Even unlocked, it might not be capable of connecting to modern networks. Some of the older phones used bandwidths that the carriers no longer have towers for
this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023
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Yes, wrong word on my part
Yeah I'm not sure if they had lte dumb phones yet 10 years ago. It might not work unless they're somewhere with really old cell networks.
Most of the operators still keep their 2G networks active. There's simply too many iot devices that use 2G as a main or fallback comms to end old gsm network with only few years of warning. 3G on the other hand is going the way of the Dodo.
Thanks N
Thanks S
Thanks P
You mean it's locked to a certain carrier? Sometimes you find unlock codes online, it depends on the model. Other times you have to buy the unlock code from the carrier and it's usually not worth it because you can get an unlocked Nokia keypad phone for less. I bought one of those for like 20 Euros at a pawn shop and it's still working with a prepaid SIM card from the supermarket.
Dear S
Thanks for your reply.
Thanks for the tip re the pawn shop.
Did you ever go ahead and succeed in unlocking a dumb phone ?
Yours sincerely
ROMMMELLL
Yeah, back in the day I managed to unlock my phone using a tutorial with unlock codes I found online. But that was before smartphones existed.
Dear S
I think I have 2 problems.
-
I don't know who put the lock there - phone maker ? phone seller ? provider of 1st SIM card ? provider of 2nd SIM card ? other ? I just know that ONLY my current SIM card (the 2nd) works in my phone. No other SIM card will work in it.
-
I don't know the correct procedure to remove the lock without bricking the phone. Or, how to unbrick it, if I do.
Perhaps I am being too cautious, but some of what I have seen online seems a little dubious, and I'm not sure I can trust myself to distinguish between good info and bad.
You are one of the few who have actually unlocked a dumb phone in real time.
Could I be so bold as to ask if you would be willing to give some of your time to find a good tutorial with unlock codes for a Samsung GT-E3210 dumb phone made about 2013 ?
Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL
Sorry I can't help you, I don't have any experience with Samsung phones. It could be that unlock codes don't even work with this type of phone and you would have to connect it to a PC with a cable. But I don't know. About your first question, the lock is usually put in place by the carrier, e.g. you get a "free" phone with a 2-year contract and they want to make sure you can't use it with a different SIM. When the contract expires they want you to trade in your phone for a newer model, and renew your contract. It's usually possible to have them unlock your phone at the end of the contract, sometimes for an additional fee. So it looks like you ended up with a phone that is still locked to a certain carrier and you can only use SIM cards of that carrier.
Thanks S.
I understand.
In my case, I got the phone new in one country, where I used the 1st SIM card I put into it. I wasn't aware of any requirement to use any particular SIM card, or to use it for any particular time.
Some time later I was in another country. I wanted to put my 2nd SIM card in, but the phone wouldn't accept it.
I took it to a phone shop and had it unlocked.
I have been using this 2nd SIM card for years. This SIM card is in no way connected to the phone seller or phone maker, and it is from a different country.
BUT now I find that this 2nd SIM card is the ONLY SIM card the phone will accept.
How do you interpret this data ?
How would this lock be activated on an unlocked phone ?
Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL
once I unlocked a Samsung. problem was that the code I've found had a side effect zeroing out the IMEI of the device. tho, it worked, but acted strangely sometimes
Dear K
Thanks for your reply.
Do you remember the model ?
How exactly did you unlock it please ?
Yours sincerely
ROMMMELLL
I'm really sorry, dude, but it was like 15 years ago... I don't remember the model.
but it wasn't hard to find those codes back then IIRC, a quick google search or two
Years ago, yes. Not recently. As others have said, I wonder how useful it would be on modern networks anyway.
Dear C
Thanks for your reply.
Do you remember the model ?
How exactly did you unlock it please ?
Yours sincerely
ROMMMELLL
if you mean removing a carrier lock, yes I did that. Totally hassle free, it was locked to vodafone germany. I registered the device online, and minutes later any SIM I popped in woked fine
Dear H
Thanks for your reply. That is very interesting.
How did your phone become locked to vodafone germany ?
Could you talk me through the complete process, each step, that resulted in success please ?
Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL
Unfortunately, no. It's been years since I did this. The phone has been carrier locked by factoria, though.
Thanks H.
I appreciate that it has been a long time.
If I understand correctly, your phone was locked to Vodafone Germany from the very start. Then, some time later you registered your phone on a website, and this action alone freed your phone.
One question : whose website did you register your phone on ?
eg. Phone maker ? Phone seller ? Provider of the SIM card ? other ?
Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL
It was the service providers' website, vodafone. They had the option to remove the carrier lock for free because the phone was older than 4 years or so.
Thanks H.
So, it was vodafone's website that you put your data into, to immediately free your more than 4 year old phone.
Am I correct in understanding that vodafone was both the phone seller and the SIM card provider ?
What data did you put into the website please ?
Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL
10 years old? Not many keypad phones were made around that time anymore. Either way, every phone maker had their own system, so every one needed something different to get unlocked. You'd need to specify the exact model, and what exactly you need to unlock on it.
Anyway no I can't help with that.
Thanks W
also, if you have a Sony Ericsson (db2010, db2020, a200) there's a great chance some russian dude made a VKP patch to unlock the phone on that firmware. this was completely software, and easily restorable
Dear K
Thanks for your reply.
Perhaps I am a little too cautious, but I don't know what the unlock codes look like, and I don't want to be a fool and brick the phone by doing something obviously stupid.
You are one of the few who have actually unlocked a dumb phone in real time.
Could I be so bold as to ask if you would be willing to find some unlock codes for a Samsung GT-E3210 dumb phone made about 2013, that YOU would be willing to use if it was YOUR phone ?
I would be very grateful to have the opinion of someone with success in this area.
Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL