40 replies to this topic

[Smiff2]

there's nothing weird about a carrier trying to restrict phones to their own networks. what's weird is that there's apparently this secret underworld of people with knowledge of unlock codes/generators, that are providing something that could be free, that consumers are happy to use. if i had a locked phone and used this, i'd feel ripped off. have you thought about asking for your money back? wonder how paypal would handle that


edit: it's also weird as i said before that Vodaphone sold me an unlocked phone AND sent me an unlock code AND didn't charge for unlocking, but i guess i'm just a jammy b*st*rd. if it worked for another phone or could be useful for cracking i'd give it away..

Edited by Smiff2, 13 June 2012 - 12:12 AM.

[Pondlife]

Smiff2, on 12 June 2012 - 11:36 PM, said:

was asking in general about how things normally work with phone unlocking. So it's now considered normal to pay random 3rd parties on sites like ebay, who's source for these codes is unknown, to be able to use the device you bought? Come on, this is pretty weird.

A very quick look on ebay would show you that yep it's pretty normal, before that it was normal to go to a 3rd party shop/market stall for it, and I'm guessing they got them ultimately from the same place but regardless you wouldn't know where it came from. There's a stall in the local undercover shopping centre which is currently about 20 yards from o2 and is often about the same distance from vodafone.

Why would you feel ripped off? They offer a service for a fee that's roughly 1/4 of the cost that vodafone have charged some people which admittedly that you got for free from them, now those people who paid £19.99 should feel ripped off by vodafone I'd accept..

The orange san diego is a more amusing case atm orange have taken a fee for unlock codes that didn't work and have said people will have to wait while they sort the problem out.

Edited by Pondlife, 13 June 2012 - 12:27 AM.

[grivbat]

As I and other members have posted on other threads Vodafone can and have unlocked the phones within minutes using their on screen facilities.  i wasnt even a vodafone user at the time.  there does appear to be an issue with consitency between vodafone shops on this with some charging £10 some £20 and quoting anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 days to complete.

i think once the exclusivity period is over vodafone will probably be more consistent in providing the unlock codes so they can at least get the unit sales up.

just my 2 pence worth.

[Smiff2]

on the face of it, very impressive that a bunch of market traders have achieved better security of their IP than e.g. movie studios, and with something presumably much easier to replicate (a keygen is much smaller than a movie). Unless they are in collusion with the phone makers or someone close to them.. which has me wondering why carries haven't asked the government to investigate that. Doesn't add up, must be something here i'm missing. Perhaps just not enough money involved for anyone to care?

Edited by Smiff2, 13 June 2012 - 12:37 AM.

[fr0do]

It must be the carriers that hold the unlock codes. That would explain, to me, why Vodafone can do it for free. I would assume that anyone(/business) can register as reseller for a fee.

[Davidoff59]

vodafone told me they had to contact huawei for unlock code and it could take up to 2 weeks.
I didn't believe them but what do I know.

[grivbat]

Davidoff,
Tell them you know a bunch of peoople who have had it done at different stores for free and it only took 5 ninutes to do.

[RussellS]

Smiff2, on 13 June 2012 - 12:32 AM, said:

on the face of it, very impressive that a bunch of market traders have achieved better security of their IP than e.g. movie studios, and with something presumably much easier to replicate (a keygen is much smaller than a movie). Unless they are in collusion with the phone makers or someone close to them.. which has me wondering why carries haven't asked the government to investigate that. Doesn't add up, must be something here i'm missing. Perhaps just not enough money involved for anyone to care?

They are not necessarily market traders but legitimate businesses providing a service that is perfectly legal. What exactly is there to investigate. What evidence is there that they are acting illegally.

[Pondlife]

RussellS, on 13 June 2012 - 07:38 AM, said:

They are not necessarily market traders but legitimate businesses providing a service that is perfectly legal. What exactly is there to investigate. What evidence is there that they are acting illegally.

Now you are implying that market traders aren't legitimate businesses lol

[Smiff2]

i think fr0do hit nail on head - question then is why the carriers haven't negotiated exclusivity on unlock codes with the mnfr.. perhaps no phone mnfr will agree to this and the carrier has no choice but to compete with whoever, simple as that. perhaps its illegal in the UK to have a monopoly on unlock codes.
so we're going with "the keygen stays secure with huawei, businesses are paying for access to a secure website that generates codes and is run by huawei or its subsidiary"? this sound right?

Edited by Smiff2, 13 June 2012 - 11:56 AM.

[Prog_Drummer]

Davidoff59, on 13 June 2012 - 06:46 AM, said:

vodafone told me they had to contact huawei for unlock code and it could take up to 2 weeks.
I didn't believe them but what do I know.

They said this to me too.

[RussellS]

Pondlife, on 13 June 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

Now you are implying that market traders aren't legitimate businesses lol

Now I reread my comment it does seem that way. However, that is not what I meant and was just a poor choice of words.

I'm very sorry if any market traders are reading this.

Smiff2, on 13 June 2012 - 11:53 AM, said:

i think fr0do hit nail on head - question then is why the carriers haven't negotiated exclusivity on unlock codes with the mnfr.. perhaps no phone mnfr will agree to this and the carrier has no choice but to compete with whoever, simple as that. perhaps its illegal in the UK to have a monopoly on unlock codes.
so we're going with "the keygen stays secure with huawei, businesses are paying for access to a secure website that generates codes and is run by huawei or its subsidiary"? this sound right?

Yeah, I think we'll go with that.

Edited by RussellS, 13 June 2012 - 12:00 PM.

[Davidoff59]

first phone went back due to hardware failure.2nd phone unlocked for free at Vodafone shop.I asked if I could get a free unlock if I bought a phone and they said yes as long as its on our system which it was.
I was prepared to leave and try elsewhere if they had said no after reading about all the free unlocks.

[Maximus9]

In case someone wants to try reverse engineering and find an algorithm for unlock, here are 3 codes and the corresponding IMEI's they originated from:

EDIT: removed the IMEI's as instructed

As you can see only the last 5 digits change in the IMEI.

Edited by Maximus9, 22 June 2012 - 06:49 AM.

[Maximus9]

<p style="text-align: center">In case someone wants to try reverse engineering and find an algorithm for unlock, here are 3 codes and the corresponding IMEI&amp;#39;s they originated from:<br />
<br />
EDIT: removed the IMEIss as instructed
As you can see only the last 5 digits change in the IMEI.</p>

Edited by Maximus9, 22 June 2012 - 06:47 AM.

[t-bon3]

@Maximus9 You do know that posting your IMEI in a public forum is a bad idea. It's a breach of your privacy and others might abuse it.

[kyan31]

Yeah you shouldnt post your IMEI online. Some idiot could give the IMEI to the police and block your phone.

[Maximus9]

In case someone wants to try reverse engineering and find an algorithm for unlock, here are 3 codes and the corresponding IMEI's they originated from:

EDIT: removed the IMEI's as instructed


As you can see only the last 5 digits change in the IMEI.

[k92]

Very interesting thread. After reading all, i cant get why it´s so difficult to find an unlock generator for this phone.
Someone told me about free unlock SGS3 generator, so i could not believe it when i found it, even free at play.google !!
Can you understand this?

[RussellS]

k92, on 22 June 2012 - 07:53 AM, said:

Very interesting thread. After reading all, i cant get why it´s so difficult to find an unlock generator for this phone.
Someone told me about free unlock SGS3 generator, so i could not believe it when i found it, even free at play.google !!
Can you understand this?

My understanding is that it depends on the type of unlock code the manufacturer uses. Some, especially older phones, use an algorithm to compute the unlock code from the IMEI code which means that an unlock generator can be used to obtain the unlock codes. However with some phones (I think newer ones) the unlock code is completely random and is kept in a database held by the manufacturer which cross references the IMEI code to the unlock code. If this system is employed then an unlock generator will not work and you have to go to the manufacturer to obtain the unlock code.

This is my understanding anyway. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Edited by RussellS, 22 June 2012 - 08:38 AM.