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Help Unlocking Galaxy S3

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filip989

Newbie
Hey guys! I need a bit of help ASAP! I'm sorry if this is the wrong subforum for this question, so feel free to move it to a proper place, just don't hold it against me ;)

Anyway, my dad has an S3 (Tmobile) gt-i9300, which he recently replaced with Galaxy S7562 cause he needs a dual sim. I would like to take his S3 but I'm on a different service provider, so I'd have to unlock the phone first.
I contacted Tmobile, they are unwilling to sell me the unlock key cause the phone was bought in a package with a prepaid number so I won't be able to get it from them for 9 more months, and I live in a small town, only one mobile phone service shop that could unlock it "ilegaly" but he is the only one so he pumped up his prices and although they're not so big, I simply don't want to give more money for what I think is worth less.

So, can I do it on my own? I read about rooting the phone and using GalaxSim app for unlocking it, but I have some consernes about this... how reliable operation is this? Could I screw up the phone badly if I do something wrong? I unlocked a couple of iPhones before, including the 2G (which was a pain in the *** to be honest), and I was 100% succesful doing that.
I read about those unlocking apps, and some articles said that over time Samsung could, with a new software release, lock the phones again... So overall, should I do it by myself?

If this is a doable operation, could you point me to the best tutorial on how to do it?
A lot of thanks to anyone who helps me out with this!
 
As far as i know, its kinda the same in the US as it is here in the UK in that to unlock the phone, u get a code that u have to enter when u put in a different sim and this unlocks it so theres no way it can possibly damage the phone, its just a code.
in the UK this is legal though where as in the US its still a grey area i think.
Here, we can buy the code from the provider but its usualy cheaper to take it to a shop.
Im guessing the unlock apps are just front end for u to pay someone and they send u an unlock code.
Aparently people sell codes on ebay though. Just be careful because youll have to give them the phones IMEI number for them to give u the right code (in the UK anyway) :thumbup:
 
Rxpert83 said:
Unlocking without carrier permission is currently illegal in the us
Click to expand...

I just watched an XDA vid on youtube before reading this thread funnily enough. Aparently they sent a petition to the white house and they agree that it should be legal to unlock your phone.. but only once its been fully payed for. And even then, it would have to go through lots of processes before thats legalised. Land of the free? :P
 
I'm from Croatia actually, and it's not illegal (that's why I wrote it as "illegaly")
And yeah, the carrier is Tmobile, but they won't sell me the code for unlocking it cause my dad bought the phone with a prepaid sim, and they say that they can sell it after 12 months after purchase... even though my dad bought S7562 from them (both phones combined cost over 2000$ in Croatia, so that's kind of a scumbag move by them)

ExtremeNerd, thanks for your link! One question though, first I dial that combination and THEN I go to main menu and do those steps, right?
Oh, and should I do it with a current carrier sim inside, or the unsupported one, or with no sim card inserted at all?
(my carrier is VIP... a Vodaphone partner for Balcan)
 
Rxpert83 said:
Unlocking without carrier permission is currently illegal in the us
Click to expand...

Not quite true. It is only "illegal" to unlock a phone bought AFTER January 26th (Link). Anything before that, you are grandfathered in.

filip989 said:
I'm from Croatia actually, and it's not illegal (that's why I wrote it as "illegaly")
And yeah, the carrier is Tmobile, but they won't sell me the code for unlocking it cause my dad bought the phone with a prepaid sim, and they say that they can sell it after 12 months after purchase... even though my dad bought S7562 from them (both phones combined cost over 2000$ in Croatia, so that's kind of a scumbag move by them)

ExtremeNerd, thanks for your link! One question though, first I dial that combination and THEN I go to main menu and do those steps, right?
Oh, and should I do it with a current carrier sim inside, or the unsupported one, or with no sim card inserted at all?
(my carrier is VIP... a Vodaphone partner for Balcan)
Click to expand...

Completely follow those instructions. Dialing the code opens up a menu for you.
 
GalaxSim works perfectly, however, I got that app months ago, when it was still free. I heard now it only checks whether your phone can be unlocked, and you have to pay about
 
ExtremeNerd said:
Completely follow those instructions. Please read them. Nowhere does it say go into the main menu if I remember correctly. Dialing the code opens up a menu for you.
Click to expand...

Oh, I didn't even see the original link in your link, sorry! Thank you very much for your help, I'll try it as soon as my buddy can lend me his micro sim (I don't wann a cut my regular sim until the S3 is unlocked). I'll report back if it worked!
 
As the OP stated, he's not from the U.S. so those (idiotic) restrictions do not apply although it's probably against the TOS for the carrier. To the OP, most of the procedures are perfectly safe as long as you follow them closely and understand them thoroughly. Be advised though that you assume all the risk for modifying your phone and sometimes stuff goes wrong. I'd say, though, that 99.44% of the time, if something goes wrong, it's recoverable.
 
funkylogik said:
I just watched an XDA vid on youtube before reading this thread funnily enough. Aparently they sent a petition to the white house and they agree that it should be legal to unlock your phone.. but only once its been fully payed for. And even then, it would have to go through lots of processes before thats legalised. Land of the free? :P
Click to expand...

It was completely legal before this year. They changed it, people raged, and now it's probably going to be amended to allow it again.

However, it is still currently illegal in the Us.

My apologies to the Op, I saw tmobile and assumed it was here, I wasn't aware they reached that far
 
ExtremeNerd said:
Are you on a GSM S3 running a Touchwiz based ROM? This only works for GSM phones.
Click to expand...

It is a phone I got in the UK (GSM). The international version I believe. And i haven't modified it in any way apart from the OTA updates Three have sent to their phones.
 
Mar said:
It is a phone I got in the UK (GSM). The international version I believe. And i haven't modified it in any way apart from the OTA updates Three have sent to their phones.
Click to expand...

Is that phone unlocked by default? I have no clue. This should work, and I've seen nothing in the thread to let me know otherwise.
 
It is locked by default like most carriers in the UK. I already called them to unlock it via their paid method but they are taking their sweet time so I thought I would try another method. But it just says menu does not exist. Really strange
 
Rxpert83 said:
You are correct. I meant the tmobile brand though ;)
Click to expand...

Oh! Well, a bit of off-topic until I test the hidden menu procedure, but an interesting fac maybe, we had T-mobile's daughter companies providing service since 1998 if I'm not mistaken. One of the first countries to get their service I believe.
 
T-mobile is in UK too. Big company.
My s3 was bought as pre-pay Orange but it came unlocked and with no carrier apps. Has yours got t-mo apps on it mate?
 
funkylogik said:
T-mobile is in UK too. Big company.
My s3 was bought as pre-pay Orange but it came unlocked and with no carrier apps. Has yours got t-mo apps on it mate?
Click to expand...

To be perfectly honest, I'm not really sure, cause I haven't had the opportunity to examine it very much... only helped my dad figure some stuff out, but I believe it has... it has T-mobile intro and outro on startup and shut down.
 
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