[Q] Unlocked Electrify pre paid sim - Motorola Photon 4G

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...

Related

CDMA and GSM

I am always confused between CDMA and GSM...
Why a 4 band phone ,Evo 3d will not work in Europe?
BTW I am searching to buy one at Ebay. the search shows only Spirit branded phones. do they work in Europe (GSM)?
What is ESN clean or Bad ESN? Whats is the meaning of "unlocked" and if i buy a locked one can i unlock it by my self?
Thank You
adempozhari said:
I am always confused between CDMA and GSM...
Why a 4 band phone ,Evo 3d will not work in Europe?
BTW I am searching to buy one at Ebay. the search shows only Spirit branded phones. do they work in Europe (GSM)?
What is ESN clean or Bad ESN? Whats is the meaning of "unlocked" and if i buy a locked one can i unlock it by my self?
Thank You
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm far from the expert so I'll give your questions my best shot and maybe somebody else with more experience on GSM can fill in some of the gaps.
bad/clean ESN only applies to CDMA. CDMA does not use a SIM card. once a CDMA phone has had its ESN marked as bad, it will not operate on that carrier. example, sprint (only CDMA network) evo 3d, the owner doesnt pay his bills, they mark the ESN as Bad for that device. if he sells the evo 3d, it can't be activated on sprint's cdma network. if you want to activate it on another CDMA network, like metropcs, it is doable, but sometimes considered a legally *gray* area.
"unlocked" in regards to the carrier of the device only applies to GSM type devices. on GSM type devices, once they has been "unlocked" they will operate on any GSM carrier.
i'm not about the band count, i.e. 4 band GSM. i would suggest looking at which frequencies are used in those bands and matching them up by frequencies and GSM/CDMA. as your profile is marked albania, i think most of europe uses GSM so CDMA will probably not be useful for you.
hope that helps some of the questions!
thank you... you were very clear.
still searching for the last question. If i buy a locked GSM phone, can i unlock it here by myself or i have to buy unlock code?
Well, doesn't all phones come unlocked in Europe anyway? Locking applies to GSM phones, and I've always thought only north American carriers do that. For example, if you, living in Europe, wanted the infuse 4G which is locked to ATT in America, you would need to unlock it to use it. Moreover, you must make sure the phone's frequencies match your carrier's. If I'm not mistaken, I think unlocking an Android phone is similar to rooting it. It's a different process all together, but its something you would do on your own.
Before Android tho, you simply need to call your carrier, tell them you're traveling overseas and you wanna use your phone there, and they'll give you the unlock code. Use some special commands to bring up the carrier unlock screen, input the unlock code, and bam, you're good to go.
I don't know if you still need an unlock code with Android phones, but if you want it, you would get it from the carrier of the phone.
You won't see any unlocking tutorials for the EVO 3d in the forums for the obvious reason that its cdma phone in America. But I'm sure once its released on Tmo-us, then there'll be a method.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App

[Q]Verizon phone with other operator?

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.

[Q]Why Droid DNA can't use other CDMA network ?

Sorry for asking stupid question....
I did some research, but I still can't figure out why DNA can't uses other CDMA network.
Is it the problem if radio???
According what I see, DNA is able to unlock bootloader, s-off, root.
What stuff should I waiting for? Radio?
Your answer will help me know what kind of threads I should pay attention to. Thanks a LOT in advanced!
BTW, I am planning use DNA in Taiwan with a CDMA network provider.
I had checked the hardware is fitted to my network (CDMA2000 800Mhz). Thanks for all concerned!
siekaiser said:
Sorry for asking stupid question....
I did some research, but I still can't figure out why DNA can't uses other CDMA network.
Is it the problem if radio???
According what I see, DNA is able to unlock bootloader, s-off, root.
What stuff should I waiting for? Radio?
Your answer will help me know what kind of threads I should pay attention to. Thanks a LOT in advanced!
BTW, I am planning use DNA in Taiwan with a CDMA network provider.
I had checked the hardware is fitted to my network (CDMA2000 800Mhz). Thanks for all concerned!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
First of all, you must understand that GSM & CDMA are dissimilar technologies, whereas with GSM you can easily swap between carriers so long as they have the same/supported radio frequencies and your phone is sim-unlocked, this is not possible with CDMA. CDMA devices do not use a sim card to retain your account information or activation abilities. When it comes to CDMA (from my understanding) the ESN is key, the ESN must be added to your networks (for lack of a better term at the moment) ESN database. In the United States, most CDMA carriers will not add ESN's of other carriers phones to their network, your results may be different, because of your location. If your carrier were to allow or be willing to add the ESN of the DNA you obtain to their database than there is a possibility that it may work. (I am unsure if that can just be done or if it would have to be removed from Verizon's network & so forth, because I've never personally had to do such a thing)
There is a second problem though, the LTE radio / sim card interface. Because of the way these phones work on Verizon with LTE, I am unsure if you could even activate it, because it looks like the LTE sim is needed to authenticate your account to the carrier like a regular GSM phone. I have no idea how you would activate this phone without LTE / GSM on your carrier, even with the CDMA ESN added. It seems like it would be a double edged sword, but I could be wrong in this respect.
Also at this current time, this phone has root, and an unlocked bootloader through HTCDev, but is still **S-ON**.
Though none of those things have to do with you being able to use this phone on your carrier.
If your carrier was GSM I would say go for it because this is a GSM Global phone as well, but because its CDMA that you need I really incredibly doubt you'll be able to use this phone, but I may be wrong, but until someone else states otherwise I would look for a different phone.
Hope this Helps!
I am also interested in it. How can we check it out? I should go to my CDMA carrier and ask to activate my ESN?
Where can i find ESN? In Settings-About there is only MEID, IMEI, Phone serial number and IMSIAdded
I work for a CDMA carrier in the USA and with lte on the phones now, they truly act as gsm phones. If your CDMA carrier has lte then they can give you a sim and it will activate your DNA. However, if they only operate on 2g/3g then the post above me is correct with the ESN database and will USUALLY not activate the phone (in store sales reps usually don't even have the ability). Even if they have lte, activating another carrier's phone is not in the best interest of the sales Rep and they usually won't.
YMMV
Sent with my DNA
kyleco said:
I work for a CDMA carrier in the USA and with lte on the phones now, they truly act as gsm phones. If your CDMA carrier has lte then they can give you a sim and it will activate your DNA. However, if they only operate on 2g/3g then the post above me is correct with the ESN database and will USUALLY not activate the phone (in store sales reps usually don't even have the ability). Even if they have lte, activating another carrier's phone is not in the best interest of the sales Rep and they usually won't.
YMMV
Sent with my DNA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should mentions that we don't have LTE in Taiwan so far.
My carrier provides CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev.B (I guess it is)
Is it operate as LTE OR 2G/3G you mentioned?
siekaiser said:
I should mentions that we don't have LTE in Taiwan so far.
My carrier provides CDMA2000 1xEV-DO rev.B (I guess it is)
Is it operate as LTE OR 2G/3G you mentioned?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my experience, they will not be able to activate it if they do not have lte, as they would need to have a settings file made for that phone to get it to work on their network. Nevers hurts to call and ask though.
Sent from my HTC6435LVW using xda premium
Hi,i am from Austria,i have a Droid Dna by Verizon and the Phone works fine here in Austria, 2G and 3G/HSDPA

[Q] Difference between KDDI-stock and Sprint flashed with KDDI radio?

Just wondering, because I have a Japanese model. I was originally quite fine with using GSM providers, however, now I've moved to a place where Verizon performs significantly better than AT&T and there aren't any other choices as far as I can see (MVNOs aside, but the problem I have with AT&T is with signal, and an MVNO isn't going to help with that). Now I want to switch to Verizon, and I'm wondering if the advice provided to the others with KDDI radios on Sprint Photons would also be the same for a plain old KDDI Photon.
verizon uses cdma and keeps a database of their cdma phones. Thus they dont allow phones on their network that arent already in their database (i.e. they wont allow non-verizon phones). Sprint is the same way.
The only caveat to this is roaming. They will allow non-verizon phones to roam their network as part of roaming agreements with other carriers. You just wont be able to use verizon as your carrier.
OK, then what of a Verizon MVNO, like Page Plus? That seems like it should be OK, from some of what I've read, as long as no one's blacklisted my phone's MEID (it's my first time bringing it to the US, so that shouldn't be an issue).
yangj08 said:
OK, then what of a Verizon MVNO, like Page Plus?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although pageplus does allow "bring your own phone", I dont know if they accept non-verizon phones. you will have to ask them.
findthedr said:
Although pageplus does allow "bring your own phone", I dont know if they accept non-verizon phones. you will have to ask them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Page plus will take anything, sprint phones, verizon phones, any cdma phone for the most part that arent blacklisted. Might even take blacklisted sprint phones, just no blacklisted verizon phones.
Ooh, sounds good. In that case it seems like I just need to figure out how to flash in the right settings. All I remember is that someone else wrote in one of the KDDI radio threads that data doesn't work, but voice+text does.

Carrier Unlocking the U.S. S9/S9+

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,

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