Thanks to everyone invovled with the unlocking of telephone calls. I am a Canadian user on Bell with a Bell Tab and using it as my only device (with a BT headset of course!).
I have a Galaxy S and an application from my work restricts access based on IMEI. Because I have both devices and I swap my sim when I want to carry soemthing smaller, is it possible to mirror/duplicate the IMEI from the S to the Tab? As only one device will be on the network at any given time I don't see why this would be a problem but I don't know much about how IMEI is used on mobile networks.
I read some posts about scrubbing the IMEI but nothing about replacing it.
Thanks,
Greg
Are you sure that the access is restricted based on the imei and not the mac address ?
pakalrtb said:
Are you sure that the access is restricted based on the imei and not the mac address ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And its really easy to change the wifi mac to any other value you would like, especially to that of an old device that does have network access.
But if the app queries the imei then you're stuck.
Yeah, it's definately looking at the IMEI, it's part of registering for the service. So there's no way to re-program it? That's a bummer.
Part of making it work on froyo requires me to figure out how to get Samsung Social Hub as the app itself doesn't like froyo on the Galaxy S but with social hub I can read email. Such bad software but that's what I got. Okay, guess I need to tell my gatekeeper guy to change my imei for the service from the Galaxy S to the Tab.
You need a piece of hardware called an sptbox to change the imei number on your phone. It costs $250 and I think you have to buy it from China or some reseller, of which, there doesn't appear to be any in North America. Doesn't seem worth it to me.
Related
Hi all
I was wondering if anyone knew the answer to the above question.
to explain a bit better:
If i change the IMEI on my XDA it will obviously show up on the phone. What i want to know is will the network see the new of old IMEI. Ie whis is sent out by the phone.
Also:
From that i have found out the new service which blocks off stolen phones work that runs in the UK work by the IMEI code of the phone.
How do i make sure i don't change my IMEI to a number that is registered as stolen and in turn block my phone off.
Also again:
If at a later stage my phone does get blocked will changing it back to the original IMEI unblock it?
After all this i'm wondering if i should bother changing the IMEI. Although it would be nice to have my DOB there.
Oops I think I posted this in the rwong place!!
To Adminstrators:
Sorry
If it is in the wrong place could you move it?
The IMEI is stored in two places: one is displayed, the other is used to send to the network. The Manipulator changes both locations. The chance you'll change your IMEI to one of a stolen phone is small, very small. (It's six digits if you exclude the manufacturer part, so the chance is definitely bigger than getting hit by a meteorite, but still)
We included the IMEI change bit because:
a) We could
b) Privacy concerns: we'd like to live in a world where people can have multiple identities that are hard to connect, even if their opponents happen to run the country / telco.
WOW!!
Thanks for the great answer. As soon as it is possible to change my imei and unblock my phone i'll be doing it. (I have version 4.20 so it don't work yet).
Does anyone know of a web site where it list all the imei that are recognised as stolen or a number i can call in the UK to find out. The local police are useless and don't know anything.
A number to report a stolen phone would be useful as well cos my little sis got her knicked.
Do any one know how a windows mobile sends the IMEI to the network?
Which function in the api ?
i'm sure it is in the low level api , kernel or may be the coredll.dll but i cannot find any clue on it , and i don't have any idea on where to start to trace that.
Any help or clue would be grateful
Is it really sent??
I'm by no means an expert on this subject -- but is it really sent over the network? In my case the US ATT network? I'm not so sure it is...
...if so, why do they have to always ask me for it?
...if so, why aren't they automatically charging me an extra $30/mo. for a PDA data plan which they insist is REQUIRED for PDAs to connect-even though we all KNOW that's a lie and an ATT rip-off scheme?
...if so, why am I able to call them and give them ANY NON ATT IMEI over the phone and they not dispute it?
...jus a few questions to answer your question.
I'm not an expert either, but I can tell you that they see it. I like to think of the IMEI number as your "ip address" or your phone's "username" for the network. It has to be sent for access purposes and it would be stupid not to log that type of server access. Else how else would you be restricted from using other Cellular towers.
Wrong.
Read up on IMSI's and TMSI's
In the Netherlands the police used an IMEI number to send text messages to a stolen cellphone, even thought they had changed the simcard the phone would show: " This phone is stolen please bring it to the police" every 5 minutes...
Though I'm not an expert on this topic, I thought that the Radio Firmware handled all communications with the Cellular network, including IMEI. One reason I am inclined to go with the Radio Firmware is this simple reason: If it was handled by WM, somebody could probably figure out how to spoof it through WM at one point or another, in the same way that MAC addresses can be spoofed.
And as I said, I'm no expert on this, so please, somebody correct me if I'm blatantly incorrect.
Oh, and w00t! 400th post!
IMEI is for sure transmitted to the network, since this is registered on the BTS every time your signal "auth" on it , and the server logs it and checks if your phone is on the "blacklist" and then reject connection if it is the case.
Check here
But i wonder, technically, where from it is sent, maybe from the Radio firmware like previously posted ?
I guess, since we have some tools to read & change the IMEI on others HTC, it could be done on every models (if i understood right, the IMEI part is somewhere on "read only" and we first need to unlock the CID to unlock this part of memory and then modify / alter it.)
The tools is found here :
IMEI Updater
But works only for iWizard and some other models.
But couldnt we hook the function that retrieves the imei and alter it on the fly? (from the software point of view?) or should i digg in the flash memory?
Or is it hardcoded on the SPL or the IPL? When and what function is used to send it on the network ?
Also for al the legal issues, i might add that an opensource OpenBTS Project is running , and it is in a research-oriented initiative.
So no post saying that i want to change stolen Imei etc.. this is not the case.
I'm a developer for one year now, and i'm interested in mobile security and research.
ix0u said:
IMEI is for sure transmitted to the network, since this is registered on the BTS every time your signal "auth" on it , and the server logs it and checks if your phone is on the "blacklist" and then reject connection if it is the case.
Check here
But i wonder, technically, where from it is sent, maybe from the Radio firmware like previously posted ?
I guess, since we have some tools to read & change the IMEI on others HTC, it could be done on every models (if i understood right, the IMEI part is somewhere on "read only" and we first need to unlock the CID to unlock this part of memory and then modify / alter it.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you'd have to Security Unlock as well. And I'm certain that it's stored somewhere in protected flash memory, at least on the Qualcomm based devices, because there have been isolated reports of IMEI changes after using Olipro's Kaiser SIM/CID unlocker/changer.
It works by flashing a modified radio firmware which security unlocks the device (until a different radio is flashed), then a program is run in Windows Mobile which somehow changes SIM lock and CID information. If you're curious, those cases concerning IMEI changes as a result of this tool are here and here. And if you really want to know about this issue, a visit to the XDA IRC channel, or a polite PM to cmonex, Jockeyw2001, Olipro, or Pof could probably clear this up, as those are the people who really know these devices. Good luck
Thank you very much DaveTheTytnIIGuy, at least i have a lead now, on where to go and who to ask.
Hello,
I recently bought a S5 in the netherlands (i live and use the phone in belgium). Started it up, everything works fine. I make one phonecall as required for the regionlock, works fine.
Then something strange happens, after the one phonecall required, i cant accept or make phonecalls anymore.
I get a message "your phone has been locked due to security reasons"
Now the weird thing is, if i use a simcard from another carrier, the phone just works fine, no locking whatsoever...
Called Samsung support, told the story, they tell me phone is region locked and i need to get a code, but the phone never asks me for a code nor can i put one in anywhere.
So i called my provider, they tell me the phone is blacklisted probably but they cant check that...
After some research i found out the phone is actualy from UK with an international firmware on it: G900FXXU1ANG2 (countrycode BTU)
Anyone have an idea how to get rid of this problem?
I dont want to root the phone just yet in case i have to exchange it for another one.
Would it help to get the countryspecific stock firmware installed for my country? (Belgium)
thanks a lot for the help
thale
You'd get better help if you gave us more details, notably verbatim error messages, rather than paraphrasing.
Your provider can certainly tell you if your phone is blacklisted since an IMEI blacklist is under their direct control. So ask them again to clarify that. Region locking is much more likely though. Samsung region locks phones to prevent grey market sales, which is exactly what you've tried to do. The region lock is released after you use the phone a short while with a provider in the original region, which sounds like the UK in your case. Region locking is also a type of blacklist, although that term is almost always used to refer to carrier IMEI blacklisting unless otherwise specified.
As you didn't make any preliminary calls in the UK, nor apparently did the previous owner (or vendor), the phone is now restricted. You could travel to the UK and use your phone there for a day to dissipate the region lock. Or a lot of people claim that a regular SIM unlock code, such as you can buy on Ebay or any number of other places will also remove the region lock (unconfirmed). Or you can root your phone and circumvent the region lock by editing the blocked regions in your customer.xml file.
There are lots of existing threads on this subject, as you would know if had you done a search. Refer to those for further elaboration or you can search my post history as I've posted in detail how to remove the region lock in previous posts.
.
Thanks for the reply, this forum was my last resort since i didnt understand the problem.
I dont get any error messages at all.
provider A in S5 --> while calling i get the message phone blocked for security reason
provider A in S4 mini --> works perfectly
Provider B in S5 --> works perfectly
so i thought problems lies with faulty simcard, exchanged it but problem stays
when i call samsung they tell me its a provider problem
when i call my provider they say its a phone problem
in europe shouldnt matter realy where you buy your phone since there's free traffic of goods and services. I wonder if the webshop knows they are selling UK phones, ill talk to them about it tomorrow.
thanks again for the reply ill try to get the problem sorted, if that doesnt work at all, i guess ill just root it and fix the problem
kind regards,
thale
Humh, sounds weird.
Use the code *#7465625# (*#SIMLOCK#) to check for the lock status. On some devices this code needs root to launch.
thalekick said:
Thanks for the reply, this forum was my last resort since i didnt understand the problem.
I dont get any error messages at all.
provider A in S5 --> while calling i get the message phone blocked for security reason
provider A in S4 mini --> works perfectly
Provider B in S5 --> works perfectly
so i thought problems lies with faulty simcard, exchanged it but problem stays
when i call samsung they tell me its a provider problem
when i call my provider they say its a phone problem
in europe shouldnt matter realy where you buy your phone since there's free traffic of goods and services. I wonder if the webshop knows they are selling UK phones, ill talk to them about it tomorrow.
thanks again for the reply ill try to get the problem sorted, if that doesnt work at all, i guess ill just root it and fix the problem
kind regards,
thale
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understood you correctly, your SIM card works properly in other phones. So your SIM card shouldn't be the issue. If your S5 is SIM unlocked (carrier unlocked), you could try someone else's SIM card in your S5 to rule out less common problems e.g. bent SIM socket.
And regardless, in your place, I'd open a support ticket with your provider. That should cover anything like a IMEI blacklist. All in all though it does sound like region locking. Which is Samsung blocking a phone from being used in a different region unless it has been first activated (i.e. used for a few calls) in the original region first. I wouldn't think that a region lock between two parts of Europe would be intentional, but it is still something to look into.
Without any explicit error messages, it is difficult to narrow down the cause. You might consider installing a logcat app to capture the system log which may have more information about the error.
Also try dialing *#06* and ensure that you have a valid IMEI (not all zeros)
And dial *#0011#. You should see a (IMEI) certificate "Pass"if at the end. If it says IMEI CERTI: FAIL or NA you may have a flash error or IMEI blacklist.
.
Hello,
phone is an unlocked one, i used 2 different simcards from 2 different providers.
imei certificate passes so thats good!
im gonna make some phonecalls today and keep you all posted
kind regards
thale
Try to use Provider A with another sim card?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Had another talk with the helpdesk from the provider, they told me the phone is blacklisted but couldnt give me a reason why.
Im only blacklisted with provider A, if u use the phone with another simcard from another provider it works like a charm.
Ive had to send them my proof of purchase, and they will unblock the phone...
Havent had any feedback yet from the shop i bought it from, so maybe they can shine a new light on the whole deal!
Try
How about contacting the retailer? I think you'd better not root the phone or fix it by yourself.
I went into my local AT&T store and they gave me a nano-sim card.
my current device is a LG G3 which I plan to return once the Xperia is activated. The G3 uses a micro-sim.
how can I set this up to work properly so there are no IMEI duplicate/blacklisting issues.
TheNamelessMan said:
I went into my local AT&T store and they gave me a nano-sim card.
my current device is a LG G3 which I plan to return once the Xperia is activated. The G3 uses a micro-sim.
how can I set this up to work properly so there are no IMEI duplicate/blacklisting issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread discusses AT&T LTE and IMEIs: AT&T APN Settings for LTE
Tell them the situation, use same imei as g3. Profit.
Crewville96 said:
Tell them the situation, use same imei as g3. Profit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
right thats the easy part. what im afraid of is once i return the G3, the imei from it will be tagged on my acct with AT&T. if that phone gets activated again, whether it's resold or not, the imei will show its on multiple devices and that could cause problems.
any ideas? or is that not how it works...
i don't think it will be a problem. they will know the IMEI of the phone you are currently using the moment you turn it on and connect to a cell tower. so the IMEI on the account will be replaced with your current phone. If they dont' have that phone in their database, it will show up as unknown or whatever the hell their database claims it is.
sillieidiot said:
i don't think it will be a problem. they will know the IMEI of the phone you are currently using the moment you turn it on and connect to a cell tower. so the IMEI on the account will be replaced with your current phone. If they dont' have that phone in their database, it will show up as unknown or whatever the hell their database claims it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do they have dummy IMEI's they can assign as well?
TheNamelessMan said:
do they have dummy IMEI's they can assign as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure, I've read that sometimes they will just pull the IMEI from a display phone in the store.
I gave them the IMEI from an LTE phone that is under contract with AT&T on a separate business account, it wasn't an issue at all.
no they dont have dummies or generics and they cannot override the data provisioning determined by your IMEI. just activate your new sim, make no mention of your new phone. if you sell your device to another att subscriber it should not make any difference.
see my post:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/z3-...ttings-lte-t2888644/post55795437#post55795437
I got two Z3C for both myself and my wife. When I got them activated the sales rep used the exact same IMEI number from an HTC One m8. Same IMEI number two different phones. Neither my wife nor I have had problems.
Easiest way? Talk to the AT&T rep in the store, tell them it is a imported phone and they will need to leave the IMEI number as the current one. Program in the APN settings and done. AT&T does not do any blacklisting or care how many devices have the same IMEI number in their system, it just requires that a valid one for LTE be set for an active device.
Hi guys. At the beginning, I will add that my S7edge is not stolen, as already explained himself. let's move on.
HITRORY:
During the summer I bought bought after work casual galaxy S7. The first owner took him for a subscription with your service provider, and as it turned out no longer pay for it. Although the operator in my country has no right to block the use of the mobile network IMEI without a warrant police (reporting the theft), he began to do and unfortunately my S7e operates in forced tablet mode without modem 3G / 4G + ... Operator and the police do not want me do to help, do not want to return the phone and accept the application because it is not simply stolen. It's a total well because this phone for my country is very expensive (Poorland, hehe ..). The phone is locked to the IMEI, the guarantee even though it is of little value, simply wants to find a way to even come a little acted, then I collect on any other phone and this will serve me as a small tablet, oh well.
Question:
It is possible to hide any IMEI front of the transmitter operator my address IMEI and show him different? Yes, I am desperate as anything.
Sorry for my bad english, I used translate. The level of my English is not a good (poor country, poor teaching in schools) as I mentioned...
re: IMEI
ml13 said:
Hi guys. At the beginning, I will add that my S7edge is not stolen, as already explained himself. let's move on.
HITRORY:
During the summer I bought bought after work casual galaxy S7. The first owner took him for a subscription with your service provider, and as it turned out no longer pay for it. Although the operator in my country has no right to block the use of the mobile network IMEI without a warrant police (reporting the theft), he began to do and unfortunately my S7e operates in forced tablet mode without modem 3G / 4G + ... Operator and the police do not want me do to help, do not want to return the phone and accept the application because it is not simply stolen. It's a total well because this phone for my country is very expensive (Poorland, hehe ..). The phone is locked to the IMEI, the guarantee even though it is of little value, simply wants to find a way to even come a little acted, then I collect on any other phone and this will serve me as a small tablet, oh well.
Question:
It is possible to hide any IMEI front of the transmitter operator my address IMEI and show him different? Yes, I am desperate as anything.
Sorry for my bad english, I used translate. The level of my English is not a good (poor country, poor teaching in schools) as I mentioned...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The IMEI numbers in cell phones are hard coded, locked
to the specific phone and cannot be hidden or changed.
Good luck, have a great day!
Please no IMEI change talk.
Thread closed.