Hello guys. Currently I'm planning to get verizon contracted razr phone on amazon. But unfortunately I'm living outside of US and can't use Verizon SIM card.
As I understood there are no possiblilities to "compeletely unlock" bootloader. But, what about those safestrap\bootstrap things? Can it help to unlock SIM?
Or it's just about changing ROMs?
Is there are any possibilities to unlock a phone for use with any other operators?
Why not get an unlocked GSM Razr.
The Verizon Razr is CDMA and locked to Verizon and has nothing to do with the boot loader.
A SIM Lock and a locked bootloader are two ENTIRELY different things. None of our discussion pertains to SIM locking, which is something the carrier does to protect their subsidy, and can be unlocked by requesting the code from the carrier, usually with an associated fee.
However, unless the LTE Razr turns out to have international gsm radios like the Rezound, unlocking the Verizon model won't get you anywhere. I don't know of any compatible CDMA/LTE networks anywhere else in the world at this time. You need to buy the international GSM version of the RAZR, AFAIK there are no real differences other than the network type it uses.
I've seen threads where modems are used to get the phone on different networks given the right apn. Does this side step a carrier lock or is it assumed these phones are already unlocked?
You can flash a carrier locked phone with any modem you please. You can also change the APN settings on a locked phone. What you can't do is use another carrier's sim card.
So no, this doesn't side step that. You will need to unlock.
International Note N7000 is factory unlocked.
All carrier versions SGH-i717# are all factory locked.
It costs from $7.00 to $25.00 to carrier unlock.
Ok makes sense. What happens if you start using a tmobile modem and apn with att sim? Would att just charge you roaming or something?
Your sim would connect your phone to the t-mobile network using the frequenies of at&t. You would have EDGE data speed (2g), voice, mms.
Hi i have a Motorola electrify that I bought used. I didn't unlock it my self but it says unlocked at the top of the screen when its booting up. It has also been upgraded to 4.1.1 jellybean also not done by me. What I would like to know is can i use a prepaid sim card in this phone. The original carrier is U.S Cellular and it is labeled as a U.S Cellular phone on the battery, but is that relevant if the phone is unlocked?, and just because it says unlocked when its booting up is it really unlocked? I clearly do not know that much about this phone. So the question is can I use a pre-paid sim card in my phone?. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks.
Assuming that you're asking about GSM, whether it locked or unlocked, this phone is factory unlocked for GSM network across the world, except US.
Is there a way to use prepaid sim inside the US. I'm tired of giving US cellular as much money as I do when these prepaid plans are such a better deal. I would like to retain the phone I have though. Is this possible?
Can this be used with straight talk?
"Unlocked" on the boot/power on screen means the bootloader is unlocked, it has nothing - that means absolutely nothing, null, zero, zip, zilch, nada - to do with the carrier locking or unlocking (allowing it to work with just one cellular provider). As already noted, the Electrify/Photon is/are factory unlocked for use with GSM SIM cards, but they won't work with carriers here in the US - that's the problem.
You have to replace the factory radio (the firmware for the radio) with one that allows GSM capability here in the US. The Electrify should be exactly the same as the Photon - just a different retailer sold it - so I'm guessing that if you are able to install that KDDI radio image that will "unlock" the GSM capability the Electrify/Photon have to offer.
What limits the GSM capability here in the US is the radio that Sprint and US Cellular had Motorola put in the devices at the factory; it allows for GSM capability anywhere outside of the US - installing the KDDI radio basically overwrites the factory radio with one that does allow you to use the GSM capability here in the US, hence the usefulness of it.
The artificial restriction put in place by Sprint and US Cellular is done for whatever reasons they think are necessary, but the basic gist is this:
Yes, you can open up the GSM capability of the Electrify pretty easily. It requires being rooted, unlocking the bootloader, then flashing the KDDI radio (which requires Clockworkmod from my understand, at least that's what I use).
Once you open the Electrify to work on GSM networks here in the US, yes, you can use it with:
- AT&T
- NET10
- Simple Mobile
- Straight Talk
- T-Mobile
- US Cellular
and any other providers that use SIM cards.
br0adband said:
"Unlocked" on the boot/power on screen means the bootloader is unlocked, it has nothing - that means absolutely nothing, null, zero, zip, zilch, nada - to do with the carrier locking or unlocking (allowing it to work with just one cellular provider). As already noted, the Electrify/Photon is/are factory unlocked for use with GSM SIM cards, but they won't work with carriers here in the US - that's the problem.
You have to replace the factory radio (the firmware for the radio) with one that allows GSM capability here in the US. The Electrify should be exactly the same as the Photon - just a different retailer sold it - so I'm guessing that if you are able to install that KDDI radio image that will "unlock" the GSM capability the Electrify/Photon have to offer.
What limits the GSM capability here in the US is the radio that Sprint and US Cellular had Motorola put in the devices at the factory; it allows for GSM capability anywhere outside of the US - installing the KDDI radio basically overwrites the factory radio with one that does allow you to use the GSM capability here in the US, hence the usefulness of it.
The artificial restriction put in place by Sprint and US Cellular is done for whatever reasons they think are necessary, but the basic gist is this:
Yes, you can open up the GSM capability of the Electrify pretty easily. It requires being rooted, unlocking the bootloader, then flashing the KDDI radio (which requires Clockworkmod from my understand, at least that's what I use).
Once you open the Electrify to work on GSM networks here in the US, yes, you can use it with:
- AT&T
- NET10
- Simple Mobile
- Straight Talk
- T-Mobile
- US Cellular
and any other providers that use SIM cards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Electrify cannot be unlocked to work with GSM networks in the US. However it's of course unlocked for GSM use outside the US. So all you're left with is a CDMA phone. You could flash to many other prepaid CDMA networks though.
Well so much for what I know, never mucked with the Electrify - guess I made an assumption there, my bad, my bad.
Does seem a bit odd considering it's basically the same phone from what I can find as far as the hardware each device is based on, but whatever. Sorry about that, syntaxerror234, thought you'd have some better luck there.
br0adband said:
Well so much for what I know, never mucked with the Electrify - guess I made an assumption there, my bad, my bad.
Does seem a bit odd considering it's basically the same phone from what I can find as far as the hardware each device is based on, but whatever. Sorry about that, syntaxerror234, thought you'd have some better luck there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think it's because of the wimax radio. since the electrify doesn't have it, it won't accept the photons radio. even though it will work vise versa. gotta love that. ):
na7q said:
The Electrify cannot be unlocked to work with GSM networks in the US. However it's of course unlocked for GSM use outside the US. So all you're left with is a CDMA phone. You could flash to many other prepaid CDMA networks though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you flash this phone to work with a prepaid CDMA network? I find so little info on this device...
For my phone listed in title, am I able to work this onto a wireless carrier such as Wind Mobile? I'm not sure if the phone itself will work on their AWS network. Wind says they use 1700/2100. I'm trying to unlock my phone and see if this will be a useful move.
Link (for my phone specs AFAIK): gsmarena.com/samsung_vibrant-3416.php
Note: I know it's the vibrant model, but in Canada they renamed it differently for no reason.
My question remains, when carrier unlocking an s9 or s9+, is there any way to make it available on different network types like say if the phone started out using a carrier that uses CDMA, is their any way to flash it to utilize t-mobile's frequency bands?
I unlocked two galaxy s9+'s that were on xfinity, which uses verizon towers. The two phones did unlock, but only for carriers utilizing CDMA. I was hoping they would be able to be used on t-mobile after unlocking, but they can't. Only messaging and data works using a t-mobile SIM card. Verizon works fine. SO my question still remains, is there a way to make it work?
I used itekimei .com to have the phones unlocked, as I found they were suggested here on XDA. And they weren't really able to answer my question either. They said it should work with t-mobile, but the conversation ended with "t-mobile is having problems with unlocked phones." This is super frustrating trying to get an answer.
Edit: I found this forum https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/help/sim-unlocking-sprint-samsung-galaxy-s9-t3783571 which debates whether it will work or not. Also this one specifically about Xfinity https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s9-plus/help/xfinity-mobile-unlock-service-t3796349. But mine didn't work. I don't think U.S. S9's are cross compatible from CDMA to GSM. I have been searching and searching and can't find a way.
Yes, the US unit hardware is cross compatible. Heck, Verizon itself isn't all CDMA. They are phasing out CDMA soon and most of their network is LTE.
I have a US unlocked S9+ and can use any carrier in the US. You could too, all you need to do is flash the US Unlocked firmware to the device using Odin.
Your problem may be the Xfinity firmware restricting certain bands is all. Or possibly the device isn't really unlocked.
Regards,