Unlock
Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
First of, some explanations about certain concepts.
A SIM lock, network lock or subsidy lock (not to be confused with PIN or PUK code) is a capability built-in to GSM phones by mobile phone manufacturers. Network providers use this capability to restrict the use of these phones to specific countries and network providers. In most countries, most mobile phones are shipped with country and/or network provider locks.
In addition, these locked phones tend to have firmware installed on them which is specific to the network provider. For example, if you have a Vodafone or Telstra branded phone in Australia, it displays the relevant logo and may only support features provided by that network (e.g. Vodafone Live!). This firmware is installed by the service provider and is separate from the locking mechanism.
Most mobile phones can be unlocked to work with any GSM, such as O2 or Orange (in the UK), but the phone may still display the original branding and may not support features of your new carrier. Most phones can be unbranded by uploading a different firmware version, a procedure recommended for advanced users only.
I thought by debranding my phone and updating my phone with Nokia’s official FW rather than 3′s custom firmware, I had unlocked my phone for use with other Sim cards. How wrong was I. The algorithms used in earlier Nokia brand phones (based on IMEI and MCC code) have been reverse engineered, stolen or leaked, resulting in many people offering Nokia unlock codes for free or for a fee. Newer Nokia phones such as my Nokia N95 8GB have more robust encoding algorithms and permit fewer attempts at unlocking and are not unlockable by these free unlocking programs.
My phone has Base Band 5 implemented. Base Band 5, often abbreviated as BB5, is a network locking system implemented on newer Nokia mobile phones. The system is designed to prevent unlocking of handsets which has not been approved by Nokia or the network. Just like the DCT-4 locking system, the unlocking code is unique to each handset. However, unlike DCT-4, the unlock code is much harder to calculate as each code is randomly assigned to the handset and stored on a special chip.
Comme d’habitude, the first thing that came to my mind was to hack it. So I utilise my usual resources, prowling through forums and other dubious channels but to no avail. Earlier BB5 Nokia phones can be unlocked for free using software but not my phone. I had to purchase a kit worth about a grand to do so. Alternatively, I can pay someone who has it to unlock my phone.
With that avenue closed to me, I turned to more official channels. I started researching 3′s (3 is a brand name under which several UMTS based mobile phone networks are operated in Australia, Austria, Denmark, Hong Kong and Macau, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) website and having many email correspondence with their customer support.
After collecting all the information required for unlocking the phone, I got a friend of my in Melbourne to call 3 care for me as I’m in a location far far away with no access to 3. He had to charge his cordless phone for about half an hour as it was dead. So I patiently waited for time to pass by exploring the wasteland in post apocalyptia DC. Half an hour later, the cow called 3 and the process begins. A few minutes later, he came back and told me that my phone is already activated for international roaming.
…
Elow? Unlock phone not unlock roaming -_-”’ And so he had to call again. After some exchange, and the customer service rep verifying that the phone can be unlocked overseas, the CSR gave the cow instructions to unlock. So he told her that he does not have the phone with him as he is calling on behalf of me. Then the phone went dead. 30 minutes of charge equals to 5 minutes of talk time. Wow.
It was around this time I begin to panic abit. I’m afraid that they would think that someone stole my phone as is trying to masquerade as me to unlock my phone and sell it and therefore disallow further attempts to unlock it. Then my phone rang. I thought they must be calling to verify whether I gave permission to unlock the phone so I accepted the international call.
The CSR asked me whether I’m the one that called to unlock the phone earlier and I said yes. Then she told me this. “Do you have a pen and paper ready? I’m going to give you the instructions to unlock the phone and its quite complicating and confusing. Ready? Ok. This is what you tell your friend….”
She thought that I was still the cow calling in Melbourne. I find it amusing that even after the cow told them that I’m overseas and he is calling on behalf of me to unlock the phone, they would still call my number. If I’ve the phone and able to call 3 care directly, I wouldn’t need to go through my friend in the first place! And so i continued pretending that I’m the cow who was pretending to be me.
When they say confusing, they really mean confusing. It is after I started trying to unlock that I understood the instructions. Even so, I was able to understand and proceed with the unlocking because of my sound technical knowledge.
A lesson learned. Sometimes, its just easier to go through official channels first before resorting to my usual modus operandi. Oh, the unlock is free too!
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