Database Users

Changing the IMEI

Hi, I have been very happily using my XDA with a '3' SIM after unlocking it but as of this weekend, it stopped working. It will work with other network SIMs so I know the phone is fine. I called '3' but obviously they are not interested. Is it because of the IMEI? If so, I would like to find out how I can change it ... My radio was 4.21 so I downgraded to 3.23.00 and then tried XDA Manipulator but it does not show that option (flashes and dissappears) . I cannot seem to find Radio Stacks V4.06 or 4.10 anywhere ... any help much appreciated.
Details
<Wallaby 5.14, ROM = 3.17.03. Radio = 3.23.00>

How did you downgrade the radio stack, please give me the method used because I know many people will be interested, I have never managed it either.
Reference your usage of the sim from 3, I cannot see it being an imei problem, as you know the xda is not 3 compatable so it will be logging you on through a 3rd party network as far as I know. If the imei was blocked it would not work with any operator here in uk. Does the 3 sim work in another phone.?

I found GERMAN Radio Stack from this forum. (REF:http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=2185). The '3' network also uses O2 network. Have not tried '3' sim in another phone - will test tomorrow.[/b]

cruisin-thru said:
How did you downgrade the radio stack, please give me the method used because I know many people will be interested, I have never managed it either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have downgraded a few times, but i dont know if this method will work 4 u.
if i currently have a TMO stack, ill go to a ATT stack, then i can bak to an earlier TMO, or visa versa
i only tried this with ATTs and TMOs, never had the need to try other stacks...(or should i :twisted: )

It is possible that the phone has been blocked, I have had this problem with 2 phones that I bought as faulty, I repaired them only to find that the sellers had claimed on insurance then sold the knackered phone which had been blocked by the provider.

JUICEe - I am not brave enuff to go down that route given the dire warnings from this forum in moving from UK/Europe stacks to US ones.
crusing-thru - Given that XDA works perfectly ok with 02 SIM, and '3' SIM works fine in 3' phone, I believe its something about the '3' SIM/Network and not the phone that is preventing me using it in my XDA at this time.
Tx for the interest, hope you were able to downgrade using the German stack. It works fine with O2 SIM.

It is strange though that the sim was working fine then doesnt work in xda but still works in another phone. Have you tried an orange or t mobile sim in the phone? If you are positive that 3 uses O2 as a patch network then ignore this. Have you been to bootloader and inadvertently changed gsm to 900 only, if 3 uses an 1800 network this would explain it, if you havent been to bootloader then I have no idea and if as you said the people at 3 are not interested I would consider dumping them as a service provider.

"Hutchison 3G has agreed to share network facilities owned by UK operator mmO2 to ensure rapid time to market even before its own network is complete, with customers roaming between Hutchison's limited 3G network and mmO2's existing second generation network. Hutchison's right to let customers roam with at least one existing competitor's 2G network is part of the 3G license and enforceable by law."

3 have locked the SIM, must be in one of their phones or will not work, even though it uses O2 as a voice network. Seen this problem many times, and there is nothing you can do about it. Anyone who has made it work is just lucky, and 3 will get to you in the end.
Don't ask me why they do it as to me they are restricting their own business, cos if you use your own handset, you are likely to use it more. Just ask my girlfriend who just hates her nec 606 and hardly uses it!!

Hi,
Basically what happened was that O2 complained to '3'. People were getting the cheap tarriffs from '3' and using them in 2g handsets.
O2's opinion was those people 'should' be using O2 as their provider if they are just using the 2g voice part.
'3' realised that if this becomes wide spread, although they will still make a % off the voice call in profit (after paying O2 for using their 2g network), they wont be acustoming people to using any of the 3g functions.
Really they would be hindering the progression of users from 2g to 3g, which may end up costing them alot more ultimately.
In my opinion it was most likely O2 threatening to take action too.
Really their marketing stratedgy is to give out cheap voice calls, to get the 3 phone in your hand... then they bombard u with offers to try video calls etc etc eventually 'in theory' u get used to these services.. same old story.
I havnt monitored the message, but from what i can tell they are using one of two things to stop the phones working:
1) capability messages from the phone restricting the phone from completing authentification because it isnt '3g' capable. That could be done as part of the auth process, raising the required capability to 3g.
2) Using the SAT (sim application toolkit) capability to talk to the USIM and dissable it.
Although SAT and USIM are not actually compatible, you can talk to a USIM through a SAT phone with limited functions.
If they're using (1) your **** outta luck really. But if that were the case you would expect everyone to be knocked out within the space of a month max (when they update the hlr records). Did you just get your 3 card?
If its 2.. you may be able to try an OLD handset that isnt SAT capable, just to prove the point.
I'm leaning towards (2) because i do know that on many nokia's if u type a number as soon as you boot up the phone it will work.
Also if u leave a digit on the screen.. say 0 as soon as u end that call it will still work when u dial the next number.
Clear the digit and not type one quick enough and you gotta reboot before it'll work again.
Sounds like the nokia firmware blocks access to the sim for other processes, in anticipation of reading the KC and doing an auth when u make the call.
Toxic.

SSSOOO depressed !!! My Exec phone doesnt work anymore :(

Guys,
I am SSOO depressed.
I moved to Turkey for a few months and the the same SIM that I previously used which is local turkish displays NO SERVICE. Even the Orange sim that I have used with my exec in my country AND in this country in my last trip isn't working anymore. I also have my old PDA2K with me here that is working perfectly with all SIMs. It's just that my Exec doesn't work anymore, so it's 100% gotta be an hardware problem.
when I click to search for networks I get the 3 turkish networks. however when i select my sim network or any other for that matter, nothing works. it just gets NO SIGNAL.
I tried to hard reset the device in hope that some program may have causd the problem but that didn't work as well. Even bare setup leaves the phone with no signal.
I may be wrong here, but I think my theory makes sense. I think that the internal Antenna is disconnected or isn't functionning, hence why it succeed to read the very mute GSM providers list but is unable to transmit a signal strong enough to communicate with them.
My O2 exec was bought by a guy who sold it to me from the UK. O2 will never service this machine since i didn't purchase it from them as well as I already flashed my rom and running JJ rom ever since I own the machine which is back 5 months ago.
Needless to say if you peole are like me you will understand my feeling. I feel like an inpotent without the phone and do not like to purchase a cellular phone and go backwards in technology.
If someone can enlighten me on how I may try to fix the machine myself or otherwise someone can fix it for me that would be so great.
In hope for help,
Tommy

Man that sucks, I feel your situation. I would be upset w/o my Universal as well. Here's a link to the service manual:
ftp://xda:[email protected]/Universal/UNniversalL_Service_Manual_CONFIDENTIAL.pdf
Maybe you could try disassembling it to check the attennas for contact? To get to the attennas doesn't seem that hard.

Re: SSSOOO depressed !!! My Exec phone doesnt work anymore :
Did you register the IMEI with your Telco?
Read this topic:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?p=318527#318527
Richard

Re: SSSOOO depressed !!! My Exec phone doesnt work anymore :
mobiler said:
Guys,
I am SSOO depressed.
I moved to Turkey for a few months and the the same SIM that I previously used which is local turkish displays NO SERVICE. Even the Orange sim that I have used with my exec in my country AND in this country in my last trip isn't working anymore. I also have my old PDA2K with me here that is working perfectly with all SIMs. It's just that my Exec doesn't work anymore, so it's 100% gotta be an hardware problem.
when I click to search for networks I get the 3 turkish networks. however when i select my sim network or any other for that matter, nothing works. it just gets NO SIGNAL.
I tried to hard reset the device in hope that some program may have causd the problem but that didn't work as well. Even bare setup leaves the phone with no signal.
I may be wrong here, but I think my theory makes sense. I think that the internal Antenna is disconnected or isn't functionning, hence why it succeed to read the very mute GSM providers list but is unable to transmit a signal strong enough to communicate with them.
My O2 exec was bought by a guy who sold it to me from the UK. O2 will never service this machine since i didn't purchase it from them as well as I already flashed my rom and running JJ rom ever since I own the machine which is back 5 months ago.
Needless to say if you peole are like me you will understand my feeling. I feel like an inpotent without the phone and do not like to purchase a cellular phone and go backwards in technology.
If someone can enlighten me on how I may try to fix the machine myself or otherwise someone can fix it for me that would be so great.
In hope for help,
Tommy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your antenna should not be the problem as you can see the list of operatots on your Exec.
To be shure it is the hardware problem try to do this:
1. Remove SIM card
2. Try to make an emergency call (not sure how :? )
If you succeed in doing the emergency call - this appears to be a network barring problem that mentioned above in this thread.

thank you all for replying to my post !!! this is appreciated.
it seems the mistery was solved, when i talked with a turkish friend before reading your replies. Well the mistry wasn't solved, but i know what it is.
STRANGE country. The Turkish Telecom blocks some machines (IMEI) that you bring from overseas !!!
It's like a gestapo. Truely amazing unbelievable thing.
You see, the Turkish government instructs to block all IMEI that were not purchased in Turkey and use a Turkish sim card. The result is that if you bring you own mobile phone from anywhere in the world into Turkey and try to insert a Turkish sim card into it, the turkish goverment will block your machine! you can't even use your origin country SIM anymore after they do that!!
They Lock the IMEI so that you cannot use it with any cellular provider! Why? Because they assume you're Turkish and brought a phone without paying taxes in turkey. Would you ****in believe it?
I also carry a PDA2K and this one still works with a Turkish SIM, but I guess it may be blocked as well soon. People I talked with told me they have heard of this rule but have never seen anyone get hurt from it by getting his phone blocked.
So if you're a turist and thinks about using a Turkish prepaid SIM or any kind of SIM, think twice. within days, weeks or months, your phone will be useless here. My Turkish SIM card worked fine last visit a month ago, but it doesn't anymore.
Now if I would ask how I could change the IMEI that would be considered illegal because many want to do so because they are thieves, but legitimate people who got their phone blocked by a obscene Turkish laws has nothing they could do about it, even if they aren't Turkisj.
My friends talked with the Turkcell for 30 minutes and there was nothing they could do, they said it's a state issue and that only within a week time it will be in their hands so i would be able to go to their service center and show my passport. What a country!

Can Dopod U1000 make calls in Japan?

I know Dopod 900 and other 3G phones can be used in Japan as long as you have a 3G enabled SIM card from your home telco. How about the new U1000? If I buy one in Singapore can I use it during my trips to Japan? This is a major purchase decision point so please help if you can. Thanks!

I can confirm it works. And you need to use a handfree to make call. I used 3HK and CSL SIM card in Japan and works just fine.

jameshuang said:
I can confirm it works. And you need to use a handfree to make call. I used 3HK and CSL SIM card in Japan and works just fine.
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Click to collapse
Could you make a GPRS / internet connection with the Dopod U1000 in Japan?

Yes. It works just fine. No problems.

k_kirk said:
Yes. It works just fine. No problems.
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Click to collapse
That's good news. Could you please tell me how you set up the GPRS connection?
Edit: oops , I see, you are not using a Japanese service, like Softbank, or NTT. I am still trying to find out whether it's possible to use an unlocked Athena with a Softbank SIM card. I know the it would work as phone, but how to set up the GPRS connection would be the problem.

chainbolt said:
That's good news. Could you please tell me how you set up the GPRS connection?
Edit: oops , I see, you are not using a Japanese service, like Softbank, or NTT. I am still trying to find out whether it's possible to use an unlocked Athena with a Softbank SIM card. I know the it would work as phone, but how to set up the GPRS connection would be the problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. I use Singtel and use roaming when I'm in Japan. My SIM has the 3G service activated. I hope you can find a telco offering service in Japan. Good luck.

Using Dopod 900 3G PPC in Japan
Hi! Can anyone tell me how to get the Dopod 900 I bought in Malaysia to work here in Japan? Sales clerks are telling me it's not possible. Dopod's site doesn't offer any help. Thanks a lot. I plan to be here for a month or more so it will really help to find out what's true and possible.

Yes I can confirm it works too.

Professorredbag said:
Hi! Can anyone tell me how to get the Dopod 900 I bought in Malaysia to work here in Japan? Sales clerks are telling me it's not possible. Dopod's site doesn't offer any help. Thanks a lot. I plan to be here for a month or more so it will really help to find out what's true and possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does. As far as I understand if it supports 3G then it should technically work in japan. Too bad I no longer have my Dopod 900 with me to test it out.

Dopod 900 Woes in Japan
Thanks for your replies. The problem is I want a Japanese sim card and number not the roaming services from Malaysia as I have temporarily moved. This what sales clerks are telling me is not possible. They say I must have a Japanese made handphone. !!?? I know they are protectionist here but surely there is a way around the obstacles.. Any specific suggestions? really appreciate your help!

What I know
I am really interested in this too, as I plan on getting an Athena soon. However, I know that you don't need a "Japanese made handphone". They don't like people using different phones on their network, but they can't really stop you.
Well, they probably can technically stop you, but it is highly unlikely that they will. The reason the sales clerk is telling you it is impossible is probably because there are almost NO unlocked phones in Japan. 99.99% of all phones sold here are branded and locked to a specific carrier.
I am a Hermes user and bought my Hermes through Softbank, a carrier here in Japan. I have since reflashed it hundreds of times and have never had a problem with connecting to the network. I also know others on this board who are Kaiser users who have imported their Kaisers from other countries and are using them on Softbank's system with no problems. There was also a big interest in the mobile device geek community of Japan in the Treo 700w when it first appeared, and I have seen blogs of Japanese guys who have got that running on Softbank's system. So it IS definately possible to run non-Softbank phones on Softbank's network provided you have a valid Softbank SIM.
Some caveats:
I have never seen any carrier here just selling SIMs. You will more than likely have to purchase a phone to get a SIM card.
Voice and SMS (text) should work automatically just by popping in the SIM. Data and MMS are more difficult.
Data
There are two ways of connecting to Softbank's data servers, and each is charged differently. One method uses a public access server, but the charges for using this are quite high. This is the server used for people connecting laptops using cellular modems. The other method allow access under Softbank's tiered and capped system, which is the much cheaper and safer option. The connection settings to access this system are very closely guarded and no one to my knowledge has been able to hack them.
However, there is a workaround. See here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=298031
The problem with this workaround is that it requires a program called WIFIwake.exe. And it just so happens that WIFIwake.exe is coded specifically for different machines. On the link above, there is a version for the Universal and a version for the Hermes (the U and H in the .zip file names). Valued member Chaimd hex-edited a file to make it work for Kaiser: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=328362&highlight=softbank&page=3. And he seemed to think it was a pretty easy job. If asked nicely, he might be able to hex-edit one for Athena too - or not. I don't know.
MMS
MMS is also more difficult to set up. Basically, it requires a program called MMSLite which can be quirky. The only way to know for sure whether it will work with Athena is to try and see I think. And it does NOT work on WM6.1 systems, so you will have to decide between MMS + WM6 or NoMMS + WM6.1. This is the big reason I am thinking of buying the 7501 rather than the 7510.

After some research...
... on some Japanese sites, it seems that a CID unlocked Athena can use the WIFIwake.exe file meant for the Universal.
Also, MMSLite seems to be working as well. So it seems that on the Softbank network at least the Athena can do it all.

Dopod Woes in Japan
Dear Larsuck,
I appreciate your investing so much time and thought to help me. I'm not even remotely savy enough to understand the complexities of your advice but I do gather that buying a Japanese phone is inevitable. Any suggestions for the cheapest? as I'll just use it for local calls and carry my laptop with me when I need other connectivity.

Professorredbag said:
Any suggestions for the cheapest? as I'll just use it for local calls and carry my laptop with me when I need other connectivity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh? So you have decided not to the the Athena? There are tons of really cool phones over here that can do many, many different things - but none of them compare to WM in that they aren't as customizable. Go to the Softbank website (English: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/en/ ) and check them out.
However, if you want to get the Athena, here are two choices:
1) Get the Athena, come to Japan, get a cheap phone (cheap in the relative sense) here, take the SIM card out of it and put it in the Athena. Do some research on this site and get the Athena up and running. Keep the cheap phone just in case the Athena dies.
2) Get the Athena, come to Japan, get an expensive but slightly subsidized phone, unlock it and sell it on ebay. Use the sim card in your Athena and hope it doesn't die.

Taking my Universal to Japan...

...or at least I hope that this is possible. I really don't want to take the old advice which says "buy a Japanese cellphone and stop worrying" as the MDA is hard to replace and after "teaching" it how to read and write Japanese there's nothing I'd really miss just keeping it. Against the myth you can get standard SIM cards in Japan, too and the only critical point would be the wireless standard used in Japan. The Phone tab say that it supports WCDMA, but I read before that this is not true for every Japanese provider. Softbank (Vodafone) is said to be compatible to the European UMTS standard. Can anybody here validate this? It would safe me a lot of money getting a decent Japanese cellphone as my "brick" still has a year or two of life in it

Yes the Universal works in Japan. At least in most places... it seems to lose the signal in the middle of a subway tunnel but gets it back quickly at the station ;P

I think our 'bricks' will be around a lot longer than that as they don't seem to be giving us a direct replacement :¬D

That's great news, but which provider do you use eksekki? Softbank? Or maybe it doesn't really matter after all? And we're not talking about the Japanese Universal here, right? And about the direct replacement: Is the 'Omni' really vaporware? I always had my hopes up for that one...

SB/Vodafone + Universal works. As for any other operator, if you can get a SIM card that fits into Universal I really don't see any reason why it wouldn't work(*). Hardware wise, I use (UK) Xda Exec brand but all the HTC Universal models are the same and there is no "Japanese universal" right (just ROM maybe)? No problems with different (English) ROM versions including WM6 - hence the "universal" =) There's just no replacement for this brick!
* edit: as long as they have a 2100 MHz WCDMA network :|

Any etra work needed?
I'm just calling back this thread from the ghosts to ask whether any extra steps are needed to use my Universal in Japan. I've seen a patch for the Hermes to use the Softbank AP, but I wonder: Shouldn't the Universal work straight out of the box if I pop in the Softbank card? Is it just because the AP password is hardcoded into the Japanese ROM? Speaking of which: What is the latest native Japanese (Softbank) WM5 ROM? The search didn't reveal anything. What kind of services will I miss if I just leave a Japanese enabled English WM5 ROM on the device? Would be great if someone could enlighten me a bit.

About using the 3G in Canada for Fido

Hi guys i have looked through alot of threads and i couldn't find the info. Basically i bought a HTC HD2 from Hong Kong back into Jan. Recently i have apply a data plan which i really want to use but i've tried every setting from either my service provider(fido) or from the people online but i still can't get it to work. I called HTC a couple times and i've told taht there's no way around since they said the GPRS bandwidth doesnt match the on in North america. Does anyone knows if it's true? And is there another way to take around? my 1 last question would be does changing the ROM, firmware, radio would help? Thank you so much for every input from you guys!

kwan_s said:
Hi guys i have looked through alot of threads and i couldn't find the info. Basically i bought a HTC HD2 from Hong Kong back into Jan. Recently i have apply a data plan which i really want to use but i've tried every setting from either my service provider(fido) or from the people online but i still can't get it to work. I called HTC a couple times and i've told taht there's no way around since they said the GPRS bandwidth doesnt match the on in North america. Does anyone knows if it's true? And is there another way to take around? my 1 last question would be does changing the ROM, firmware, radio would help? Thank you so much for every input from you guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I understand, it is true. The Touch HD2 you bought physically cannot use the 3g band in any network in Canada. I dont' think this is a software limitation, but a hardware limitation so there is nothing a ROM upgrade can do.