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Unlocking a Mobile phone

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29 replies

by david_g_matthews

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.

Hey everyone,

I was just wondering as being an IT student, how do I unlock a mobile phone?

I know there is software required and cable from the Phone to the PC, is there any software available for free.

Basically I want to save my myself some money by doing it.

29 replies

by thumbsup2

If you are an IT student, the first thing you need to learn is that you are asking a group of professionals, some of whom make their living in the security industry, to violate their code of ethics and help you 'break into' something just so YOU can save some money.

We all know that information is freely available 'on the internet' if you search for it. So, why on earth would you think that you can just waltz in here and ask us to help you?

Since you are relatively new to this forum, we'll kindly tell you to GO TAKE A FLYING LEAP! If you want to be a hacker/cracker, go learn somewhere else.

by jdclyde

that should be flushed.

Everytime a punkassbitch like you steals something, the cost is passed on to real people like us.

[i]"I hope you get gonorrhea and die. Laces out!"

by rechtepublic

I read your profile and you are supposed to be a teacher. Based on this post, you must suck at teaching.

Anyway, enjoy your mindless flaming, I am looking forward to being called a "punkassbeotch". It would mean so much coming from you.

by cmiller5400

Your profile has been active for quite some time. But if you actually have hung around here and read more of the posts, any hacking/cracking post is fair game for flaming. Go stamp your feet somewhere else.

by jdclyde

but they must really teach you wonders if you can tell so much about someone based upon a single post.

And quoting Ace Ventura is hardly "mindless".

I would call you a PAB, but won't because you would get so much pleasure out of it, near orgasmic? :D

You may not have noticed, but TR is not a hacker site. Nice to see you woke out of your coma and back among the TR living.

by rechtepublic

It is ironic that "professionals" have plenty of time to flame you but no time to help. I recommend that you leave out the "IT student" part in the future. Since IT is constantly changing we are all students so this fact is not necessary.

I will get back to topic by stating that unlocking a phone is not hacking or illegal. It does run the risk of turning your phone into a paperweight but that's it.

There are many different kinds of phone and many different features that can be unlocked. Start off by figuring out what you want to do with the phone and searching for help. Here is the best place to start: http://www.howardforums.com/

I can safely say that no matter what you unlock you cannot make a GSM (ATT/T-Mobile) phone connect to a CDMA (Verizon/Sprint) network or visa versa. You can unlock a GSM phone so that it will work with other GSM providers. I don't know if this is possible with CDMA since they do not have a removable SIM card. At this moment I am using an unlocked T-Mobile SDA on AT&T.

I hope this helps and good luck in school.

by cmiller5400

Where is the irony? I [b]AM[/b] a professional. I just don't help people that I don't know personally hack equipment that may not be theirs. Period. End of story.

Take your insults somewhere else.

by jdclyde

whatever gets him through the day, ya know? B-)

Oh my, I hope he doesn't sarcastically call anyone a professional again..... ;\

by robo_dev

You're not stealing anything, you're just using the technology in an unconventional way.

Carriers lock phones as a way to impose a technology-based monopoply over a particular device. It's unfair to the consumer in several ways.

I have a locked Samsung phone from AT&T.

On my phone:

- The music player does not work properly because several key features have been disabled (in a misguided effort to save power, the control buttons stop working after five seconds)

- Some of the bookmarks in the web browser cannot be removed (AT&T Mall, AT&T music store)

- You cannot install applications from your PC, nor can you remove certain apps (MobiTV, XM radio, Billboard)

- Some of the wallpaper graphics files cannot be deleted.

- The AT&T logo is always on the main display at all times.

So the jaunty picture of my cat has the AT&T logo right on his nose, because you cannot turn off the logo on the front screen. I know I have an AT&T phone....I pay them every month for the privilege. I'm not sure how many others have seen that logo and go "wow, he uses AT&T on his phone".

So imagine if on a PC there were Browser favorites that were locked-in, some graphic files could not be removed, and the only apps you were allowed to install had to be downloaded from the PC vendor,and you could not remove some apps.....would you just 'live and let live'? I think not.

The worst thing that can happen would be that you can brick your own phone.

by rechtepublic

..or understood cellular technology you would know that unlocking a phone is not illegal hacking or cracking. You are not stealing from anyone by unlocking your phone.

Now you go preach your flaming policy to someone who deserves it.

Stamp, stamp, stamp, stamp...

by cmiller5400

And I have a modest understanding of cellular technology.

If you read your CONTRACT with the wireless carrier, it MAY state that you can NOT do this. You are correct that you CAN unlock your phone for PERSONAL use once you have fulfilled the obligations of the contract. http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2006/71fr68472.pdf

But a large gray area still remains in that providing software to "hack" these phones may be breaking the DCMA law because you are circumventing controls placed to protect their software. The exemption only allows for personal use to connect to a wireless network. http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/24/know-your-rights-is-it-illegal-to-unlock-my-iphone/

It's not MY flaming policy, it is the TR Community's. The TR community has decided not to provide any hacking or cracking advice of any kind.

In case you didn't know it is against the [url=http://www.cbsinteractive.com/info/tou]Terms Of Use[/url] of the site to post any information on how to bypass copyright protection. Section 6, paragraph A.

by rechtepublic

Okay. I read it all. The phone is gray area so maybe helping the poster is unacceptable and maybe it is acceptable. I guess we are all left to our best judgement in these gray areas.

Now we both know that there is not and will never be a policy that instructs members to flame other members at TR. It is just not professional or productive to the forum.

Simply put, if someone called someone else a ?punkassbeotch? in the forum I moderate they would be put on notice. I would not try to justify it by saying that the poster deserved it or that there was an unwritten policy that makes it okay.

I think that you should value all of the time you invested in the TR forum and protect it by reporting, not supporting, the members that abuse it.

Clearly, I am still not ready for the wild and unmoderated world of TR forums. I will return to my happy place where name calling is not the standard.

by cmiller5400

Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

If you actually had been reading the forums, you would know that this forum IS moderated by Tammy and before her, Beth. Any thread that gets out of hand or is inappropriate, will be dealt with and the offending persons reprimanded.

by david_g_matthews

Basically I was trying to unlock my mobile phone to change to another mobile network provider. As the high street in many towns and cities have these shops that charge ?10 to unlock you mobile phone.

I wasn't trying to hack networks from mobiles as the above professional cleary stated, also I feel the other so-called professionals acted out of hand on this occasion. (unprofessionally)

by jiminpa

you decided to feel where you should have been thinking.

There are alot of low life's and scum that come here to try and find ways of cracking, hacking and all sorts of illegal things. Even if everyone here has known you for years and there was no question as to whether or not your intention were honorable, there is no guarantee that someone Googling for this information would be quite so honorable.

TechRepublic doesn't want to be one of "those sites". Think of it this way, it is not illegal to go into a church wearing a bite me t-shirt and drop f-bombs but out of respect you wouldn't do it.

And I would be careful who you are calling "so-called professional". By definition everyone that answered on this thread is a professional but I guess as a student you don't fully understand that yet. ;) get a towel dry a little behind your ears and next time think before you feel you'll find that flies a lot better.

by tig2

Most phone manufacturers have agreements with the various services. That is one of the myriad ways they make money. You may find that the nominal fee that you are charged to switch your service is because you will void your warranty if that work is not done by a certified person.

As much as I love Mac, I won't bother with an iPhone because they are only licensed to work on the ATT network and I wouldn't use ATT if THEY paid ME.

by tig2

And started calling us all professionals! Must not hang out here too much- especially on Fridays when we all seem to get our snark on!

by older mycroft

If the mobile phone that you are attempting to unlock, carries a LOGO for a particular Cellular Company, you CANNOT under any circumstances successfully unlock it. Period.

There are 2 distinct and separate types of mobile phone - the one that can be unlocked & the one that cannot be unlocked. The method of detecting which one you have in your hand, is whether it bears a LOGO of the service provider or not.

If the phone fascia has a LOGO, then you are wasting your time.

If the phone fascia bears no LOGO whatsoever, then the motherboard within is equipped with a firmware-upgradeable broadcast chip. (Otherwise it's a NO-GO!) :)

*By LOGO I don't mean a brand name - I mean a service provider.

< * >

by david_g_matthews

No it doesn't have any service provider logo branded on the mobile phone.

Basically this thread as got of of hand, I simply just wanted a straight forward answer whether it could be achieved or not.

Some people are so over the top in here to quickly attack new members and clearly not reading the original posting.

by older mycroft

In general, the majority of Peers that will offer you a response (whether you find it favourable or not) are all professionals within the Computer/IT industry, myself included.

TechRepublic as a resource, is a global public forum and as such there are any number of opportunities for 'unscrupulous' individuals to lurk in the background yet read any or all of the replies.

We tend to opt for the cautious angle when replying to anything that involves circumventing a security feature, [b]it's simply that simple.[/b]

Were an answer to lead to a circumstance that ended in a Court Case, one or more of us might end up in a prejudicial situation, because we had been the means to an illegal end. It is not a slur on you personally, just the question that you have posted with. :)

by thumbsup2

It wouldn't matter if you were new or been here a while. The answer would be the same. Plain and simple, we won't post information which can be read and used by ANYBODY who reads this forum, including people who have stolen items and now want to learn how to 'crack' them.

People who have been here a while know better than to even ask a question like that, so yes... it's the new people who you will 'SEE' being responded to in recent posts. However, if you search the forum for questions like yours, you'll see they have all been answered in the same way. If you want to 'hack', 'crack' or otherwise 'break into' anything at all, you'll have to search elsewhere for the answer. We won't help.

by david_g_matthews

Lets get this clear. Through out the UK there alot of shops on the high streets mainly run by members of the asian community and they clearly advertise within there shop window that they can unlock logo-free mobile phones for ?10. So that the user can then choose to a different operater for example changing from Orange to O2 network
(Vodaphone, T-mobile or 3 if you so wish to)
without having to buy a new phone and using there existing handset.
If it is illegal then why is PC plod not shutting down these shops? I was only wondering what software and technology is avaliable to achieve this result.

by older mycroft

PAYING to have it unlocked IS ILLEGAL.

That's because, from a legal standpoint, the little Asian bloke in the shop doesn't have an OEM licence agreement for that phone - only YOU do.

So when the payment is made for the unlocking of the mobile phone, if anyone was going to be prosecuted it would be the original owner of the phone.

But from an financial standpoint, it is not economically viable for you to procure the software (and the time required to learn how to use it) because it'll cost you a lot more than the ?10 it'd cost you to walk in and then out of one of those shops.

It's that simple.

by the scummy one

that you are not too bright to keep pushing it after being told we wont help.
I think you are looking into the wrong career choice. You should be looking into a mindless task such as sewer cleaning. As things get more complicated in the current path, and if you are this stupid now, you will just be wasting your money on education for something that you cannot possibly achieve.

by david_g_matthews

Ok nice one for the flaming when not required. I was only trying to research whether this is possible. End of discussion.

by cmiller5400

We've told you a zillions times already, NO HELP HERE. Period. End of Story.

by robo_dev

You're just modifying the software....

This is like bolting a set of headers to your car or hacking the engine control computer on your car. You may void your warranty, and the manufacturers may not be wild about it, but it's your car. As long as you pass the emissions test and don't burn holes in the road or disturb the neighbors, who really cares?

Unlocking the phone DOES NOT mean stealing service, it's no different than modding your car or modding your computer.

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