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.
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Hi,
I'm kind of confused regarding the term locked/unlocked.
When I talked to Sprint, they told me that you can take the Motorola Photon to other countries (that use GSM), and simply buy a local SIM card. It's "unlocked", so you're free to use other SIM cards. BUT, she also said that in USA, the Photon has to use Sprint CDMA network. Was she just saying that to dissuade me from trying another US carrier on GSM?
So, is the Photon locked or unlocked?
On some other threads here (like this one), some of you refer to "unlocked bootloader". This is different than an "unlocked SIM card", which was what I was thinking of, right?
Are there other references to "unlocked" things that aren't related to SIM cards?
Thanks!
It does have an international unlocked Sim slot but the radio software is written to ignore USA gsm networks.so it will not work on another carrier here unless you unlock the bootloader and someone figures out how to rewrite the radio software, which they haven't yet.
Sent from my iphone killer
Thanks for the response.
Another noob question. Rooting is different than simply unlocking a phone right? Or are the two terms used for the same thing? Rooting a phone gives you admin rights to install software that require higher levels of user access?
Where as unlocking (in this case) implies unlocking the SIM card to allow other GSM networks, or unlocking the radio to allow other US GSM networks?
That is, you can unlock some smartphones (allowing global SIM card use), but not have the phone rooted (not have admin rights)?
Unlocked has nothing to do with the sim card in our case. The sim slot is and always was unlocked from the start. Unlocked refers to basically the phones equivalent to a BIOS which allows us to rip out the os and install a new one aka custom Rom.
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
While the sim is unlocked it still won't work on US domestic gsm towers as the radio specifically blocks those regardless of sim lock/ unlock.
Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk
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...
I haven't been able to find any solid information on SIM unlocking this phone, so I'm asking here. Back on Verizon, unlocking a global phone didn't seem to help much, as it still didnt work on other carriers (such as when travelling to India). Will the HTC One when SIM unlocked work?
ashrat3000 said:
I haven't been able to find any solid information on SIM unlocking this phone, so I'm asking here. Back on Verizon, unlocking a global phone didn't seem to help much, as it still didnt work on other carriers (such as when travelling to India). Will the HTC One when SIM unlocked work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The HTC One is a GSM-based phone. It will work on any GSM-based network, regarding calls/text/data(up to HSPA+). Not sure about LTE because of the way the frequency/bands work.
ashrat3000 said:
I haven't been able to find any solid information on SIM unlocking this phone, so I'm asking here. Back on Verizon, unlocking a global phone didn't seem to help much, as it still didnt work on other carriers (such as when travelling to India). Will the HTC One when SIM unlocked work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon was CDMA which had limited availability in foreign countries. HTC One has a sim card slot (even the Sprint version, which is CDMA, should have a slot). Once you sim unlock, it should be compatible with most major countries since most countries use GSM - as long as the frequency bands are the same.
You can look up the frequency bands phone supports in the htc one's specs.
This week the major carriers announced they will be unlocking their customers phones once their contracts run up.
Does this mean that my Verizon Galaxy s4 will work on a GSM network once it becomes unlocked by Verizon? Will I be able to use it on a carrier like T-Mobile?
its already unlocked, theres a guide on how to switch to tmobile in the general section
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,