I'm getting my friend a new phone for their birthday. I haven't rooted a phone in a while since I've been using verizon branded Moto phones and they don't allow the bootloader to be unlocked...
My friend has straight talk service with the $65 plan... I want to purchase a good phone that I can root and enable / spoof hotspot data as they're disabled with fixed income and can't afford internet at home for their kids tablet to work for netflix.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I like the unlocked moto G6 but I know there's not a reliable custom rom yet.
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Hi guys, so I want to sell my vibrant, bought from tmobile 2 years ago on value/payment plan. It is paid off. Currently using it on tmo monthly 4g. I want to get it unlocked to sell. I know nothing about unlocking phones. Where do I start? Before I sell it, I will be restoring it to to factory, un-rooted state. If I call tmo and they unlock it, does that only work with the software currently on it, or is it permanent?
Call them or talk to them via their website. They well send you a code and the procedure to unlock it. It will be permanent.
It is a SG3 from Verizon. The owner says it has been used for just 2 months.
Questions:
1. What is the specifications of Verizon SG3? Do they ever change?
2. Does the phone support networks other than Verizon? I am planning taking the phone abroad.
3. How will this work out for the original owner? I don't want to use Verizon, just want to use it as a media box. Will this make the phone locked up and have a bad ESN?
I mean: Does the owner needs to break his contract with Verizon in order to sell me this phone? I don't want to have anything to do with Verizon and I just want to use this phone as a camera and media box.
I don't want any complications or a locked phone after buying it.
I am new to smart phones and US phone plans. Please help.
pizzapro said:
It is a SG3 from Verizon. The owner says it has been used for just 2 months.
Questions:
1. What is the specifications of Verizon SG3? Do they ever change?
2. Does the phone support networks other than Verizon? I am planning taking the phone abroad.
3. How will this work out for the original owner? I don't want to use Verizon, just want to use it as a media box. Will this make the phone locked up and have a bad ESN?
I mean: Does the owner needs to break his contract with Verizon in order to sell me this phone? I don't want to have anything to do with Verizon and I just want to use this phone as a camera and media box.
I don't want any complications or a locked phone after buying it.
I am new to smart phones and US phone plans. Please help.
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Click to collapse
Try posting in the correct section....this is the i9300 section.....NOT the Verizon model forum
I have an LG G6 phone on Verizon service. So a techy friend of mine referred me to this site and I must say, I am very impressed with some of the cool features these phone will do or won't do, due to the carriers. I was told that since I am on the "old school" unlimited data plane from about 10-15 years old, I can root, unlock or teather ( none of which I understand) my phone to get it so when I am out I can use my phone as a hotspot for my other items such as my iPad or laptop. Can someone offer help with apps to download or a simple way to make this happen ( youtube tutorials?)
Thank you in advance for replying.
There is no root for the Verizon Branded LG G6.
gotwake said:
I have an LG G6 phone on Verizon service. So a techy friend of mine referred me to this site and I must say, I am very impressed with some of the cool features these phone will do or won't do, due to the carriers. I was told that since I am on the "old school" unlimited data plane from about 10-15 years old, I can root, unlock or teather ( none of which I understand) my phone to get it so when I am out I can use my phone as a hotspot for my other items such as my iPad or laptop. Can someone offer help with apps to download or a simple way to make this happen ( youtube tutorials?)
Thank you in advance for replying.
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Click to collapse
I presume you have the Verizon version of the LG G6. If that is the case then there is no root.
If you have the unlocked version from B&H, then you shouldn't need to root to tether.
Which phone do you have?
tech_head said:
I presume you have the Verizon version of the LG G6. If that is the case then there is no root.
If you have the unlocked version from B&H, then you shouldn't need to root to tether.
Which phone do you have?
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Click to collapse
I have the Verizon version If anything becomes available please update me, i would greatly appreciate that any any other tips for the phone.
If I buy a G power that's locked to say, Tracfone, US Cellular, or Straight Talk, how would I get it unlocked so I can use it on TMobile?
Is this one of those deals where I can call Motorola and they give me the magic codes?
What if the ESN is locked? Is it hopeless? Is it only locked by a given carrier? How would I check that?
Quantumstate said:
If I buy a G power that's locked to say, Tracfone, US Cellular, or Straight Talk, how would I get it unlocked so I can use it on TMobile?
Is this one of those deals where I can call Motorola and they give me the magic codes?
What if the ESN is locked? Is it hopeless? Is it only locked by a given carrier? How would I check that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Usually on US carriers, you can't unlock the phones. I know buying it on Verizon or AT&T definitely locks it. I'd talk to your specific carrier to find out if they lock it or not. If they do lock it, as far as I know you're SoL. Buy unlocked if you plan on switching carriers or installing a custom ROM.
Quantumstate said:
If I buy a G power that's locked to say, Tracfone, US Cellular, or Straight Talk, how would I get it unlocked so I can use it on TMobile?
Is this one of those deals where I can call Motorola and they give me the magic codes?
What if the ESN is locked? Is it hopeless? Is it only locked by a given carrier? How would I check that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'd probably have to contact the original provider for an unlock code. I know AT&T will give you the unlock code for your device after 60 days of purchase, but I can't comment on any others.
Thanks, just bought one after I confirmed it has a compass.
Does anyone have wifi calling working on this phone?
Quantumstate said:
Thanks, just bought one after I confirmed it has a compass.
Does anyone have wifi calling working on this phone?
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The unlocked variant has WiFi calling on T-Mobile. I can't comment on other models.
If I may be allowed to piggyback off of this question, my Straight Talk variant should be allowed to be network unlocked after a year in service, which is great and I've been with Straight Talk for probably close to 10 years, but what I really need is the bootloader unlocked.
I'm grown accustomed to BYOP using an unlocked HTC Inspire phone, then an unlocked Nexus 5, then a Oneplus 3 Always doing a little bit in the way of unlocking and occasionally installing custom Roms. My Oneplus 3 was seeming a little unstable. Kept it up to date with a custom rom after it stopped receiving official updates (Although I had been quite happy with stock Rom up until then). Battery wasn't holding up. Being a new home owner, I sought out a value buy and thought I did my homework. I saw bootloader unlock instructions for the Moto G Power and did not read through them. Presuming that since there is a guide for unlocking the bootloader, I presumed I could unlock my bootloader no problem.
Now that I've brought my phone home and its now quite a bit past the 2 week return window, I now see that Bootloader unlocking requires a code that my phone is not likely to be eligible for. My question is, will this phone ever be allowed to have its bootloader unlocked? Will it be eligible for a bootloader unlock once Straight Talk has allowed me to do the Network unlock? Its hard to believe I just tossed $150 into the toilet for a phone I don't get to own. My phone is currently holding my Wifi Hotspot functionality hostage because Straight Talk deems it a feature I'm not entitled to (I am because its a hardware feature and I supposedly own the hardware but until there is a legal precedent I don't have a say in the matter). That is an absolute requirement of mine because I had to work 2 days at home on hotspot when my ISP fubar'd my home connection for 2 days. I lived off of that hotspot and got through.
Is my only hope to resell my Moto G Power, take a hit on whatever value I lost on resale, and go off and get an unlocked phone? I'm seriously considering popping the sim back into my Oneplus 3 and making it my daily driver again, but once again, the phone does show its age. It's about a 10% bump down in processing power and its heard to keep charged at this point. I really only need wifi hotspot and I'd be fine riding this phone for 2 years or so.
As a side note, will it matter if I activate the Sim that was preinstalled on the phone as far as accumulating time towards network unlock eligibility? I didn't want to risk being moved to a different Carrier so I just popped in my BYOP Sim.
tmsmith616 said:
If I may be allowed to piggyback off of this question, my Straight Talk variant should be allowed to be network unlocked after a year in service, which is great and I've been with Straight Talk for probably close to 10 years, but what I really need is the bootloader unlocked.
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Click to collapse
Just out of curiosity did you try to unlock the bootloader? What does it say under? "about phone/software channel"?
On the 24th I bought one at Amazon for $219. On the 29th they went on sale for $174 on Amazon's deal of the day so I bought one again, got it yesterday and did the return thing at Amazon with no problem. I have until the 31st of January (extended return time on all items) to return it... So I'm using it now to test custom ROMs and I'll send it back in a month or so.
If you're serious about selling it maybe you should buy one from Amazon (current price $179) so you can unlock the bootloader and do your thing.
I bought verizon phones when they had the specials to get free devices. Dumb idea because it cost me almost 200 per month in service when I should have just bought one unlocked.
My question is, if at all possible can verizon somehow lock my phone so it cant be used entirely because I quit paying for service? It is right now sim unlocked. I just factory reset it and with the verizon sim out I didnt download the esim from verizon during setup. I used wifi to download visible (current provider) and their app installed the esim. It works. Im just wondering if verizon can somehow get the phone to in any way lock when I dont pay. the deal was they'd add promo credits to my bill to pay off the phones over 32 months.
I read somewhere about oem unlocking and running a graphene OS verizon might somehow still be able to revert back to its android OS install and lock the phone...
Im pretty upset I bought these when i wasnt thinking right lol. I didnt know verizon was so strict on bootloaders out of anyone...i cant even use graphene on it which is why i got the dumb thing.
Just FYI Im going to pay off the devices. The contract says I have to at least pay for data on one device to still get the promo credits. Which means the $20 5G for the tablet...not sure if they intended on me figuring that out. I just don't have the cash now to pay it off in full and wanna experiment with the phone.
JOEWTFDOE said:
I bought verizon phones when they had the specials to get free devices. Dumb idea because it cost me almost 200 per month in service when I should have just bought one unlocked.
My question is, if at all possible can verizon somehow lock my phone so it cant be used entirely because I quit paying for service? It is right now sim unlocked. I just factory reset it and with the verizon sim out I didnt download the esim from verizon during setup. I used wifi to download visible (current provider) and their app installed the esim. It works. Im just wondering if verizon can somehow get the phone to in any way lock when I dont pay. the deal was they'd add promo credits to my bill to pay off the phones over 32 months.
I read somewhere about oem unlocking and running a graphene OS verizon might somehow still be able to revert back to its android OS install and lock the phone...
Im pretty upset I bought these when i wasnt thinking right lol. I didnt know verizon was so strict on bootloaders out of anyone...i cant even use graphene on it which is why i got the dumb thing.
Just FYI Im going to pay off the devices. The contract says I have to at least pay for data on one device to still get the promo credits. Which means the $20 5G for the tablet...not sure if they intended on me figuring that out. I just don't have the cash now to pay it off in full and wanna experiment with the phone.
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Click to collapse
They cannot sim lock the device because the device is off contact now, however you cannot unlock the bootloader due to it being a Verizon device.
JOEWTFDOE said:
I bought verizon phones when they had the specials to get free devices. Dumb idea because it cost me almost 200 per month in service when I should have just bought one unlocked.
My question is, if at all possible can verizon somehow lock my phone so it cant be used entirely because I quit paying for service? It is right now sim unlocked. I just factory reset it and with the verizon sim out I didnt download the esim from verizon during setup. I used wifi to download visible (current provider) and their app installed the esim. It works. Im just wondering if verizon can somehow get the phone to in any way lock when I dont pay. the deal was they'd add promo credits to my bill to pay off the phones over 32 months.
I read somewhere about oem unlocking and running a graphene OS verizon might somehow still be able to revert back to its android OS install and lock the phone...
Im pretty upset I bought these when i wasnt thinking right lol. I didnt know verizon was so strict on bootloaders out of anyone...i cant even use graphene on it which is why i got the dumb thing.
Just FYI Im going to pay off the devices. The contract says I have to at least pay for data on one device to still get the promo credits. Which means the $20 5G for the tablet...not sure if they intended on me figuring that out. I just don't have the cash now to pay it off in full and wanna experiment with the phone.
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Have you made any effort to disable automatic updates?
I would expect their best chance to assert control would be when installing an update. I would disable automatic updates if possible, set the flag that says "do not use data", mark your wi-fi connection as "metered".
If the deal was you pay for 32 months to get whatever deal you agreed to, I think you are obliged to pay for 32 months. Re-read the contract, see what the "early opt-out" terms are like.
If you just stop using Verizon services, without telling Verizon that you are cancelling, I don't think you can consider yourself to have "stopped using Verizon".