SIM lock status

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

The problem is that I think the guy who sold me the phone, registered it with his sim card, so only he can unlock it, and im not sure but i think that same sim has to be active in this phone before an unlock can take place. Seriously considering the t-mobile route now. Has anyone got proof of a t-mobile sim working in the OSD? I have ordered a free sim to test but i doubt it will arrive til next week.

The sim is registered on their network(not via some submitted form) so as long as you've got an Orange sim in it and credit(send the odd text, maybe even just check the balance) then it should be fine.

If you're in the UK at least it'll work. Orange and T-Mobile are both part of EE now.

[Guest nadezz]

well its good to know that i don't have to sell this phone, even without the sim working yet it has been brilliant!

[Guest nadezz]

Just noticed some nice deals on Virgin Mobile, am I right in thinking that it would work exactly the same as a T mobile sim? is there anything to choose between the 2 providers? Going a bit OT here but w/e :P

[Guest i am not a hacker]

Just noticed some nice deals on Virgin Mobile, am I right in thinking that it would work exactly the same as a T mobile sim? is there anything to choose between the 2 providers? Going a bit OT here but w/e :P

They will both work exactly the same.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

Just noticed some nice deals on Virgin Mobile, am I right in thinking that it would work exactly the same as a T mobile sim? is there anything to choose between the 2 providers? Going a bit OT here but w/e :P

They are good deals on Virgin, don't know how you're set for an unlock code though(can Virgin give you one?). If you've got an Orange sim I suppose you could just pop it in every week to send a text?

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

@nadezz, I've been thinking about your situation, since you bought the phone secondhand then Orange s 3 month constraint on unlocking should be with the original owner not yourself. I can't see why they shouldn't sell you the code straight away since you never agreed to any contract with them.

This is from Virgin s mobile phone web site :-

2. Get your phone unlocked

Call your existing service provider and tell them you want to switch. You might need to give notice and pay an unlocking charge. If you have any problems trying to do this, just go through your operator's formal complaints procedure first. If you're still not happy, contact OFCOM on 0845 714 5000 or at ofcom.org.uk

Maybe worth a shot?

Edited November 15, 2012 by BlueMoonRising

[Guest nadezz]

I might give that a try, when I called their reasoning was that I could have stolen the phone and I tried my best to argue but there doesn't seem to be a way round it with orange. I might give ofcom a ring though. Thanks for finding that :)

[Guest ayziaa]

Seems like in france it's only about the date when you bought the device and not about 3 month with orange sim card activate. It's what orange france website state. Could someone comfirm that?

[Guest Atlask]

you're right ayziaa ;)

@nadeez

welcome in the club ^^

You know now why people are selling their OSD ?

Because Orange can't give to their customer the unlock code .

My first demand (for my osd changed under warranty ) : 09 Oct 12

All day ,i ask them some news ... and nothing !

Orange with Intel Inside = How to waste 200€ (and suffer when you see the new Nexus :( )

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

you're right ayziaa ;)

@nadeez

welcome in the club ^^

You know now why people are selling their OSD ?

Because Orange can't give to their customer the unlock code .

My first demand (for my osd changed under warranty ) : 09 Oct 12

All day ,i ask them some news ... and nothing !

Orange with Intel Inside = How to waste 200€ (and suffer when you see the new Nexus :( )

Only if you're called Atlask apparently, plenty of other people (in the UK at least) have had no problem. Any French OSD owners bought their unlock code yet?

As for the Nexus 4, yes very nice and if I could have afforded it I would have bought one. However it's £170 against £279 for the equivalent 16GB models so stretching any comparison. If I'd have bought the Motorola Razri I may have been thinking along those lines but then again the Motorola is more than just a faster version of the OSD, so maybe not.

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

OK, I've requested my unlock code from Orange UK (India division). After navigating the iPhone section (why haven't they sorted that yet? It must send the people on the iPhone section insane) she advised me upto 30 days but should be much quicker.

She checked I'd had it for 3 months and said that was OK which was strange in itself because I've only had the phone for 2 days short of 2 months, however I have had the number on Orange for 2 years plus.

I'll keep you updated.

[Guest nadezz]

you're right ayziaa ;)

@nadeez

welcome in the club ^^

You know now why people are selling their OSD ?

Because Orange can't give to their customer the unlock code .

My first demand (for my osd changed under warranty ) : 09 Oct 12

All day ,i ask them some news ... and nothing !

Orange with Intel Inside = How to waste 200€ (and suffer when you see the new Nexus :( )

Nah, I got the OSD brand new for £110 on ebay. Nexus 4 is over £150 more and sold out. Also the nexus screen is just too big, awesome as it would be to have a phone that could compete with a laptop

[Guest nadezz]

How many attempts at the unlock code before you get locked out? How do you reverse being locked out?

- this isn't so i can attempt to guess the code but just incase i entered it wrong... :P

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

How many attempts at the unlock code before you get locked out? How do you reverse being locked out?

- this isn't so i can attempt to guess the code but just incase i entered it wrong... :P

I think it's 3 times(could be 4). After that you need to phone CS although an Orange shop may be able to help.

[Guest rickywyatt]

if you are talking about sim pin 3 times

if your talking about phone unlock 10 times

[Guest nadezz]

I was talking about unlocking the simlock ie network lock. Just to confirm some stuff to anyone else who was curious. T-mobile sim definitely works :) Also the guy who sold me the phone has rung orange up and they said they would send him an unlock code in 7-30 days. Is this beyond the point of no return? Or has anyone got to this point only to have orange email them to say they will not unlock it (i thought i read someone describing that situation...)

[Guest Siderex]

Can't we just flash something on the PROM ? With JTAG ? (I don't really know, I am engineer but this is not my field :D)

In case of Android handsets, the bootloader of the device can be unlocked to flash a new CID number(11111111, which indicates an unlocked device) and hence the SIM Lock is effectively removed.

From : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SIM_lock#Unlocking_technology

[Guest BlueMoonRising]

Can't we just flash something on the PROM ? With JTAG ? (I don't really know, I am engineer but this is not my field :D)

But we don't have an unlocked bootloader

[Guest Siderex]

But we don't have an unlocked bootloader

Ok; And the bootload is developed by the manufacturer right ? Can't we try some method used on a Android device used on a similar device build by the same constructor (and hope that the bootloader have the same source code or a part at least ?)

And using a probe doesn't require a unlocked bootloader, no ?

Do somebody knows were I can we find methods used to unlock some devices (for personal knowledge) ?

Edited November 16, 2012 by Siderex

[Guest rickywyatt]

lol you can't touch the bootloader it is locked down when android booted it can't see bootloader boot or recovery i have bricked 2 phones try to

[Guest Siderex]

lol you can't touch the bootloader it is locked down when android booted it can't see bootloader boot or recovery i have bricked 2 phones try to

Excuse me to ask stupid questions but I find this subject interesting and I don't know where I can learn all that...

So you tried to backup your bootloader with adb ? and modify it ?

I can understand that the bootloader can check it's integrity (with a checksum in a cartridge or something like that); the CID word is a part of the bootloader ?

What did you do exactly to brick your phone ? And how did you restore it ?

[Guest rickywyatt]

you can't backup bootloader with adb intel use a pc baset flasher

[Guest technomole]

Got an e-mail from Orange today, and now I have an unlocked phone, it will now accept any sim card, took about a week for the code (and obviously the fee £20) but it worked.

Not sure whether this will help in any way to getting round the sim lock without having to resort to paying Orange a fee, but you never know, now I just need to sort out the 3 sim card I have and use the pac code to port my number to 3.

Edited November 19, 2012 by technomole

[Guest rickywyatt]

how Meny digits is the unlock code?

[Guest technomole]

how Meny digits is the unlock code?

16 characters (all numbers) least that's what I got, entered the number and it worked first time.