[on-asterisk] Just how do online shops send you unlock code for a cell phone?

[Bruce N]

Hi everyone,

There are so many of these shops online that offer to send unlock codes for
cell phones locked to a provider and most of them actually work. However,
it's disappointing to see how Google is flooded with such offers and yet no
true knowledge of how the unlock codes work. Even on Android systems one
has to purchase an unlock code or approach the carrier for help. I wish
GPL(x) or whatever open-source license they use had a clause to force the
hardware manufacturer to avoid locking the hardware just like the software
remains open.

At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist :-) I am wondering if
anyone knows really how this "mafia" network works. Is there a list of
codes that these guys are handed by the manufacturer or the carrier? Are
the algorithms truly cracked?

Finally, are there any programs you know of that does the unlocking for
some phones....popular ones? I know there are some programs older Nokia but
the phone I am trying to unlock is a Bell Motorola XT860 (Android).

Thanks,
Bruce

[Duane]

On 22/12/11 15:20, Bruce N wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> There are so many of these shops online that offer to send unlock codes for
> cell phones locked to a provider and most of them actually work. However,
> it's disappointing to see how Google is flooded with such offers and yet no
> true knowledge of how the unlock codes work. Even on Android systems one
> has to purchase an unlock code or approach the carrier for help. I wish
> GPL(x) or whatever open-source license they use had a clause to force the
> hardware manufacturer to avoid locking the hardware just like the software
> remains open.
>
> At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist :-) I am wondering if
> anyone knows really how this "mafia" network works. Is there a list of
> codes that these guys are handed by the manufacturer or the carrier? Are
> the algorithms truly cracked?
>

The short answer is carriers often, but not always, subsidise phones.

The unlock code is usually based on the IMEI, and if you know enough
unlock codes you can probably work out the unlock code for any phone.

With 3G/4G the bigger problem is going to be frequencies.

http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/12/17/2238229/spectrum-fragmentation-means-pricier-mobile-networking

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[i...@darwinsys.com]

Unlocking the GSM modem is completely out of the hands of the operating system on the phone, so the GPL (which applies to the Linux kernel underneath Android) cannot impact it. It does force phone vendors to release device drivers for screens, touch sensors and the like, and the major ones all do so.

-- Ian