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Questions about unlocking Desire - how does it work?

L

Longfellow78

Member
Hi,
Can someone please explain unlocking to me, because I'm unclear on a few things:

- If you unlock the phone using a code, is it permanent? Or can your phone get "re-locked".

- If you are on one network e.g. orange, and you unlock and put in another sim-card e.g. T-mobile, does your phone become locked to T-mobile? or can you take out the sim and put the orange back in and it will still work on orange?

- If your phone DOES get "re-locked" does the unlock code work again (unlimited times?) or do you need a new one?

- If you unlock your phone, and remove the branding, e.g. flashing a generic rom, will ALL traces of your old network be totally wiped, or is it somehow "hard coded" onto a network at some level, for example, if I unlock my phone and wipe the orange branding, then receive an OTA update from HTC with the new radio (that doesn't work with orange - disables wi-fi) will it work because my phone is unlocked? Or will the unlocked phone still think it is an orange, and screw itself up?
OR
If you unlock and debrand does your phone become identical to an unbranded one e.g. from Carphone Warehouse or similar.

Thanks a lot for answering these questions.
 
Longfellow78 said:
Hi,
Can someone please explain unlocking to me, because I'm unclear on a few things:

- If you unlock the phone using a code, is it permanent? Or can your phone get "re-locked".

- If you are on one network e.g. orange, and you unlock and put in another sim-card e.g. T-mobile, does your phone become locked to T-mobile? or can you take out the sim and put the orange back in and it will still work on orange?

- If your phone DOES get "re-locked" does the unlock code work again (unlimited times?) or do you need a new one?

- If you unlock your phone, and remove the branding, e.g. flashing a generic rom, will ALL traces of your old network be totally wiped, or is it somehow "hard coded" onto a network at some level, for example, if I unlock my phone and wipe the orange branding, then receive an OTA update from HTC with the new radio (that doesn't work with orange - disables wi-fi) will it work because my phone is unlocked? Or will the unlocked phone still think it is an orange, and screw itself up?
OR
If you unlock and debrand does your phone become identical to an unbranded one e.g. from Carphone Warehouse or similar.

Thanks a lot for answering these questions.
Click to expand...

If you unlock your phone it is usually permanent unless you flash a branded rom to it as that can lock it to the new network.

The unlock code can be used again as i think it is coded to your imei number.

Once unbranded your phone is similar to the unbranded ones ie it has the generic htc rom in, unless you opt for one of the numerous custom roms available.

You will still need to use the goldcard to update i think you will find but at least you wont be simlocked afterwards.

hope this has answered your questions.
 
Unlock codes are specific to the battery. So yes it will work unlimited times with the same battery.
 
Mik3h said:
Unlock codes are specific to the battery. So yes it will work unlimited times with the same battery.
Click to expand...

Are you sure about that? If true, you wouldn't be able to hot-swap batteries without having potential locking issues.

AFAIK, unlock codes are related to a phone's IMEI number. The way it works is that your IMEI and unlock code are run through a crafty algorithm that tells the phone to unlock. Valid codes are obviously quite hard to fake, by design.

I guess the people who provide codes for sale on the internet have either reverse-engineered the unlocking algorithm, or have obtained the details of the algorithm from an insider.
 
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