30 days. I can't unlock my phone, So I'm now on prepaid gonna see if I can after 100 dollars in refills

Try to use UnlockRadar for any phone using Device Unlock App from T-Mobile, including the Galaxy S7. You can find more here: https://www.unlockradar.com/service/t-mobile-usa-device-unlock-app-official-unlock

Hello,
i need a help with a unlocking Samsung Galaxy S7 SIM (network) too. It is locked to Vodafone UK.
Does anyone know any reliable services to do it?
Thanks

merlooo said:
Hello,
i need a help with a unlocking Samsung Galaxy S7 SIM (network) too. It is locked to Vodafone UK.
Does anyone know any reliable services to do it?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use ebay to get my unlock codes, unlocked maybe a dozen phones in the last few years and never had any issues with anyone.

A couple reliable sites I've used many times are www.unlockbase.com and www.cellunlocker.net . There's also a thread over on the s6 general forum of a member named stifilz that can unlock your device via USB cable, his service is free but a donation is always a nice gesture. Good luck!
Sent from the silver bullet 930F Running Superman Rom

kinda ridiculous you have to pay to get an unlock code still. My SM-G930FD i bought unlocked locks itself every time in install a T-mobile csc and the app wont even run on that phone

Hi can anyone help? I bought an At&t S7 Edge on amazon and got the unlock code from the vendor and it apparently worked. My only issue is that it'll only work with the sim that was in the phone when I entered the code. If I use another one the phone keeps displaying "insert sim". Thanks already for your replies

Thanks for the reply and there's 1 more things I need to mention: I'm using the phone overseas (Haiti) as it's still under At&t contract. Now to answer your questions no it doesn't ask for the unlock code anymore but like I said it only works with the non At&t
sim I used when entering the unlock code.
SamsungCodeSource said:
Hey there macphephe,
What network are you trying to use the phone with and does the phone ask for the unlock code still when you turn the phone on with a non AT&T simcard/
Let me know we can help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

s7 (sm-930f) lock to Austrian A1 was not able to be unlocked by unlockbase.com. However, the nck from cellunlocker.net worked well.

Ok so what im mentioning is something im still not getting quite well, but i saw before many samsung phones S6, S7, Note... etc that have the international firmware 9XXF/FD even when the phone is actually a T-Mobile version or AT&T, in download mode you will be shown the real phone model but the firmware isn't. Of course through Odin with a PC you won't be able to flash the phone with a firmware besides the one designed for it. If you actually wanna flash the phone you'll need the original firmware, i tried it before and flashed a Verizon S6 that had the international 6.0 firmware on it through Odin and as you might guess i got an error as the device didn't match the firmware, when i actually flashed it with the correct Verizon 7.0 firmware it worked and the phone booted and worked alright, except that now the phone is network locked! downgrade isn't possible unless i use a repair firmware and a pit file (not sure if still works with nougat). Then i got the idea of actually using the repair firmware and the pit of the 9XXF version as its network free, and ended up breaking the phone completely. The jig didn't work so couldn't access odin. So i work for a friend of mine in a repair workshop PC, Consoles, Mobiles... blablabla and we have the Z3x box, it did unbrick the phone, and then i started playing with it to see what it can do, and there is an option to actually flash and mix different parts of the firmware, so i went an flashed the bootloader of the Verizon firmware with the rest from the international firmware, it didn't boot at first but somehow i got it into recovery mode and after a format it did boot, and the network was actually unlocked after.
I do not think this method would work on all versions, as some samsung phones uses the snapdragon soc while others uses the exynos soc, and i don't think you can mix those firmwares, but an unlocked exynos model might be unlockable with the international firmware, of course considering the risk of breaking the phone, but if you're lucky as i was and have one of those boxes you shouldn't be much afraid.
Something else i'd like to mention, is that the Z3x can actually fully backup the phone, and i don't mean a nandroid backup like TWRP but like a full partitions backup, and the idea i got but didn't test is if you have for example a locked S7 and an unlocked one and same model so let's say 930P, you can actually copy the raw partitions from the unlocked one to the locked one and i don't know, maybe ending up unlocking it too, again didn't test this one as i only have one S7 and its already unlocked (930FD).

Cannot call nor send sms after installing nugat

Hi,
(I'm quite new to all of this.)
I installed android nugat on my Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930F using this guide: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/development/rom-superstoc-rom-v1-0-aroma-t3496520.
And I currently my sim card is not able to connect to network, after insertion of the sim card, I pass through sim pin. Sim is loaded by phone. On the locked screen it says 'Just emergency calls'. When I try to call anyone, it says 'Not registered in network'.
Already tried two different roms, even Samsung Switch Emergency Software Recovery and Initialization.. nothing happened, the problem is still there, not able to use any mobile services.
Did find that my IMEI is not the same as on the back side of the phone.
Samsung Serial Number is equal with back of the phone.
CSC CODE INFO:
PRODUCT CODE: SM-G930FZKABTU
ORIGINAL CSC CODE: BTU
FIRMWARES CSC CODE: BTU
ACTIVE CSC CODE: BTU
AVAILABLE CSC CODES: BTU, CPW, DBT, ITV, KOR, NEE, XEF, XEO, XEU
CSC COUNTRY: UK & IRE /GB
MOBILE OPERATOR: 23002
I also find that the android says that it is G930FD (dual sim version), even though that on the back of the phone there is written G930F, and obviously there is no way to put second sim inside.
I'm in Czech Republic and I've Vodafone. Everything worked perfectly fine before I started messing up with the roms. Do not know whether the IMEI was different when it was working.
Could anyone give me some advice how to fix it?

josef55 said:
Hi,
(I'm quite new to all of this.)
I installed android nugat on my Samsung Galaxy S7 SM-G930F using this guide: https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/development/rom-superstoc-rom-v1-0-aroma-t3496520.
And I currently my sim card is not able to connect to network, after insertion of the sim card, I pass through sim pin. Sim is loaded by phone. On the locked screen it says 'Just emergency calls'. When I try to call anyone, it says 'Not registered in network'.
Already tried two different roms, even Samsung Switch Emergency Software Recovery and Initialization.. nothing happened, the problem is still there, not able to use any mobile services.
Did find that my IMEI is not the same as on the back side of the phone.
IMEI INFO:
IMEI (slot 1):
IMEISV (slot 1): 01
IMEI (slot 2): 000000000000000
IMEISV (slot 2): 01
IMEI on the back side of the phone:
Samsung Serial Number is equal with back of the phone.
CSC CODE INFO:
PRODUCT CODE: SM-G930FZKABTU
ORIGINAL CSC CODE: BTU
FIRMWARES CSC CODE: BTU
ACTIVE CSC CODE: BTU
AVAILABLE CSC CODES: BTU, CPW, DBT, ITV, KOR, NEE, XEF, XEO, XEU
CSC COUNTRY: UK & IRE /GB
MOBILE OPERATOR: 23002
I also find that the android says that it is G930FD (dual sim version), even though that on the back of the phone there is written G930F, and obviously there is no way to put second sim inside.
I'm in Czech Republic and I've Vodafone. Everything worked perfectly fine before I started messing up with the roms. Do not know whether the IMEI was different when it was working.
Could anyone give me some advice how to fix it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi mate
Where did you get this phone from??
The imei is not right and the change for sure is not caused by flashing the custom rom , flashing the custom rom probably caused that the original Imei resurface , first imei belongs to a totally different phone:
Model: DIAMOND
Brand: XTOUCH
IMEI: TAC: 359007 FAC: 07 SNR: 042596 CD: 4
The second one it does belongs to an S7
Somebody changed the Imei ...usually this is done when the phone is stolen.......maybe that is why is banned
Take the phone back , the phone was working fine because you had an Imei from and old phone ....the original imei is probably reported stolen

Not glad to here that. I bought it from some guy, there is no way for me to put the phone back.
Is there any way to make it work? Next time I'll rather buy brand new, but once I have it, and money are gone...

josef55 said:
Not glad to here that. I bought it from some guy, there is no way for me to put the phone back.
Is there any way to make it work? Next time I'll rather buy brand new, but once I have it, and money are gone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfort we dont talk about how to change imeis here most countries its illeagal
also for future refrance please dont post imeis on here either in the off even some one does try to take ure info and use it for there own even if it is banned
i though i was in a similar situation i thought my s7 was hot because of a old text i found on it. and i later found out another phone the girl had was stolen not my s7 so i got lucky. basicly without equip like octoplus box changing its not gonna happen.

josef55 said:
Not glad to here that. I bought it from some guy, there is no way for me to put the phone back.
Is there any way to make it work? Next time I'll rather buy brand new, but once I have it, and money are gone...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have any form of receipt / chat with your seller, your best bet would be to print everything and go to local authorities. It's a slim chance, but a chance nontheless.
It might be the case that the seller banked on you not changing your rom etc.
It's most likely a stolen device and yes there are ways to make it work again, which won't be discussed, since it's illegal and also any IMEI should not be posted here as mentioned by the previous poster. As you found out, you can easily backtrack IMEI information. This time it worked out for you, but usually it just get's you into trouble.
And even if you don't have anything at all, still go to the local authorities and explain it to them. If the original owner of the device tracks the IMEI, which you accidentially reset, you might get accused of being the thief, even if you did not do it.
Next time you buy something used, ask for an ID copy (depending on country) and make a receipt with price, IMEI and you and your sellers data (Name adress etc).
If **** like this happens again, atleast you will be on the safe side. And even then.. sometimes it's better to save some more money to get a new device from a store (full warranty etc.).
It`s the only tips, i can give you now. But i do wish you the best of luck.

Thanks for answers!
I'm just wondering, if the imei, would be marked as stolen, and I would restore the original one by flashing the rom, wouldn't be the imei displayed in android, the same as is on the back of the phone?

Just installing rom wont change IMEI!
Sent from my SM-G930F using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I basically tried to install APP, BL, CP, CSC using Odin couple of times (have tried: Czech Vodafone 6.0.1, Czech O2 7, Germany Vodafone 7, SuperStock-Rom_SM-G93XF_V2.4, that what I remember). Once also tried to clear data using twrp and root it. Also once I messed up the installation, so I did Emergency software recovery and initialization using Smart Switch.

Since updating to Android 7.0 on SAMSUNG S7, the SAMSUNG call/phone icon no longer notifies or display for me missed calls. I've to rely on a third party truecaller for the notifications. I'm not used to this and as a result I've missed to respond to very important calls.

SIM unlock S+

Hi,
Looking in this forum but can't see how to SIM unlock my S+. Phone was locked so I re-flashed with Odin but can't find guide to unlock SIM.
Phone is locked to UK Vodafone.
Can you send me please guide if there is some? Thanks

What is the message your phone displays when you insert a SIM card other than Vodafone UK (ie, a non-accepted SIM card) and try to place a phone call?
If the phone is locked, it will ask you for unlocking codes.

Yes, it's asking for unlock code. I could fix this with odin and some flash on my S7 Edge but how can I do this on S8+?

As far as I know you should buy the unlock code on eBay. Actually it depends on operator (each operator has its own way to lock it). For example Verizon doesn't lock GSM part on the modem for their phones at all. Sometimes remote unlock procedure is required (you will pay to third party and they will do it through the Teamview). The price depends on operator. There are 99% that you will not do it for free by yourself.
There is one chance to do it yourself only if your provider made some calling time lock. For example you have to insert Vodafone SIM card and make a phone call for some 5-10 minutes (but it shlould be done inside the country of phone's origin, UK in your case). Try to ask someone with a same Vodafone UK phone.
You can do it with Odin only if it was not really locked from the beginning but just had some carriers bloat, that was asking for that unlock.
What is exact model of your S8+? What does it says in Bootloader mode?

But actually I could do this with S7 edge. So S8 has some protection?
Ganibal_Lector said:
As far as I know you should buy the unlock code on eBay. Actually it depends on operator (each operator has its own way to lock it). For example Verizon doesn't lock GSM part on the modem for their phones at all. Sometimes remote unlock procedure is required (you will pay to third party and they will do it through the Teamview). The price depends on operator. There are 99% that you will not do it for free by yourself.
There is one chance to do it yourself only if your provider made some calling time lock. For example you have to insert Vodafone SIM card and make a phone call for some 5-10 minutes. Try to ask someone with a same Vodafone UK phone.
You can do it with Odin only if it was not really locked from the beginning but just had some carriers bloat, that was asking for that unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

lew1s said:
But actually I could do this with S7 edge. So S8 has some protection?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it the same Vodafone UK? What is exact model number of your S8+? What was original firmware and firmware you have feflashed with?

Ganibal_Lector said:
Was it the same Vodafone UK? What is exact model number of your S8+? What was original firmware and firmware you have feflashed with?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no was Irish. Model: G955F and I used this guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qcBBQ4rwis

lew1s said:
no was Irish. Model: G955F and I used this guide:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on other operators experience I would say you cannot do it by yourself as usually simple flashing will not unlock the phone. You will really need one of paid methods to unlock it. It is still better to ask someone with a same Vodafone phone. As unlockers on ebay etc. make money with those methods I don't really believe that someone here will tell you how to do that by your own.
There was a thread where the guy was discussing unlock for his Austrian locked phone. Finally he paid twice as first seller sold him some wrong unlock code and phone became network blocked completely. However he bought some "unfreeze" code from different seller and that worked for him. If it would be so easy to unlock operators phones they will never sell them cheaper than unlocked.
Another option is still to perform call with original Verizon UK SIM card for 10 minutes. After that you should reboot your phone and it should be unlocked. If it will not work you can approach Vodafone UK and ask them for unlock code. If there was no any financial issues for that phone and it is registered more than 6 months in the network they should provide you with unlock code for free.
Sorry if I didn't help you too much.