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Old 08-25-2004, 04:32 PM   #1
ScOObydoo
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Default Unlocking the Berry...

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No, this isn't going to be a commercial post about how to, or me offering to...

I'm just curious how the few commercial firms out there unlock the devices, afaik you need to send it in, do they have some kind of bootloader that removes the lock? Or do they really open them up and do some kind of work inside them?
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Old 08-25-2004, 05:55 PM   #2
finch
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If I recall from the the BB 6210 I had unlocked for a client there was a cable connected to a loader device which seems to flash the device to unlock it.
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Old 08-25-2004, 05:57 PM   #3
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yea, a loader appears to be the only way :(
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Old 08-25-2004, 06:01 PM   #4
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Great resource for unlocking BB's Bongowireless www.bongowireless.com
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Old 08-25-2004, 09:20 PM   #5
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Yeah but isnt it $100 a little bit much for unlocking it? I dont know in my humble opinion thats a little excessive...
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Old 08-25-2004, 09:24 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AMCELL J
Yeah but isnt it $100 a little bit much for unlocking it? I dont know in my humble opinion thats a little excessive...
When you are the only one capable of doing this you can pretty much ask whatever you want...

I'm just curious why their solution hasn't made it out into the open yet...
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Old 08-25-2004, 10:29 PM   #7
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Yes, maybe not too much demand for it....thats my guess...
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Old 08-26-2004, 01:02 PM   #8
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There are a few who charge more. Yes $100 is a stretch but if you need it done well... I could very well be that there is little need as well especially if you can find a Cingular BB they come unlocked out of the box!
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Old 08-26-2004, 09:52 PM   #9
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My Rogers 7280 is a former broken Cingular.

Speaking of that, there's a story behind that...

Some of you familiar visitors that come from different Blackberry forums may remember my interesting posts in April in the other forums about giving my Blackberry circuit board a 10 minute bath in distilled water followed by a low-temperature 150 degree bake for a few hours, which fixed a broken Cingular 7280 that I intentionally purchased at less than half the price of a new "contract" Blackberry 7280 or about one third the price of a "non-contract" Blackberry 7280.

Some of the other newer forum members will say in a shocked manner: Huh? You intentionally washed a 7280 completely immersed in water!?"

True, but it is not quite that simple. (It was dissasembled as much as possible first!). It took me a month before I got the guts to put the Blackberry circuit board (sans casing, metal cover and LCD) into a bowl of distilled water, swish it nonstop for 10 minutes, and then put it in an oven on a paper towel preheated to 150 degrees (intermittently turning it back on every 15 minutes for 1 minute to maintain 150 degrees).

Liquid immersion in a circuit-board-safe liquid is the industry standard procedure for repairing water-damaged electronics. It's contaminants that's often the only damage; you simply need to get rid of contaminants with a gentle solvent. Other times it's stubborn moisture stuck in the micrometers of space underneath chips between chips and circuit board, which simply need to be baked out at low temperatures that's much hotter than room temperature. I got a lot of information when researching the repair industry. What happens is that clean liquid washes away dirty contaminants that are causing short circuits and fake resistors, then you bake to evaporate all the clean liquid, and presto -- average 50% chance of successful repair of a water-damaged cellphone | PDA | digicam | etc. More complex electronics such as water-damaged laptops are vastly more difficult to dissassemble and repair, as several components probably need to be replaced, so I don't bother with that.

I did the Q-Tip thing at first, but that did not work (contaminants can get under chips, and short pins of BGA chips, etc, your Q-Tip ain't going to be able to do zip in these cases).

It is important to remove the battery immediately upon first accident with water (the battery is the main reason of damage in water-damaged electronics, water causes short-circuits while the battery is still installed). And resist testing the electronics until it's fully cleaned (washed first in liquid if necessary) and dried out for a few days (or a few hours completely dissassembled under a heat lamp or low-temp baking). Some electronics containing only plastic chips on plastic circuit boards have been successfully repaired after being underwater in a lake for a full week! Certain elements such as LCD screens have a connector that is sensitive to water, especially if the water leaks between the two layers of the LCD glass, so that's why I removed the LCD screen first. (RIM950 LCD screens are very water sensitive, they are always the first thing to break when a RIM950 gets immersed in liquid, but everything else in those are repairable using the wash-and-bake method.)

I should add, it is absolutely critical to completely disassemble any water-damaged gadget before attempting such a procedure. (No casing, no metal circuitboard covers, no LCD screen, just the bare motherboard with all components in plain view) In fact, if possible, dissassembly immediately after first waterlogging accident is important if you want to try and skip the circuit board immersion-cleaning method I used, but one must resist the temptation to test the device until it's cleaned and dried out.

I also posted some of this information in sci.electronics.misc:
Google Newsgroup Article about Fixing my Blackberry
Complete newsgroup thread containing different suggestions; Denatured alcohol; distilled water; etc
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Old 08-27-2004, 09:29 PM   #10
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I can confirm what someone wrote earlier about Cingular's being unlocked as I have one and am using it on another network without a hitch!
Nick
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Old 09-17-2004, 12:14 AM   #11
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Would someone please explain what locked and unlocked Berry's mean? I'm debating over where to buy my 7230. Is this something I should be looking at?
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Old 09-17-2004, 06:15 AM   #12
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guinda35:

The idea is the blackberry is "locked" to a carrier ( i.e. Cingular ) and you couldn't just replace the SIM with another carriers and have it work like you could if it was "unlocked". The way they do this is Load a MEP ( Mobile Equipment Personilazation ) file based on a carrier onto the device.
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Old 10-09-2004, 08:43 PM   #13
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Hello ... I heard that T-Mobile will unlock it pretty easly. You said that you are traveling over seas and you want ot use your phone. If you have had service for a few months they will unlock the device.

Vinnie
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Old 01-07-2005, 01:22 PM   #14
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You can get a Cingular unit which comes unlocked, or be a "good customer" with TMobile for at least 60 to 90 days and they will unlock your Blackberry over with tech support.
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Old 01-13-2005, 05:52 PM   #15
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I do not know about earlier Cingular Blackberries, but I do know that the Cingular 7290 is unlocked. Keep this in mind guys. I work for AT&T/Cingular, and when we first started getting Triband, and Quadband phones they WERE unlocked, however, now all the phones that were unlocked, are locked. We believe it is because AT&T employees abused the "satisfy the customer" policy we had for special cases where legacy AT&T customers wanted the Razr or MPX220, but didnt want the current Cingular plans.

I do not know if this is temporary or if they are adopting the AT&T policy of phones being locked. I will post more info as I hear it.

To my knowledge though, the Blackberries are still UNLOCKED!!
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Old 01-21-2005, 04:34 PM   #16
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ok - so how do you tell if ithe 7290 is locked or unlocked? what is the procedure
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Old 01-28-2005, 01:46 PM   #17
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I have found both Cingular and T-Mobile willing to unlock the SIM as long as you have had the phone for a while. The reason I gave, truthfuly, is that I travel internationally and want to use a pre-paid SIM with a local number rather than pay expensive international roaming rates. There is a unique unlock code for each phone based on the IMEI number. T-Mobile says they get this code from the manufacturer once requested by the customer.

Below are the instructions from T-Mobile for the 7100 - just so everyone knows what the process is. Note that you only get 10 attempts to unlock before the SIM is permanently locked, so be careful - stop before step 5 unless you have an unlock code.

This posting does not include the unlock code - you will have to contact your carrier for this and they will send you the information or help you do this over the air. Note that both Cingular and T-mobile wanted to do this from a land line with your mobile available.

You can follow steps 1-4 without any danger to find out if your SIM is locked or not. If unlocked for T-Mobile, the Network is "inactive" rather than "active" in step 4.

----

Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. Below you will see the Instructions for unlocking your Blackberry 7000 Series.

NOTE: If you receive an error message while performing the instructions below, stop. Please be aware that if an excessive amount of incorrect attempts are made, the phone will be permanently locked. Verify the IMEI by pressing *#06# and submit a new request. You have 10 attempts to enter the correct code.

To Unlock:
1. On the Home screen, click the Tools icon. The Options screen appears.

2. In the tools screen, select the Settings icon.

3. Scroll to SIM Card and select it. You should see the phone number and the SIM ID number.

4. Type 'mepd' to display the first five levels of SIM locking. T-Mobile uses network locking so the Network should display Active. All other states should display Disabled

Please note: For the Blackberry 7100t you will hit the "P" twice when entering the 'mepd' and 'mep2' for steps 4 & 5.

5. Type 'mep2' to display the dialog box asking for the unlock code (Press the Alt + 2 key to get the number 2)

6. Input the SIM Unlock code (it will be 16 digits long)

7. Press ENTER and reboot handheld.
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Old 01-28-2005, 10:16 PM   #18
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I have been aggresively looking for a 7290 that is unlocked to use with T-Mobile. I have been finding some conflicting info. On ebay you can find several for decent prices, but one dealers said that his customers are now saying that Cingular has started locking them and they will not work. I have been a TMo customer for over two years. Do you think that if I buy one of things and it is locked, that Tmo can unlock it if it's locked by Cingular. Also, if anyone can help me find one for uner $250, that would be awesome. Thanks
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Old 02-02-2005, 09:27 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by morganc14
I have been aggresively looking for a 7290 that is unlocked to use with T-Mobile. I have been finding some conflicting info. On ebay you can find several for decent prices, but one dealers said that his customers are now saying that Cingular has started locking them and they will not work. I have been a TMo customer for over two years. Do you think that if I buy one of things and it is locked, that Tmo can unlock it if it's locked by Cingular. Also, if anyone can help me find one for uner $250, that would be awesome. Thanks
T-mobile can't unlock another network's units and vice versa, they don't have access to the codes. Good luck finding one for under $250.00. You may be able to find one in that range with a new subscription or an upgrade (I'm not really sure how those work), but if you are buying it without the activation or contract, expect to pay a little less than double.
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Old 02-17-2005, 04:24 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by awatters
ok - so how do you tell if ithe 7290 is locked or unlocked? what is the procedure
As per the previous instructions:

-Options
-SIM Card
-Type "mepd"
-Look for tell-tale signs such as "Active" next to "Network", which probably indicates a Network-level lock.

I have an option to "Change PIN2 Code" or "Enable Security" both of which ask for a PIN code and say "3 left" which possibly means we only have 3 chances to enter the PIN in correctly or we permanently lock the phone setting!
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