Hello. This is the first time I've posted to the forum although I have visited before to seek help with other android issues.
I would be forever grateful to anyone who could help me with a ridiculously frustrating problem I am having network unlocking an Alcatel phone.
I bought this phone for my son last year. It was a Virgin PAYG. At the end of last year, I was offered a month to month contract with Virgin which I accepted. Long story short, after being a customer of Virgin for years, through their errors on my account which they refused to rectify, I decided to leave them. I asked for the network unlock code. I was willing to pay for it. Virgin said they would give it to me free. I was surprised. So, they look at my account and say they can't give me the code because my phone is not "registered" to that account. I was like, what? This same song and dance has gone on for weeks. At one point, they were submitting a form for the code. A week later I called them and they said they couldn't submit it after all because it wasn't "registered." They said contact Alcatel. I did, and Alcatel said contact Virgin. It's like beating your head against a wall.
I tried two online unlocking services who couldn't unlock it.
A third said there was an issue with the "provider ID?"
At this point, I am seeking help from this community whom I've seen work magic for other cases.
ANY advice would be appreciated as my son desperately needs his phone to keep in contact with his family.
Thank you!
Related
Hello to all and forgive me in advance if Im posting in the wrong place 1st post on this forum. I have run into a problem and am not sure how handle it. I belong to the Sprint network and my 2nd samsung moment is dying after 2 months, insurance job droppped the original in water, since I am a year away from any discounts from sprint I decided to buy one off ebay, Top seller 99.8% satisfaction, I got the phone today Friday day after turkey day was excited and went to the sprint store to activate it but they told me the phone was connected to another account, the phone was advertised as new in box unopened with clean esn#. So sprint cannot activate it and now I dont know what direction to go to fix my problem, With appreciation in advance can anyone help with an answer or any suggestions, thank you, bill
Three months after signing up with T-Mobile, I was already considering dropping their service and going back to Sprint or switching to Virgin Mobile. Why? Here goes...
I signed up for service online, paid the $100 deposit, got the 500 Minute Value Talk plan w/the 2GB Data Plan. I then chose my free G2x and successfully submitted my order. Waited several days to check the status of my order online and saw that my order had been shipped. In order to verify the status, I then called Customer Care and then...the headaches began.
According to everyone I spoke with the phone had not been sent, but they were making sure the phone would be delivered. I must have spoken to several agents until one of them, eventually said the plan was not eligible for a Free Phone. "But I successfully completed the order!"
I eventually bought an HTC MyTouch 4G from another T-Mobile customer who had the phone for a little over a month and had bought a different model. I rooted my phone and never had any extreme problems, other than download speed up until recently, when the Camera and Camcorder crapped out on me. Restored back to stock and tried other ROMS. I also followed suggestions posted in many threads addressing the issue with the cameras, flashing different "Camera" apps, and nothing.
Having gone through many hours of trying to fix my phone, I called HTC to gather as much info on my particular device. They stated the year warranty would expire in April of this year and they would gladly fix the phone for me for free, but I would incur a charge if they found I had voided the warranty. They emailed me an RA form, but I decided to speak to someone at T-Mobile, and based on the info I provided them, they promised a replacement device, but requested my phone's software version. I told them I would call back from another device the following day since I had some "errands" and stuff to do.
I then restored my phone to stock, restored S-On, ran the updates on my device and then called T-Mobile, but then they rejected my request after the replacement was promised by a Supervisor in Tech Support. All they needed to do was verify the IMEI and presto, but I was not able to get my way, so I just left it alone. A week later, I had some voice issues in which I wasn't able to make or receive calls even after removing the battery from the phone, until I was able to get a Customer Care agent who seemed to be outside the Continental U.S. This nice fellow interrupted me while I was explaining my situation to him and said he was going to transfer me to an Account Specialist based on the information he'd seen in the notes. After I asked why, he stated they valued me as a new T-Mobile customer. I was like, "Whatever".
Upon doing a warm-transfer, a young lady by the name of Ashley, indicated she was going to talk to a supervisor and I asked if there was something wrong with my account, but she refused to give me any info. After coming back on the line, she stated her sup had authorized a replacement ticket which was being emailed to me while we spoke, in which they would replace my MyTouch 4G at no cost to me. Imagine that! She apologized on behalf of the company for the misinformation I was given at time and the poor customer service. Three months of crappy overall service and I got a new phone! My download speeds on the bad device were less than 2000kbps. Now, they're at a high 6000kbps.
That girl and the small group of dedicated T-Mobile employees who go beyond their call of duty, deserve an applause. My contract and plan stayed the same. There are good folks at T-Mobile...you just have to keep trying.
Man. What a pain. If you had raised a fuss initially, you could have gotten your G2X. A contract is a contract and you signed up for a free G2X, which their system sold you. I'm pretty sure they were legally bound to give you one. Did you have a receipt?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
estallings15 said:
Man. What a pain. If you had raised a fuss initially, you could have gotten your G2X. A contract is a contract and you signed up for a free G2X, which their system sold you. I'm pretty sure they were legally bound to give you one. Did you have a receipt?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
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Not only did I have a printed one, but snapshots and HTML code from the actual page. Believe me, I wanted to raise hell at first, but I thought it would be a waste of time. While with Sprint, I like others, had access to the Sprint Executive Customer Service Hotline number thanks to The Consumerist, but with T-Mobile I just felt I was out in the cold from Day 1.
The phone replacement doesn't change my perception of their overall Customer Care and Retention Department. One of the last persons I spoke to before talking to the gentleman and Ashley, was a rep from their Spanish-speaking Retention Department. I asked for at least one minimal incentive for me to stay with T-Mobile and her answer was this: "I cannot provide you with even the slightest discount because you are a new customer." Yeah...but one who's paying for a service.
I wish I had stayed with Sprint. I worked for them through ACS in their Tech Support Department. When the store reps wouldn't deliver, we'd jump in and prevent even an escalation to retention. I guess that's what keeps me ticked off at them. I hate not getting the service I strive to always provide my customers with.
I'll stay with them til after my contract is over
I have never experienced bad customer service through my 3 years with T-Mobile, but then again, I never really needed it throughout the time. I got a replacement phone on Monday, and the lady I talked to for it was very kind and polite.
steven-026 said:
I have never experienced bad customer service through my 3 years with T-Mobile, but then again, I never really needed it throughout the time. I got a replacement phone on Monday, and the lady I talked to for it was very kind and polite.
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Wow...I guess because you've been with them for a while. Glad they were able to help you and be nice about it to.
My wife and I couldn't pass up TMos 2 for $99 /mo plan but it took 7 different reps to get that sorted out cuz no one had heard of it ... even though it was all over the radio and on their homepage! - Gotta say they were quite ready to help even if they didn't seem to know what they were doing.
Homerbsharp said:
My wife and I couldn't pass up TMos 2 for $99 /mo plan but it took 7 different reps to get that sorted out cuz no one had heard of it ... even though it was all over the radio and on their homepage! - Gotta say they were quite ready to help even if they didn't seem to know what they were doing.
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Had same prob till I found someone who told me I had to pay $200 per line migration fee. Been with tmo for 6 years but if I pay$200 a line its going to be to cancel... when I started they were great even gave me free month when messed up bill but recently when renewed had to call 10 times to get texting cuz every bill was 800 and they said they fixed but still have to call every month
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Hi there ! Bought one of these phones from ebay.co.uk and wanted to unlock it before it arrives by IMEI. A friend told me that the O2 ones already come sim unlocked... is this true?
Many thanks!!!
jopa7 said:
Hi there ! Bought one of these phones from ebay.co.uk and wanted to unlock it before it arrives by IMEI. A friend told me that the O2 ones already come sim unlocked... is this true?
Many thanks!!!
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That's not true, they are locked to O2 network. Fill in a form here: https://www.o2.co.uk/apps/help/help?qid=1&q1=2&route=unlocking&case=Handset Unlocking Form and wait. It took them one day to supply me with an unlock code.
Thank you very much. Already received it and, as you told, it's locked. I'm not living in UK and bought the phone on ebay to use overseas. The link you provided it's for 02 contract customers, no? Do you know any reliable unlock code provider? Cheers
Sent from my SM-N9005 using xda app-developers app
Well, most likely the person who sold you the phone is an O2 contract customer. You could ask that person to request an unlock code for you as it would be free of charge. Another option is to get O2 Pay & Go sim card and doing it yourself. See this: http://service.o2.co.uk/IQ/SRVS/CGI...ef(User):str(Mobile),CASE=ref(unlockmymobile) which might be tricky if you're not in the UK I don't know of any reliable unlock sites, but they usually charge a fortune for this.
This thread describes the situation I was in, in case anyone stumbles on it later.
I tried via the O2 online chat to get the phone unlocked. They said that I could not unlock it because they could only supply an unlock code if the phone had been used for 12 months on O2 and their records showed that this particular phone had only been used for three months. So, it looked like I would have to get a UK O2 SIM and use it for nine months. That is not easy if you live in Australia. However there is a site called Travelgear that sells O2 SIMs and lets you charge them up with 20 pounds of credit. So, I did that, and installed the SIM with a view to seeing out the 9 months, perhaps sending a text every so often and topping up each month. After installing the SIM I received a text from O2 saying I had 100MB of data to use. In trying to work out the status of the phone account I pressed an O2 shortcut on the front screen which opened up an app which when I pressed on the "My O2" button, opened up the web browser, which would not let me log into any information. Then, I thought I would ask O2 again to unlock via their online support form. Unsurprisingly, they responded that they could not but surprisingly, they said that the reason was that I did not have the necessary 15 pounds of credit. I queried that because I thought I should have 20 pounds. Ha ha! While it is 100MB, it is 6 pounds per MB if you are roaming in Australia! The brief attempt to check my account status had wiped out my credit. Gosh how I laughed.
Anyway, in parallel with all of this I tried an unlocking site called gsmliberty. They said they would need to go to a "second level database" at an additional charge and I said no thanks I will have a refund, which they promptly gave without fuss. Then I tried CellUnlockerPro. First time, they said the servers were down, which I thought was just an excuse for not being able to get the unlock code as gsmliberty had not been able to, so I asked for a refund and they too gave it to me promptly. About a week later CellUnlockerPro emailed to say the server was up so I thought nothing to be lost and gave it a shot. I put in the wrong IMEI but again CellUnlockerPro gave me a refund because I spotted the mistake early. I tried again and lo! they gave me an unlock code which worked.
So, moral of this sad story seems to be that if you are in Australia, do not waste money trying to get the free unlock out of O2, just spend the 30 USD that CellUnlockerPro charges.
Ok so here is my problem. hope people here can help me or suggest me a solution asap.
I live in India. I was on a trip to United States and i bought Moto X first gen from Atnt store near dallas, TX. As i was not a US citizen i could only get Go phone service rather then their regular ones. So i paid full price for phone and used it with Atnt network there for a month. a month later i was back to India and will be here for next year or so. i contacted Motorola customer service to unlock my phone as i had paid full price on which i got a reply that i should contact Atnt and not them, they cannot help. so i contacted Atnt. they said to wait 6 months for applying for unlock. so after six months ( i bought the phone in march 2014) i try to request unlock through there site and it says not in their database. so i contact customer service to which they tell me as my phone number was not active for 4-5 months now so it has been deactivated and passed on to different customer. so phone number linked to my device is no more which is why it does not show in database and will not till i go there and buy new number to link my device to and request again. which is highly unlikely as i have a work here which i cannot leave and even if i just decide to make a trip for my phone it will cost me 3 times the phone's cost (full price i mean) nor i have someone there in States to send my phone to so they can go through the process not to forget sending phone there and other transport cost etc etc. so no official way, Atnt left me hanging.
next step as usually people do i go to unlock site. i used site called unlockunit.com to which i paid around 25 USD and waited for 2 weeks. they provided me with pins 2 from atnt in 3 days and 2 from motorola in 14 days. none worked. they said they will refund me and has been 3 months now still nothing. they say issue in their financial department. that i will have to be patient. so you see i lost faith in this type of sites too. not willing to try others unless i know i will get my phone unlock or my money back.
so what i want to know is, is there any way i can get my phone unlock. if so how?! can i root my device and get it unlock?! any other method. please do let me know. cause i do not want my 450 USD go to waste seeing it as just a phone which i cannot use as phone but just to play games on.
and sorry if i am a noob for asking this and if this is a wrong place as well. i am a noob.
please do help if you can. thank you.
So,
Just recently bought a sprint g955u off of Offer Up.
Being the uber noob I am, I was sold on the story of it being clean, recently paid off and clear for unlocking.
As you can guess, it was not.
Unpaid bills is what i was told.
After a few google searches of unlocking services, I've found that one may not always be able to unlock due to certain circumstances. Like unpaid bills.
So i have been very hesitant about using them.
As it turns out, the person I bought the phone from happens to be a member of this community. Which is why I am here. So the further I read the more I'm hoping I might actually be able to unlock this phone.
I managed to make it through Sampwnd's root with ease but have hit a roadblock when it comes to unlocking.
Id love to really dive into this phone and maybe actually learn a few things (and god willing maybe even be able to contribute one day!?) but I am just lost.
I'm sure there has to be a new wave/generation of lost noobs heading here, but it was one of your own that brought me here. So please, I ask, help me get my phone working!!
If you have written proof the person said it was paid off, tell them you want to return it and have your money back otherwise you will consider small claims court, otherwise at to them you expect to have it paid off. In the UK the person has the debt of the phone attached to them not the phone, if you sell off the phone they come after you for the money, if you refuse they do block the phone though.
@cabg.kepr,
Depending on how you paid for the device (i.e. credit card) you should be able to get a refund. I'm sorry to tell you that if you paid cash, you are SOL. There's no solution.
Ouch. Really??
No flashing special firmware or anything??
But yup, paid cash. Met outside of a Wal-Mart. He lied about being apart of some dev team yada-yada. Told me I would very easily be able to unlock. He even tried to assist but messages would be VERY delayed. And when asked a technical questions he wouldn't reply or would change the subject. Almost 100% sure he's using an app for a phone.
Well yesterday he just quit replying. Which is what brought me here.
Now I see he's offering a free service, on here, to assist people through Team viewer, with rooting and unlocking.
He had me convinced for 3 days (I now realize how stupid I was..) that he would do it. So three separate times he would access through team viewer for hours at a time. And the few times i popped in to watch (been fairly busy) he would be going through websites and settings. When I asked what was up, he would give some weird excuse (and again, I realize how dumb I was being).
He told me he was getting root and unlock ready, when really, he spent hours going through my network settings and what not. Very suspicious. Luckily I was smart enough to only let him on an empty, freshly installed win10. And disconnected all other devices from wifi.
A few times though he did tell me that he would access my drives later and that he could use my TV to access my network. A couple times said he was a hacker but white hat. Said he had friends that were black and could do anything they wanted. That, at least, I was smart enough to have a chuckle at. But really, this whole thing has just become so strange and uncomfortable. But now I'm just pissed.
So really, this might even deserve admin attention?? This guy could really be some trouble.
@cabg.kepr
Let's clarify one point: Do you have phone service with your device? If not, have you checked the IMEI number (swappa.com, for example) to see if it's black listed?
@cam30era
I do not. The phone is a sprint and the sim was pulled out.
(My current provider is att)
Checked on swappa and it is not blacklisted, ready for activation, but has a finance issue.
Called sprint and they told me the account was negative and unpaid.
cabg.kepr said:
@cam30era
I do not. The phone is a sprint and the sim was pulled out.
(My current provider is att)
Checked on swappa and it is not blacklisted, ready for activation, but has a finance issue.
Called sprint and they told me the account was negative and unpaid.
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IF if hasn't been blacklisted, you should be able to activate it on your service provider. If you haven't tried yet, give it a try.
Just called att. They directed me to a website that told me my imei was unrecognized by them.
cabg.kepr said:
Just called att. They directed me to a website that told me my imei was unrecognized by them.
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That's not unusual for AT&T. It doesn't mean your device can't be activated. Try installing an AT&T SIM card from another device that is already activated on AT&T.
Tried that first thing and got "invalid sim".. it's art prepaid. Not sure if that matters?
cabg.kepr said:
Tried that first thing and got "invalid sim".. it's art prepaid. Not sure if that matters?
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Appears this S8+ is SIM (carrier) locked to Sprint. You won't be able to use it on any carrier until the previous owner pays off the outstanding balance.
FWIW: don't confuse SIM locked with bootloader locked. And SamPWMD root won't help you.
Have you tried to contact the seller about this?
Sent pm
cabg.kepr said:
Sent pm
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I did not receive a PM.
Hey sorry for the delay. Was going to send a pm explaing without him seeing but won't need to now.
Basically I still have/had some very sporadic contact. i was worried of really digging in to him in fear that hed be deleting everything and id never hear from him again.
Still not sure what to do. Though it sounds like I have a nice little tablet for at home?? Still very much plan on working on this in hopes that there will be a boot loader root soon??(if I understood that correctly)
cabg.kepr said:
Hey sorry for the delay. Was going to send a pm explaing without him seeing but won't need to now.
Basically I still have/had some very sporadic contact. i was worried of really digging in to him in fear that hed be deleting everything and id never hear from him again.
Still not sure what to do. Though it sounds like I have a nice little tablet for at home?? Still very much plan on working on this in hopes that there will be a boot loader root soon??(if I understood that correctly)
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Sounds like you got fleeced mate, feel sorry for you not sure how claims courts work in America but I'd be going to one of those. Eventually, the phone sounds like it'll be blacklisted, which won't help your cause. I'd keep copies of every conversation you've had with him and screenshots or printouts if you do decide to take it to court.
I'm unsure of the situation but did you buy this phone from the person who hasn't paid it off or did he buy it from them then sell it to you? As for the TeamViewer situation, yeah that's dodgy you're right to be suspicious.
cabg.kepr said:
Hey sorry for the delay. Was going to send a pm explaing without him seeing but won't need to now.
Basically I still have/had some very sporadic contact. i was worried of really digging in to him in fear that hed be deleting everything and id never hear from him again.
Still not sure what to do. Though it sounds like I have a nice little tablet for at home?? Still very much plan on working on this in hopes that there will be a boot loader root soon??(if I understood that correctly)
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Click to collapse
NO phone modification will help you. This device is DEAD unless he pays it off and gets a SIM unlock code for you. You basically have 3 choices:
1) Contact him and insist on a refund, or written evidence of device paid off.
or
2) Contact the police and file a fraud report
or
3) Accept you loss
Again, don't hope that bootloader unlock or root or any device modification will resolve this. It won't. This device is useless until it's paid for at Sprint, and they provide a SIM unlock code.
This is so funny. Always pay with card, even if it's local. Anyone can take a card payment, Paypal, Square, etc; That way you have protection from your credit card provider. This is why I always buy new, not secondhand, from a shady dealer in a dark alley, much less wally world. You got played so hard man. At those dev claims, shouldve asked proof and definitely verified if it was unlocked on the spot before handing cash over. Enjoy your new paperweight. I wanna feel bad for you, but it's kinda hard when you fell for the obvious lies.
Same thing happened to me and I bought unlock code $25.00 flash with US unlock firmware. I am using it on AT&T now. Hopefully buyer don't report stolen. Unpaid phone can still be using on other networks.
Hmm well thank you everyone. Kind of a bummer if thsts the case.
What about this though?? @randy_c it had a neg balance against it and everything??
randy_c said:
Same thing happened to me and I bought unlock code $25.00 flash with US unlock firmware. I am using it on AT&T now. Hopefully buyer don't report stolen. Unpaid phone can still be using on other networks.
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Not when it's SIM locked to Sprint.