[CLOSED]Imei changed Note 20 Ultra - Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra Questions & Answers

So my dad worked for GM for 45 years, and every year they send them new work phones. This last year they sent him a s21+, and inside the box was also a note 20 ultra that he didnt order or asked for. Finally after 6 months he gave it to me thinking i could do something with it, since it was reported "lost or stolen". I quickly went to - Mod Edit: Content Removed - and paid to have my imei changed. It was successful (since im typing this on my Note). The problem is the imei was changed to a galaxy s8 and at this point i dont think i can get updates. What do i need to do in order to start getting updates again? Do i need to flash a rom on it to get everything back on track so i can download updates?

@Roach419 Thread closed. IMEI changes aren't legal in most countries, thus are a forbidden topic in XDA. See rule 9:
9. Don't get us into trouble.
Don't post copyrighted materials or do other things which will obviously lead to legal trouble. If you wouldn't do it on your own homepage, you probably shouldn't do it here either. This does not mean that we agree with everything that the software piracy lobby try to impose on us. It simply means that you cannot break any laws here, since we'll end up dealing with the legal hassle caused by you. Please use common sense: respect the forum, its users and those that write great code.
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Related

can sprint use my gps to find track my phone

i was thinking of telling sprint that i lost my phone so that i can get a new one to use for work but while still keeping mine to use as a toy.Would they be able to simply track my phone and get me for fraud?
Thats not a appropriate question on XDA as its illegal to do fraud! No they wont be able to track your phone!
mohamedhussain1995 said:
Thats not a appropriate question on XDA as its illegal to do fraud! No they wont be able to track your phone!
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Why would they give you a new phone, just because you lost yours ?
Your sim card does however, register on the network when ever you connect (ismi # ) as does your imei #. So you would never be able to use either on a network again. Also if they even suspect fraud, they can charge your account the full amount of the phone , several hundreds of dollars, and suspend your service. And until you settle the bill with Sprint, you will be denied service on any other carrier, because the bill with Sprint will go on your credit report.
That is of course unless you spend several thousands of dollars in legal fees fighting a billion dollar company trying to prove that you didn't do something, that you , in fact, did do.
ummm.. i presume he is under warranty; like me. in the UK if i lose my phone it gets replaced by the same model if it aint found within 12 hours and the stolen phone gets black listed but if you read carefully he mentioned 'as a toy'
Please make sense.
While I respect the "interest" anyone might have to avoid costs, one should not do so "at any cost", particularly at the cost of one's integrity. I have a rule I created for just such a postulation "do not spend your life looking for short-cuts and later standing around complaining when life short-changes you." (Brooks II, Leonard W., The Art of Being ©2007) Notwithstanding this user's inquiry being wrong on all sorts of levels, including legal, it is sufficient that this user ask himself or herself whether this is the "right" thing to do. I think the "gut" won't lie in this case and properly guide his or her actions. Then, there's the old rule I teach my children: "Just because you 'can' do something, does not mean that you 'should'".
To those that weighed in on this question in a manner of response:
I strongly discourage the statement of legal conclusions or speculations regarding punishments as a matter of law. It is contradictory and sends mixed messages to all the users when such speculations are thrown about while also coupled with an answer to the querying user's question. (e.g. This is an inappropriate forum for your question on how to rob a bank because bank robbery is illegal and you could go to jail, p.s. rob an ATM instead because if you get caught you'll do less jail time).
In these forums, it is sufficient to state (preferably citing to an internal xda-developers rule), that "this question is not appropriate to the forum." Alternatively, if xda were to lack such an internal policy rule (I seem to recall it does not lack such a rule) one could simply state the same and re-direct the inquiring user to his or her wireless contract which also provides clear guidance on this point (and yes, I read them (line for line)).
Nevertheless, I also don't think it is good form to make them feel completely like a heel for having asked the question in the first instance. After all, whether it is technology, law, relationships, or our own life experience, most of us know "just enough to make us dangerous".

Is Rooting your device illegal?

Sorry if this question has been answered already, but I haven't found a recent (ie within a year) thread about this when I searched. I haven't rooted anything in years and I've just got a Galaxy Tab Pro and was looking into Rooting it. My friend who has an HTC One has also reached out to me asking me how to Root it.
When I started researching methods I kept running across articles that were stating that Rooting a device is now illegal? I've never heard of this before, is it true? Anyone have links to information that says otherwise?
No it's not but In most cases it will void your warranty. also most of the time you could always unroot your device. I used KingRoot to root my phone it's an app it was quick and simple.
Sent from my BLU STUDIO 7.0 II using XDA Free mobile app
It depends what you do with root. If you root it to "hack" or "snif" then you're doing a illegal thing. If you root it to costumise your Android then, you're not disturbing a privacy from another person or what else.
Hit the Thanks Button if I helped
You bought and own it. You can do what you like with it. Of course if it's a stolen phone and you're rooting it to mess with the IMEI, then that's another matter.
Does anyone have links to articles or information confirming this? Because all I can find are articles stating that it is illegal with the 2nd article below stating that "Tablets cannot be Rooted AT ALL" (*edit: apparently I can't post links yet)
godzillinois said:
Does anyone have links to articles or information confirming this? Because all I can find are articles stating that it is illegal with the 2nd article below stating that "Tablets cannot be Rooted AT ALL" (*edit: apparently I can't post links yet)
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I don't know what you have been reading, but it's wrong. Root is perfectly legal. My Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 are both rooted.
Where are you getting this information? That part of the internet should just go ahead and die.
well like I said, I can't post links yet because I'm still 'new' but if you just Google Root and Illegal a bunch of articles come up (some contradicting the others, which is why I was looking for a definitive answer from somewhere.)
godzillinois said:
well like I said, I can't post links yet because I'm still 'new' but if you just Google Root and Illegal a bunch of articles come up (some contradicting the others, which is why I was looking for a definitive answer from somewhere.)
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I think you don't quite get how search engines (google) works: you can google illegal and pineapples, and get a bunch of articles.
The only issue with rooting would be that it breaks/voids warranty in most cases, and if your device was obtained on contract i.e. still technically the property of your provider, then rooting might be against the terms of service - the consequence of which varying depending on the provider.
HypoTurtle said:
I think you don't quite get how search engines (google) works: you can google illegal and pineapples, and get a bunch of articles.
The only issue with rooting would be that it breaks/voids warranty in most cases, and if your device was obtained on contract i.e. still technically the property of your provider, then rooting might be against the terms of service - the consequence of which varying depending on the provider.
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I wasn't searching for it outright, I was actually searching for the pros and cons of rooting since my buddy was interested, and a couple of the articles I kept running into kept mentioning the illegality part. Since I can't post links I just suggested that one Google Root and Illegal since someone actually asked where I got my information. I figured it would be easier than explaining all this and then telling him to Google "Pros and Cons."
Obviously I know how a search engine works, no need for the passive aggressive comments - especially when you provide no other help than what was already said.
godzillinois said:
I wasn't searching for it outright, I was actually searching for the pros and cons of rooting since my buddy was interested, and a couple of the articles I kept running into kept mentioning the illegality part. Since I can't post links I just suggested that one Google Root and Illegal since someone actually asked where I got my information. I figured it would be easier than explaining all this and then telling him to Google "Pros and Cons."
Obviously I know how a search engine works, no need for the passive aggressive comments - especially when you provide no other help than what was already said.
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Sorry, wasn't meaning to sound that way, but your question is rather vague as there isn't one universal global law system - although arguably there should be for digital matters.
To fully answer there are several parts to look at; primarily does it violate local laws - in some cases it can be argued that it breaks copyright law. Additionally you need to question on if the 'broken law' is inforcable - inmost cases it is not and the said laws were made in a pre-digital age and haven't been updated to account for the current world. As an example - setting the wrong age (or a fake profile) on FB is technically illegal as it's against the TOS which is a legal document; but the proseccution of these lawbreakers isn't feasible or inforcable.
Although as i stated previously - this can be slightly different if the device isn't wholely owned by the user i.e. the device cost was covered by the network provider and essentially loaned to the user until the contract is over.
Fair enough - sorry to jump on you, so I guess to be more specific I was looking into the legality of Rooting devices that are out of contract in the US/Illinois. My friend's phone is older than 2 years well past his contract, and I bought a refurbished Wifi-only Galaxy Tab Pro which seems is stuck on Kit Kat for now.
I'm mainly looking to Root to turn off my back button and gain write access to my external SD card (as well as remove bloat) but the Wifi-tether I was finding in articles seems intriguing. Although that seems like if anything that came from Rooting would be illegal that would be it (and bootlegging paid apps of course.)
godzillinois said:
Fair enough - sorry to jump on you, so I guess to be more specific I was looking into the legality of Rooting devices that are out of contract in the US/Illinois. My friend's phone is older than 2 years well past his contract, and I bought a refurbished Wifi-only Galaxy Tab Pro which seems is stuck on Kit Kat for now.
I'm mainly looking to Root to turn off my back button and gain write access to my external SD card (as well as remove bloat) but the Wifi-tether I was finding in articles seems intriguing. Although that seems like if anything that came from Rooting would be illegal that would be it (and bootlegging paid apps of course.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can easily bootleg paid apps without root, so don't think that rooting is opening up the phone to the "dark side" of Android.
Rooting devices is not illegal anywhere in the US. It does, however, void your warranty and if you were to trade in the device for credit towards a new one they will likely not take it and force you to pay the difference.
But if you own the device outright (not on contract or paid full price), it is yours and you can do anything you like with it. You can root it, you can smash it with a hammer, or you can bake it into a cake. The possibilities are endless.
Even if you don't "own it" outright yet (i.e. are on a 2 year contract or pay monthly installments) you can still modify the device in any way as long as you finish your contract/agreement.
As long as you don't use root access to do illegal things, it's perfectly fine. Root itself is harmless.

Warning - no 4G/LTE on AT&T with Essential Phone

Hi folks,
I'm a long-time lurker here and I have benefited massively from all the advice and threads for various phones throughout the years. I wanted to give back a little to the community: please be aware that the same way that U11 had massive issues on AT&T getting 4G/LTE support (not to mention VoLTE etc), the Essential is in the same boat. No 4G/LTE at all.
You will see some people do have it and might be confused as to why the inconsistency of results. The reason for that is typically that they brought their SIM over from their previous phone, which in their case AT&T did have listed and fully enabled features-wise in their database (the IMEI of the older phone).
To be clear, this is a crappy move by AT&T, not necessarily HTC/Essential (but similarly these companies should work with the carriers to get their devices working, OnePlus did it just fine with the 5), but as an end-user you are screwed either way. I would recommend cancelling the order if you can (I could not), and returning if you can (I also seem to be having trouble, no replies at all).
Good luck to you all. If anyone knows how to get AT&T to change the IMEI associated with your account for a dummy IMEI/one that confirmed does work, please let the rest of us know.
Best,
Fed
Fed P said:
Hi folks,
I'm a long-time lurker here and I have benefited massively from all the advice and threads for various phones throughout the years. I wanted to give back a little to the community: please be aware that the same way that U11 had massive issues on AT&T getting 4G/LTE support (not to mention VoLTE etc), the Essential is in the same boat. No 4G/LTE at all.
You will see some people do have it and might be confused as to why the inconsistency of results. The reason for that is typically that they brought their SIM over from their previous phone, which in their case AT&T did have listed and fully enabled features-wise in their database (the IMEI of the older phone).
To be clear, this is a crappy move by AT&T, not necessarily HTC/Essential (but similarly these companies should work with the carriers to get their devices working, OnePlus did it just fine with the 5), but as an end-user you are screwed either way. I would recommend cancelling the order if you can (I could not), and returning if you can (I also seem to be having trouble, no replies at all).
Good luck to you all. If anyone knows how to get AT&T to change the IMEI associated with your account for a dummy IMEI/one that confirmed does work, please let the rest of us know.
Best,
Fed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Lte and Lte+ all day speeds are 20down/5up - 180down/40up
---------- Post added at 09:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:45 PM ----------
Fed P said:
Hi folks,
I'm a long-time lurker here and I have benefited massively from all the advice and threads for various phones throughout the years. I wanted to give back a little to the community: please be aware that the same way that U11 had massive issues on AT&T getting 4G/LTE support (not to mention VoLTE etc), the Essential is in the same boat. No 4G/LTE at all.
You will see some people do have it and might be confused as to why the inconsistency of results. The reason for that is typically that they brought their SIM over from their previous phone, which in their case AT&T did have listed and fully enabled features-wise in their database (the IMEI of the older phone).
To be clear, this is a crappy move by AT&T, not necessarily HTC/Essential (but similarly these companies should work with the carriers to get their devices working, OnePlus did it just fine with the 5), but as an end-user you are screwed either way. I would recommend cancelling the order if you can (I could not), and returning if you can (I also seem to be having trouble, no replies at all).
Good luck to you all. If anyone knows how to get AT&T to change the IMEI associated with your account for a dummy IMEI/one that confirmed does work, please let the rest of us know.
Best,
Fed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speed test
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Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk
Yes, like I said, you will only face this issue if you give your Essential's IMEI to AT&T. I'm guessing you didn't do that, and just came from your old phone? I had no choice, because I needed a new SIM card.
I just got off the phone with AT&T too. They confirmed this phone model (and brand) is not even in their systems, which is why it drops down to the minimum spec. This is exactly what happened with the HTC U11, I can confirm that now. They said they would try to correctly provision the device, but since that is a slow process (up to 2 weeks), I will try to return it in all likelihood.
Fed P said:
Yes, like I said, you will only face this issue if you give your Essential's IMEI to AT&T. I'm guessing you didn't do that, and just came from your old phone? I had no choice, because I needed a new SIM card.
I just got off the phone with AT&T too. They confirmed this phone model (and brand) is not even in their systems, which is why it drops down to the minimum spec. This is exactly what happened with the HTC U11, I can confirm that now. They said they would try to correctly provision the device, but since that is a slow process (up to 2 weeks), I will try to return it in all likelihood.
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Click to collapse
Definitely didn't do that. The phone is unlocked and coming from an unlocked phone. Put in the sim and kept it moving.
danon.brown said:
Definitely didn't do that. The phone is unlocked and coming from an unlocked phone. Put in the sim and kept it moving.
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Click to collapse
Yes, my previous phone was also unlocked. It actually has very little to do with the phone - it is about what IMEI AT&T has associated with your number (*not* your actual IMEI). From that, it decides what features to enable for you.
Fed P said:
Yes, like I said, you will only face this issue if you give your Essential's IMEI to AT&T. I'm guessing you didn't do that, and just came from your old phone? I had no choice, because I needed a new SIM card.
I just got off the phone with AT&T too. They confirmed this phone model (and brand) is not even in their systems, which is why it drops down to the minimum spec. This is exactly what happened with the HTC U11, I can confirm that now. They said they would try to correctly provision the device, but since that is a slow process (up to 2 weeks), I will try to return it in all likelihood.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a perfect thread for this perfect post: https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/...lte-faster-and-fixes-all-your-problems.77304/
Ask me any questions you might have as I created the thread and all the contents in it.
bestlands said:
Just a perfect thread for this perfect post: https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/...lte-faster-and-fixes-all-your-problems.77304/
Ask me any questions you might have as I created the thread and all the contents in it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's definitely good info for some, but the issue here is unfortunately not solved by anything in that thread. As your first step goes "The OnePlus One and 2 IMEI is supported by AT&T so give them a call and tell them to enter the IMEI." - the Essential IMEI is not supported, that's the root cause of the problem. It's silly because it could have been prevented by either company (by AT&T by not defaulting to 3G only for unknown devices, or by Essential by working with AT&T to get certified on their network like all other manufacturers do).
I never experienced any 4G/LTE/VoLTE issues with my unlocked U11 on AT&T at all, whether it was completely stock or unlocked bootloader and rooted. Everything worked from the start and still going great today.
I was previously using an unlocked HTC 10 (also on AT&T) and just swapped the SIM in to the U11. No contact necessary with AT&T. So I imagine it'll be the same when I receive the Essential, even though I'm pretty positive I'll be returning it for a refund, unfortunately.
Fed P said:
Yes, like I said, you will only face this issue if you give your Essential's IMEI to AT&T. I'm guessing you didn't do that, and just came from your old phone? I had no choice, because I needed a new SIM card.
I just got off the phone with AT&T too. They confirmed this phone model (and brand) is not even in their systems, which is why it drops down to the minimum spec. This is exactly what happened with the HTC U11, I can confirm that now. They said they would try to correctly provision the device, but since that is a slow process (up to 2 weeks), I will try to return it in all likelihood.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Borrow a phone from a friend and have them set up the SIM on that phone.
Swap back when you are done.
bestlands said:
In the thread, I gave you guys an option to create a fake imei that would get 4g lte for you on att.
Ask me any questions as I have done this before.
---------- Post added at 07:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:53 AM ----------
That takes time and I found a thread which can help you really quickly.
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Do not post threads about messing with the imei. It is illegal in many countries and as such banned here. Any talks of it will earn people a one way trip to bansville
Try resetting your network settings. I had an issue with one of my Essentials on Verizon and that did the trick.
zelendel said:
Do not post threads about messing with the imei. It is illegal in many countries and as such banned here. Any talks of it will earn people a one way trip to bansville
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Click to collapse
Absolutely right !
According to our Forum rules no IMEI talks / links / workarounds or anything related is forbidden
16. Apps that collect identifying details
We don't routinely remove Apps that collect identifying numbers or other personal and device identifiers.
However, should an App, developed by you, be identified as one that maliciously performs this activity (e.g. by not disclosing it to the user), it will be removed from the site and possible sanctions applied;
If the destination of this information is known, it must be made known in the disclosure (examples of this would be you having coded your App to collect IMEI for authentication of the device using it)
If the destination of this information is unknown (as is the case for ad. engines, which collect it for marketing purposes), then please state which ad. provider you are using, in the disclaimer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That being said , a small cleaning has been performed
Also encouraging our XDA users to participate on other phones related forum will be ... discouraged
11. Don’t post with the intention of selling something.
Don’t use XDA to advertise your product or service. Proprietors of for-pay products or services, may use XDA to get feedback, provide beta access, or a free version of their product for XDA users and to offer support, but not to post with the intention of selling. This includes promoting sites similar / substantially similar to XDA-Developers.com.
Do not post press releases, announcements, links to trial software or commercial services, unless you’re posting an exclusive release for XDA-Developers.com.
Encouraging members to participate in forum activities on other phone related sites is prohibited.
Off-site downloads are permitted if the site is non-commercial and does not require registration.
Off-site downloads from sites requiring registration are NOT encouraged but may be permitted if both of the following conditions are met:
A) The site belongs to a member of XDA-Developers with at least 1500 posts and 2 years membership, who actively maintains an XDA-Developers support thread(s) / posts, related to the download.
B) The site is a relatively small, personal website without commercial advertising / links (i.e. not a competitor forum-based site with purposes and aims similar to those of XDA-Developers.com.)
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Thanks for understanding and especially @bestlands
Dan - forum moderator
zelendel said:
Do not post threads about messing with the imei. It is illegal in many countries and as such banned here. Any talks of it will earn people a one way trip to bansville
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Click to collapse
Who says I'm changing the Imei of the phone. All I'm doing is having the person call the carrier to tell them to change the Imei. I'm not stealing anyone's imei , I give tools to check to see if the imei is available and not used by anyone .
---------- Post added at 08:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:55 AM ----------
xanthrax said:
Absolutely right !
According to our Forum rules no IMEI talks / links / workarounds or anything related is forbidden
That being said , a small cleaning has been performed
Also encouraging our XDA users to participate on other phones related forum will be ... discouraged
Thanks for understanding and especially @bestlands
Dan - forum moderator
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Click to collapse
Dan I understand but people need to know how to do this. If the carrier they have isn't willing to help them, it's not the manufacturers fault or the users fault. The only point of that thread was for no one to suffer because of the business decisions att decided to inflict on there users
bestlands said:
Who says I'm changing the Imei of the phone. All I'm doing is having the person call the carrier to tell them to change the Imei. I'm not stealing anyone's imei , I give tools to check to see if the imei is available and not used by anyone .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would you please expand this ?
quote from your innocent link that I have removed above
STEP 1 - Generating an IMEI
In order for the One to be able to access the LTE network, AT&T needs to think that we're using an "official LTE" device (basically any smartphone in their lineup for the past two years). And to do that, we need to give them the IMEI of an official LTE device. WE WILL NOT BE STEALING PEOPLE'S IMEIs.We're going to create our own to give to AT&T. For this guide, we will trick AT&T into thinking that our OPO is actually an HTC One VX.
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You`re guiding people how to " make a carrier THINK you have an official IMEI " ?
if this is OK in your opinion then what else can one do with an IMEI which "someone thinks it belongs to a certain carrier" ?
Do I miss something here ?
bestlands said:
Dan I understand but people need to know how to do this. If the carrier they have isn't willing to help them, it's not the manufacturers fault or the users fault. The only point of that thread was for no one to suffer because of the business decisions att decided to inflict on there users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The users must personally contact their carriers and also check before purchasing a device whether their carrier works on it or not.
Providing such tools which creates fake IMEIs or make the carrier "think" are not welcomed here , I don`t know and don`t care about other forums , one of the reasons why we , as I said above , do not allow encouraging users to participate on other phones related forums. Other forums may have different policies , we have ours and must be followed .
IMEI talks are not allowed here , as simple as that
16. Apps that collect identifying details
We don't routinely remove Apps that collect identifying numbers or other personal and device identifiers.
However, should an App, developed by you, be identified as one that maliciously performs this activity (e.g. by not disclosing it to the user), it will be removed from the site and possible sanctions applied;
If the destination of this information is known, it must be made known in the disclosure (examples of this would be you having coded your App to collect IMEI for authentication of the device using it)
If the destination of this information is unknown (as is the case for ad. engines, which collect it for marketing purposes), then please state which ad. provider you are using, in the disclaimer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One can argue till tomorrow and swear on what he wants that "WE WILL NOT BE STEALING PEOPLE'S IMEIs" , on XDA doesn`t work this way
xanthrax said:
would you please expand this ?
quote from your innocent link that I have removed above
You`re guiding people how to " make a carrier THINK you have an official IMEI " ?
if this is OK in your opinion then what else can one do with an IMEI which "someone thinks it belongs to a certain carrier" ?
Do I miss something here ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just so we put it out of the way first, I didn't write that thread. I wrote this one; https://forums.oneplus.net/threads/...lte-faster-and-fixes-all-your-problems.77304/
What do you mean what can someone do with an imei when someone thinks belongs to a certain carrier. I don't know how this stuff works overseas but we in the USA don't ask peoples for there imei when they switch phones, we only do it to start activating service with a carrier, or if the person came from a 3g to 4g lte smartphone we will ask them to activate it. For some reason, still to this day, ATT thinks that every imei not in its system, will fall back to 3g. So getting back to your question, If essential even did get the correct certification to use on att network, it will take months or almost a full year for them to start accepted essentials imei. Honestly you can't do much with an imei, you can blacklist the phone, but that phone will still work on overseas network, and the other possibity here is Sprint which still required the imei to be merged with the sim card can cause problems if the imei you created is going to be used by that network. Other than that the possibility of generated imei's isn't that big of a deal as it was even 5 years ago.
---------- Post added at 09:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 AM ----------
xanthrax said:
The users must personally contact their carriers and also check before purchasing a device whether their carrier works on it or not.
Providing such tools which creates fake IMEIs or make the carrier "think" are not welcomed here , I don`t know and don`t care about other forums , one of the reasons why we , as I said above , do not allow encouraging users to participate on other phones related forums. Other forums may have different policies , we have ours and must be followed .
IMEI talks are not allowed here , as simple as that
One can argue till tomorrow and swear on what he wants that "WE WILL NOT BE STEALING PEOPLE'S IMEIs" , on XDA doesn`t work this way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So can you explain to me why XDA does this? I see only one potential threat and thats blacklisted imeis but the carriers in the USA are so bad, that they allow bad imei;s to go through as well as telling you the phone works when it doesn't because of incompetent reps, plus they don't have the imei of that phone. If talked to people and have done this before so i know how hard it takes and also the frustration people have over this. Kinda boils down to why people use an iPhone, it just works from day 1, but thats a story for another day.
Fed P said:
Yes, my previous phone was also unlocked. It actually has very little to do with the phone - it is about what IMEI AT&T has associated with your number (*not* your actual IMEI). From that, it decides what features to enable for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know if ATT has the Essential Phone registered in their system yet? I need a new sim and I am heading to the store today. Thanks.
12paq said:
Do you know if ATT has the Essential Phone registered in their system yet? I need a new sim and I am heading to the store today. Thanks.
Click to expand...
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Hi 12paq,
I've sent the Essential Phone back... I don't know if they added the model/brand in general, but I know their claim to manually edit my IMEI to be 4G-capable still hasn't happened - because I don't have 4G on this SIM card now regardless of phone (since the network still thinks it's in the Essential).
Fed P said:
Hi 12paq,
I've sent the Essential Phone back... I don't know if they added the model/brand in general, but I know their claim to manually edit my IMEI to be 4G-capable still hasn't happened - because I don't have 4G on this SIM card now regardless of phone (since the network still thinks it's in the Essential).
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Thanks for your time!
I already have the ph-1 up and running on an old sim card and I get 4g. The problem is the sim card is failing and I have a new unregistered sim in hand. Just wondering if I put a new card in and then activate it, will att still be a problem. In short is it the card or the phone?
So just to be clear since there is some confusion here about IMEI spoofing etc (this is illegal) - the problem with all this is purely, and I mean PURELY, what IMEI AT&T has in it's database for you. For reasons I cannot comprehend, AT&T does *NOT* just take your actual device IMEI (this is what you should not be changing). So in your case 12paq, if you activate a new SIM and this does not involve telling AT&T to update your IMEI in their database, and you have 4G now, you will have it in the Essential.

T-Mobile Samsung Note 20 is temporarily unlocked for 30 days, how do I prevent from it being locked again?

Long story short I bought a Note 20 Ultra from the U.S. which the seller advertised as unlocked, but it was locked to T-Mobile when I received it and I'm not able to return the phone. T-Mobile won't help cause the phone isn't paid off.
I tried to click "Permanent unlock" in the menu and it said not eligible, reason code 8. Then I tried temporary unlock and it unlocked the phone for a month.
My question is, is there a way to prevent my phone from being locked again?
If I flash the unlocked Samsung firmware on this, would that prevent it? If not, why? What exactly makes the phone locked again?
Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.
MOD ACTION:
Thread closed.
@kukumaka
If the device is not paid up completely, it will be illegal to remove the lock. XDA can't be a party to such actions and permit discussions on illegal methods. Please read Rule 9:
9. Don't get us into trouble.
Don't post copyrighted materials or do other things which will obviously lead to legal trouble. If you wouldn't do it on your own homepage, you probably shouldn't do it here either. This does not mean that we agree with everything that the software piracy lobby try to impose on us. It simply means that you cannot break any laws here, since we'll end up dealing with the legal hassle caused by you. Please use common sense: respect the forum, its users and those that write great code.
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Click to collapse

Question Risk phone being blocked, what to do?

Hey there,
A friend of mine purchased SG A52 4G from a dishonest re-seller who, by an odd quirk of fate, failed to mention it had originally been bought from a telecom provider on hire purchase. As you may presume the original buyer is not likely to pay the installments and as such my pal runs the risk of the deviced being blocked on a per-IMEI basis.
Do you by any chance know if there's any way around it and if so how to go about it? Should installing a custom ROM before the device gets blocked do the trick?
Return it or pay it off.
First off you misread my thread as I'm not a buyer..
There's no way to return the device as the dishonest seller has disappeared into thin air. Well, thanks for the very sage advice of paying it off. I'm ever so sure that if you bought a device and had already paid and it cost you a pretty penny then you would be willing to pay someone else's installments and pay for it twice. That helps! Thanks.
Altering the imei is illegal.
You'll get no help here to do that.
No sarcastic thanks needed... this was your own doing. Those are your two options.
Altering the imei or installing custom roms that render your warranty invalid are illegal yet there so many threads in this community describing the processes in detail . Hence the sarcastic thanks - apologies if I offended anyone - I didn't mean to do so.
And just for context and for the record - the phone was bought by a not-so-tech-savvy and gullible person but I'll just explain to her she can basically throw the device away and come to terms with losing something in the order of 200 quid.
Custom roms aren't illegal, they aren't supported by some manufacturers
IMEI change and legality, mods please read
Good afternoon mods, I'm sorry but I had to open a thread about this topic again. It's absolutely not illegal to change your IMEI in most of the world. For instance, it's completely legal in the entirety of the US (see...
forum.xda-developers.com
The device COULD be blocked. Doesn't mean that it WILL be blocked. You can't change IMEI, it is not legal to do so. If the phone does get locked, tell your friend to go to the telecom shop and tell them exactly what happened! That would be the best solution.

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