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I think there is a big misunderstanding what locked/unlocked means.

All phones that are made are always assigned to a carrier (yes even the ones that say "Factory GSM Unlocked") to prove that just look up the model of the phone and you will see what carrier it was assigned to.

In order for a phone to have service the company has to know that you want service on this phone.

In the past company's like Sprint and Verizon did not work with a sim card they worked with the id of the phone to recognize what kind of phone / what carrier it was assigned to. This is know as CDMA. Yet company's like att/t-mobile did that too but the service was applied by using a sim.

Once LTE came out for what ever reason all company switched to the "Sim technology". There is still one thing that did not change, each carrier has their assigned bands that they have from the FCC that they are allowed to use.

Being that there are standard bands that every one uses (for international or the like) these are included in every phone. So.... All verizon phones will work on att, BUT will only have the bands for slower internet since those are standard bands.

Now verizon's LTE band is NOT a standard nor is their CDMA a standard so an att or a t-mobile phone will NOT be able to accept a Verizon sim.

Now lets go to sprint phones,

All other company's when they had the phones made for them all they do is have it customized for its own use (Read: their own LTE bands). Sprint on the other hand not only did they have them customize it they put a lock in the software blocking all local USA bands (Verizon ATT and Tmobile).

They even go a step farther and they still do the old way of checking the device ID to see if its a sprint phone or not.

Hope this explains a few things feel free to ask any questions.

Att has an easy way to ask for an unlock https://att.com/deviceunlock

How to check a Sprint iPhone (only): You cannot check it with an american sim you must put in a foreign sim. You DO NOT have to backup and restore as sprint sends in the email! Connect to wifi before starting this procedure.

When you put the sim in one of 3 things will happen.
1. It will say no service in the top right corner = Unlocked
2. It will do a soft restart and ask you for your apple id password = Almost unlocked, after putting in the password its unlocked
3. It will do a soft restart and say "Sim not valid" = Phone is locked

If you got number 2. and you dont know the password just put in your old sim and all will return. When you find out the password repeat the steps.

Willmyphonework.net Can check if the phone will work
« Last edited by yakov116 on June 29, 2016, 01:34:42 PM »

Author Topic: cell phone unlocking  (Read 157849 times)

Offline Cheesecake

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #460 on: July 20, 2016, 09:23:38 PM »
Thanks. Im gonna but the zte maven now :-)
Can't go too wrong for $30.

Offline chaimyankel

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #461 on: July 20, 2016, 09:49:07 PM »
Can't go too wrong for $30.
my thoughts exactly.

Offline cozmohoot

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #462 on: July 20, 2016, 10:12:49 PM »
Where is this 30 buck phone?

Offline Live N Learn

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #463 on: July 21, 2016, 12:23:58 AM »
It doesn't come up that way for me.

Link? By me OP is 8 GB with 1 GB RAM for $99.99, or 16 GB with 2 GB RAM for $109.99.

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Offline chaimyankel

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #464 on: July 21, 2016, 08:37:57 AM »
Link? By me OP is 8 GB with 1 GB RAM for $99.99, or 16 GB with 2 GB RAM for $109.99.


when I click on the ad option it lowers the price

Offline chaimyankel

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #465 on: July 21, 2016, 08:38:25 AM »
Where is this 30 buck phone?
zte maven best buy

Offline Cheesecake

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #466 on: July 21, 2016, 09:20:16 AM »
when I click on the ad option it lowers the price
Yes. You have to be a Prime member.





Offline cozmohoot

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #467 on: July 21, 2016, 09:40:51 AM »
zte maven best buy
Maybe spend 60 and get the zmax2...much better specs..your call

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #468 on: July 21, 2016, 11:23:04 AM »
Maybe spend 60 and get the zmax2...much better specs..your call
If someone is spending $60, which would you recommend, the Zmax2 or the Amazon Blu phone?

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #469 on: July 21, 2016, 11:50:41 AM »
I have had better experience with zte over BLU

Offline Cheesecake

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #470 on: July 22, 2016, 06:38:24 PM »
I have had better experience with zte over BLU
I haven't used a Blu. I had a ZTE Speed, which was inaptly named, and a ZTE Warp Elite, which is pretty decent.

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #471 on: August 02, 2016, 04:28:26 PM »
Using a verizon S7 which I would put a t-mobile sim card! Would that allow the phone to function the same when roaming in Canada? Or will all features work when using it for T-mobile!?
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Offline cozmohoot

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #472 on: August 02, 2016, 04:54:19 PM »
Using a verizon S7 which I would put a t-mobile sim card! Would that allow the phone to function the same when roaming in Canada? Or will all features work when using it for T-mobile!?
Willmyphonework.net shows it will be fine with tmobile. Even though it's not fully compatible it's close enough

Offline myi

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #473 on: August 02, 2016, 05:10:30 PM »
Willmyphonework.net shows it will be fine with tmobile. Even though it's not fully compatible it's close enough
thanks! I see that site shows you only networks which the country has! Where can you see which networks your carrier uses when roaming? 
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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #474 on: August 02, 2016, 05:37:59 PM »
Maybe Google tmobile roaming partners in Canada or see tmobile site

Offline myi

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #475 on: August 02, 2016, 05:38:27 PM »
Maybe Google tmobile roaming partners in Canada or see tmobile site
Will try,thanks
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Offline Eliyohu

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #476 on: September 07, 2016, 02:48:57 PM »
I want to use my Sprint Galaxy S5 on Tmobile which tmobile claims will work, sprint gave me MSL code, whats the exact procsess... put in sim, asks for code and put in MSL,? The rep mentioned i have to tell the other company its MSL, am i goving the code to tmobile?

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #477 on: September 07, 2016, 02:53:37 PM »
Best/cheapest place to unlock an iPhone 6 and 6S. they are both on Rogers in Canada.

Offline yakov116

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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #478 on: September 07, 2016, 03:02:25 PM »
I want to use my Sprint Galaxy S5 on Tmobile which tmobile claims will work, sprint gave me MSL code, whats the exact procsess... put in sim, asks for code and put in MSL,? The rep mentioned i have to tell the other company its MSL, am i goving the code to tmobile?
does not make any sense
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Re: cell phone unlocking
« Reply #479 on: September 07, 2016, 03:06:54 PM »
does not make any sense
Spoke to tmobile and they have no clue, the only instructions they gave me is put in the sim and try to enter the MSL code, if it doesnt work call sprint...
Anyone done this try to put sim into sprint phone and unlock with MSL?