Technology @lemmy.world ROMMMELLL @discuss.tchncs.de 1 yr. ago

Has anyone unlocked a dumb phone (keypad phone) ?

Dear Technology

I have a 10 year old dumb phone (keypad phone).

Has anyone unlocked their dumb phone ?

If so, could you tell me how you did it please ?

Yours sincerely ROMMMELLL

31 comments

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
- *spectrum
  
  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 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.
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
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
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
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.
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
What the fuck is wrong with you?
- Phone locked :(
- People like playing with old stuff
  
  https://www.theregister.com/2023/07/24/dangerous_pleasures_win_xp_in_23/

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