[Q] Bell SG2 purchase or... - Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Well i'm in Canada in the Markham area and have an option to get the SG2.
Someone that my g/f's family knows works with Bell mobility. He is able to purchase the phone for me off contract (about $600+ US). Corporate head told him that ATT will not be getting the same model. It will be a version of the SG2 but not the SG2. Should i jump on this deal? I believe he will be able to unlock it for me right away also. Will I load a specific modem/rom for better ATT use?
Or should I just buy an unlocked and bootloader unlocked atrix? Dont these phones have the same amount of performance power?
Help me out please.

On paper the atrix seems equal but is not even the same league. The sgs2 has no real competition. Go for the bell version and unlock it for free with a market app.

don't bother with Motorolas garbage. grab the sgsii and reap the rewards. If he can sim unlock it for you have that done, otherwise grab the galaxy s unlock tool from the market. don't use chainfires version, it is not as reliable on bells m variant.
this phone is an absolute beast, you won't regret it.

Thanks for the help. I'll make the call to get the process done.

Related

Unlocking a rooted device?

I am a cellphone dealer, but am honestly an iphone user. I came accross a few of these at&t notes, and from expierence I have noticed a lot of galaxy phones being unlocked by rooting, or vise versa.
So if I root, what is the process to unlock?
buy a code or use one of your box thingy's..no easy unlock yet.
any suggestions on where I can pick one up cheap? If I am paying $30 for one its kind of pointless to unlock for resell when I will only get an extra $30 out of it lol

Which version of the I717 should I get?

First off, it's great to see so many familiar faces here in the Note section. I am wanting to upgrade from my Telus Desire HD to a Samsung Note. I am on ATT here in the USA, although I prefer non-ATT phones for personal reasons. I prefer rooted unbranded stock ROMs. Are there any advantages or disadvantages between the Telus, Rogers, and Bell versions? If my understanding is correct, the Bell version comes unbranded and sim unlocked? Any advice before I take the plunge?
Agoattamer said:
First off, it's great to see so many familiar faces here in the Note section. I am wanting to upgrade from my Telus Desire HD to a Samsung Note. I am on ATT here in the USA, although I prefer non-ATT phones for personal reasons. I prefer rooted unbranded stock ROMs. Are there any advantages or disadvantages between the Telus, Rogers, and Bell versions? If my understanding is correct, the Bell version comes unbranded and sim unlocked? Any advice before I take the plunge?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Bell version is full of bloatware and sim-locked. I don't think there's any difference between each version of the device exept maybe the bloatwares and the modem.
Thanks for the reply. I have been doing some heavy searching and have been getting mixed results. One person says Bell has no carrier branding and another claims Telus while another claims Rogers. I would like to keep the options available on the Canadian ROM versions. I don't see any rooted unbranded Canadian carrier ROMs on XDA and would like the easiest approach while I get used to Samsung.
DaGr8 is a well know developers on the GNote and he owns the i717R (Rogers). As far as I know, right now he's working on a i717 (AT&T) leak of ics with this device and I also flashed the leak without any trouble. Every LTE Galaxy Note seems to share the same specs, so don't worry about that.
I use my i717R on Fido (Rogers sub-brand) and I didn't had to sim-unlock it even if Fido don't sell this phone. Still, I've been told that the phone is still locked to Rogers network.
Also Rogers and AT&T share nearly the same network technologies since the beginning, yes Rogers just like AT&T were the first to have the iPhone in Canada. That's something to concider.
Hi Agoattamer. I know you from the Inspire\HD threads. I too am making the change to Note. I was simply planning on getting the ATT version just because it was the cheapest way to go. Now your post is making me wonder if I should consider other options. I can't really offer a lot of info to answer your question of which way to go. Just wanted to say hi. (We are both fellow Pennsylvanians, too.)
Rooted is easy, as I am sure you know.
Unbranded, stock ROMs is also not an issue. There are several ROMs already in the Dev thread and more are coming all the time. Most, if not all, seem to be ICS so I hope that is to your liking.
As of now unlocking is going to cost you. Only the paid services option is available, so far. I saw an option that unlocks other Samsung phones but so far I haven't been able to get anyone to try it for me so it is one of the things I plan to do once I get my new Note.
Get the AT&T version
Get the AT&T version I'm trying to get WildChild to this also but he really likrs HTC
Don't want the ATT version.
Actually we are from the same town kimtyson. I don't want to give up my dumbphone unlimited plan. Not sure if we will get LTE here in the next 2 years. And the money I will save by paying $10 a month for trully unlimited internet will overshadow the around $500 price tag.nd won't be stuck in a 2 year contract in case something great does come up. I am guessing I can get any of the three to suit my needs.
Maybe I am blind but I haven't seen any stock unbranded and bloatfree ROMs available. Do they exist?
Ordered a Roger's version. Can't wait to play with it.

Chances of AT&T being carrier unlockable 100%?

So I'm going to have to assume that since the phone is exclusive (at the moment) to AT&T that they'll do what they did to everyone with the Lumia 900 and not allow it to be carrier unlocked.
Anyone else feel the same? I highly recommend this time around that people wait for any confirmation or confirmed reports of unlocking BEFORE actually buying this phone. I for one didn't enjoy looking at my 900 sitting in my drawer for 2 months before I sold it and took a hit on my wallet.
None, mine is locked
Its locked! I bought an at&t 920 with no contract from best buy and the phone is locked... my tmobile card got discriminated against as soon as I entered it... hopefully straight talk doesn't get the same redhead stepchild treatment as well...
6 month carrier exclusivity...
You can expect any new phones from AT&T, not just 900 and 920, have the same treatment. Hardly anything new. Even the old Galaxy S2 which was released to 3 carriers at the same time get the same 6-month lock out period.
I bought mine off contract and called ATT to get an unlock code. They took my IMEI, submitted a request, and said I should hear back in 3-5 business days. Will let you guys know how it goes.
Let us know
rohitgarewal said:
I bought mine off contract and called ATT to get an unlock code. They took my IMEI, submitted a request, and said I should hear back in 3-5 business days. Will let you guys know how it goes.
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I'm from Brazil and will be at NY november 20, can I buy an off-contract Lumia 920? Please, tell us if they send you the unlock code, this will help a lot of people! Thanks!
igorpaes said:
I'm from Brazil and will be at NY november 20, can I buy an off-contract Lumia 920? Please, tell us if they send you the unlock code, this will help a lot of people! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can buy an off contract 920 from AT&T store. But whether or not you will get unlock code from AT&T is crap shot. Some may get lucky but most will be denied for the so called exclusivity period.
foxbat121 said:
Yes, you can buy an off contract 920 from AT&T store. But whether or not you will get unlock code from AT&T is crap shot. Some may get lucky but most will be denied for the so called exclusivity period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if at&t didnt give the unlock code, is there anyway to get it?
c0705 said:
if at&t didnt give the unlock code, is there anyway to get it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For other brands, eBay typically is pretty good. But if pass experience with Nokia Lumia 900 holds true, you won't get unlock code from other places either.
foxbat121 said:
Yes, you can buy an off contract 920 from AT&T store. But whether or not you will get unlock code from AT&T is crap shot. Some may get lucky but most will be denied for the so called exclusivity period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
foxbat121 said:
For other brands, eBay typically is pretty good. But if pass experience with Nokia Lumia 900 holds true, you won't get unlock code from other places either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does this mean its the most stable way to get unlock code?
does it have a risk?
i dont want to buy a lock 920 back to Europe but i cant use it ._.
I wouldn't buy one from US AT&T despite the price.
Chances are you won't be able to unlock it for 6 months and then have it useless for that time.
Canadian Rogers is the best bet if you could get it somehow as they're apparently unlocked.
c0705 said:
does this mean its the most stable way to get unlock code?
does it have a risk?
i dont want to buy a lock 920 back to Europe but i cant use it ._.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what you mean there. But what I said is that there was NO unlock code can be obtained ANYWHERE in first 6 months for Nokia L900. I expect L920 is the same. All the ebay unlock vendors share the same database and most of them will take your payment first. Then after a while they will refund your money due to unable to find unlock code for you. Typically, you can buy unlock code for Samsung phones rather fast. HTC, maybe a few weeks or month or two after release. But Nokia seems to keep its unlock code database rather tight.
liqn7 said:
I wouldn't buy one from US AT&T despite the price.
Chances are you won't be able to unlock it for 6 months and then have it useless for that time.
Canadian Rogers is the best bet if you could get it somehow as they're apparently unlocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not certain if Rogers ones will continue being unlocked. The ones they were selling were part of some weird early batch (many are speculating they were related to the //build DEV phones). The phone still isn't listed on their website and they still haven't given a release date (even though they technically already released it by selling a small batch).
geoken said:
It's not certain if Rogers ones will continue being unlocked. The ones they were selling were part of some weird early batch (many are speculating they were related to the //build DEV phones). The phone still isn't listed on their website and they still haven't given a release date (even though they technically already released it by selling a small batch).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have confidence that Roger version is unlocked because I heard someone said that Roger only has 1 month exclusive. Also, expecting in stock for these at Roger will begin tomorrow and Microsoft CA said in a FB post that Roger will start selling phones on 11/13.
Confirmed no Unlock Code
Received an official "yea L920 can't be unlocked right now bc Nokia won't let us" reply after ordering it from the only place I found that listed the L920 AND allowed me to order it (see attached). American cell carriers suck (excluding Tmobile bc they don't care what phone you have)...and we wonder why the rest of the world hates America! Spend $500 retail and can't drive 20 minutes into Mexico and use your phone.
baliles said:
Received an official "yea L920 can't be unlocked right now bc Nokia won't let us" reply after ordering it from the only place I found that listed the L920 AND allowed me to order it (see attached). American cell carriers suck (excluding Tmobile bc they don't care what phone you have)...and we wonder why the rest of the world hates America! Spend $500 retail and can't drive 20 minutes into Mexico and use your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For $99 with a free wireless charging pad, 99% of the users will care less about unlockability of the phone. They will drive to Mexico and continue use their phone alright then come back crying wolf when they received their bill.
Rest of the world don't subsidize cell phones as much as US. Most ppl buy their phones at full price. Imagine you have to buy all your phones at $500 to $800 a piece, what will you say?
Unlocked w/o Subsidy vs. Locked w/Subsidy
If you read my post, I paid $500 retail for my phone...I did NOT get a subsidized phone. I understand if AT&T had said "get it for $99, no unlock...buy it for $500...get it unlocked." Instead, they said, buy it for $500 like the rest of the world...still get screwed. Big difference! I am from Africa...born and raised...traveled to 37 countries so I know all about Subsidy vs Retail pricing. It's the pay-full-price-and-still-get-screwed mentality of AT&T that bothers me.
(And before someone says, then why didn't you buy it from Rogers unlocked instead of AT&T...I'll respond...this is my 3rd phone - Galaxy Note, L920 and iPhone - and I love hacking with phones and figuring them out so I bought this on my friends ATT account for retail since I wanted the white and at the time no one online including Rogers had the white one available).
baliles said:
If you read my post, I paid $500 retail for my phone...I did NOT get a subsidized phone. I understand if AT&T had said "get it for $99, no unlock...buy it for $500...get it unlocked." Instead, they said, buy it for $500 like the rest of the world...still get screwed. Big difference! I am from Africa...born and raised...traveled to 37 countries so I know all about Subsidy vs Retail pricing. It's the pay-full-price-and-still-get-screwed mentality of AT&T that bothers me.
(And before someone says, then why didn't you buy it from Rogers unlocked instead of AT&T...I'll respond...this is my 3rd phone - Galaxy Note, L920 and iPhone - and I love hacking with phones and figuring them out so I bought this on my friends ATT account for retail since I wanted the white and at the time no one online including Rogers had the white one available).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you paid retail price and know how you feel. But in US, majoity of ppl don't pay retail and could care less about unlock. The No.1 cell phone carrier is Verizon where most of its phones are CDMA only. There is no such thing as unlocked for CDMA phones. Neither Verizon, nor Sprint will alow any phone that does not have its brand name printd on into its network As such, most pp won't think their carrier suck because of lack of unlock. If you think you paid retail and deserve unlock code, you don't know anything about US carriers.
<end of debate...back to productive thread>
This is my last reply...I won't use a valuable thread to argue:
- I posted my confirmation so others knew not to waste their time right now with the very few who claim to be able to Unlock the L920.
- I knew ATT wouldn't give me an unlock code or unlocked phone, I had HOPED they would do the right thing for full-retail customers. I'm not complaining...I'm trying to find a solution so I can help others who don't know as much how they can get theirs unlocked. I'm not naive...but that doesn't change the fact that ATT selling a full retail phone without giving you an unlock code is still wrong...and no I didn't expect them to do the right thing...they're a US carrier!!
- I do know the carriers...and you absolutely can put a non-Sprint and/or non-Verizon phone or device on their network. I have taken a Sprint MIFI device, registered it and used it on my Verizon data service. My close friend works for VZ wireless as an device SE and he confirms they do this all the time, they just don't market it nor do they want the 80% to know you can do this so they lie and tell you you can't. I've had friends do the same with a smartphone they purchased from Verizon and moved over to Sprint...same process. Push them hard enough, they'll add the other device to their network as long as it's CDMA.
- I'm here to help others find the "Gevey Unlock" equivalent for the L920...not debate the debacle of US carriers Let's refocus to finding a workaround/hack/something to help get the L920's that are locked or crippled working better for the users of the forums
<end of thread...back to the Unlock or No-Unlock/Help-Find-a-Solution thread>

Will ZU C6806 from Bell Mobility (Canada) work in the U.S.?

Looking to get a ZU, preferably the 6806 since I'm with AT&T, and I found one for sale from Canada, probably on their Bell Mobility network...
Does anyone know if this would this work here in the US?
Also, on a side note, anyone familiar with any issues purchasing from Canada via ebay... customs, duties, taxes, etc.?
Thanks in advance.
chinee1 said:
Looking to get a ZU, preferably the 6806 since I'm with AT&T, and I found one for sale from Canada, probably on their Bell Mobility network...
Does anyone know if this would this work here in the US?
Also, on a side note, anyone familiar with any issues purchasing from Canada via ebay... customs, duties, taxes, etc.?
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Bell phone will (might be unlocked) have a sim lock, and worse they are all bootloader locked so no easy root and no custom ROMs
blueether said:
The Bell phone will (might be unlocked) have a sim lock, and worse they are all bootloader locked so no easy root and no custom ROMs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate being such a newbie...
- What does having a sim lock mean?
- I thought the Z ultra 6806's were sold as unlocked phones... has a different meaning?
- I'm not interested in customizing the the ROM, or rooting, or anything similar, (at least not yet) so this is not an issue for me.
Help?
having a sim lock means the phone will only work with the provider that sells the phone, in canada only bell is the exclusive dealer for the XZU, if you want to use this phone on any other network you will need to buy an unlock code. they go for about $30 and takes a day, you provide them with your IMEI and they will email you the code when its processed.
im in canada but since the phone is from bell and im on rogers i had to get the sim unlocked for it to work on my network.
if the phone for sale is a bell phone then no it isnt unlocked, the only other local place to buy it is from the sony store and those come sim unlocked, the only huge difference from the bell phone and sony store is that the bootloader is locked for bell, if you read the previous post that means its harder to root and we can not use custom roms ( personally for me its not a huge downfall since i like the oem roms more atm)
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks at&t uses band 4 for lte so does bell and rogers ( i receive lte) so it should be fine.
the only thing you have to worry about to use the phone is spend an extra $30 for sim unlock.
if anything in my post is wrong feel free to correct everyone as im just trying to be helpful =)
caesu said:
having a sim lock means the phone will only work with the provider that sells the phone, in canada only bell is the exclusive dealer for the XZU, if you want to use this phone on any other network you will need to buy an unlock code. they go for about $30 and takes a day, you provide them with your IMEI and they will email you the code when its processed.
im in canada but since the phone is from bell and im on rogers i had to get the sim unlocked for it to work on my network.
if the phone for sale is a bell phone then no it isnt unlocked, the only other local place to buy it is from the sony store and those come sim unlocked, the only huge difference from the bell phone and sony store is that the bootloader is locked for bell, if you read the previous post that means its harder to root and we can not use custom roms ( personally for me its not a huge downfall since i like the oem roms more atm)
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks at&t uses band 4 for lte so does bell and rogers ( i receive lte) so it should be fine.
the only thing you have to worry about to use the phone is spend an extra $30 for sim unlock.
if anything in my post is wrong feel free to correct everyone as im just trying to be helpful =)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply... the listing says the phone is unlocked, so I will have to make clear inquiries... if i decide to purchse this item.
Thanks again for you help.

[Q] Sim Network Unlock

Hello as this is my first problem with a phone/phone company, I'm confused. I am a long time T-Mobile customer. But my son gave me an upgrade phone cause I am apparently severely outdated. However it is an AT&T phone. A Samsung Galaxy S2 SGH-i777. He moved and now goes with Verizon. So I put the phone in my name by buying a $10 prepaid deal. However its now been over a year & 8 requests and AT&T continues to deny me the unlock code. The phone was never under a contract , it was purchased outright and was a gift a few years back from his father. Now my ancient phone ha taken a crap and I cant afford to buy another one. I have looked into several sites and became a member here thinking I was more edumacted :cyclops: then I am. I just really want to unlock the damn thing. Please help......This is what Ive done thus far.
1.) Updated to 4.1.2
2.) Downloaded and Installed Framaroot getting the SuperSU
3.) Downloaded CSC Select & SGS unlock tool.
Still no unlock code. Maybe I messed up already ..... idk? 2 months ago I was laid off, my savings is damn near completely dry and I need help.( In more ways then 1....bahaha)!! I would like to remove anything & everything regarding AT&T from this device and run Google or WHATEVER. Is that possible?? I Thank You ahead for any time, advice and help anyone can give. Happy holidays and Namast'e :good:
Unlocking is the easy part:
a) Get the relevant information from your son, and use this AT&T website.
OR
b) I used Galaxsim unlock, and have used my i777 on other carriers (not t-mobile), and overseas.
Using the i777 on TMobile? I'm not sure that will work very well.
-The i777 GSM frequencies [850, 900, 1800, 1900] will not communicate beyond 2g on t-mobile network.
EDIT: Apparently T-mobile has refarmed a lot of its 3g+ services to the 1900 frequency, which will allow the i777 to communicate at full speed on t-mobile service. *assuming the relevant refarming happened in your area.
You want to use a de-branded, slimmed down version of the firmware? No problem.
If you like the touchwiz interface, look at cooked or shostock.
If you would like to run an AOSP flavored firmware, then there are several excellent choices in the development forum.
Happy flashing,
-Cyril
Mendified said:
Hello as this is my first problem with a phone/phone company, I'm confused. I am a long time T-Mobile customer. But my son gave me an upgrade phone cause I am apparently severely outdated. However it is an AT&T phone. A Samsung Galaxy S2 SGH-i777. He moved and now goes with Verizon. So I put the phone in my name by buying a $10 prepaid deal. However its now been over a year & 8 requests and AT&T continues to deny me the unlock code. The phone was never under a contract , it was purchased outright and was a gift a few years back from his father. Now my ancient phone ha taken a crap and I cant afford to buy another one. I have looked into several sites and became a member here thinking I was more edumacted :cyclops: then I am. I just really want to unlock the damn thing. Please help......This is what Ive done thus far.
1.) Updated to 4.1.2
2.) Downloaded and Installed Framaroot getting the SuperSU
3.) Downloaded CSC Select & SGS unlock tool.
Still no unlock code. Maybe I messed up already ..... idk? 2 months ago I was laid off, my savings is damn near completely dry and I need help.( In more ways then 1....bahaha)!! I would like to remove anything & everything regarding AT&T from this device and run Google or WHATEVER. Is that possible?? I Thank You ahead for any time, advice and help anyone can give. Happy holidays and Namast'e :good:
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