Database Users

Nub question

Sorry if this is asked constantly, i tried searching and couldn't see any threads about it.
Basically what i'm wanting to know is if it's possible to unlock a phone that's still locked to a specific carrier (eg, optus or telstra if you're in australia). is this what CID unlocking is?
If so, then i guess i can grab a hermes / jasjam from ebay that's selling for less because it's carrier locked, unlock it, and use it with my current sim card?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

You're definately new with a question like that
Basically CID unlocking allows you to flash a ROM from any carrier and use it.
SIM unlocking allows you to use any SIM card with your existing (or any other) ROM.
If all you want to do is use a stock phone with any carrier I suggest you use POF's CID and SIM unlocker http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=Hermes_SimUnlock.
If you want to get better ROMS you'll need to do a whole pile more reading, and before flashing anything else start with Olipro's Hard-SPL 2.10 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=296722 and Mrvanx's Upgrade Guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=299462.
Other useful upgrade info can be found in this sticky http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=295751
mkerr said:
Sorry if this is asked constantly, i tried searching and couldn't see any threads about it.
Basically what i'm wanting to know is if it's possible to unlock a phone that's still locked to a specific carrier (eg, optus or telstra if you're in australia). is this what CID unlocking is?
If so, then i guess i can grab a hermes / jasjam from ebay that's selling for less because it's carrier locked, unlock it, and use it with my current sim card?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

so all i'd need to do, assuming i keep the stock rom, is to sim unlock it?

Yep, if you SIM unlock you can use the phone as supplied but with any carriers SIM card.
Oh yes, welcome to XDA-developers - I think if you read a bit more you will realise the benefits of the cooked ROMs here and later want to upgrade - it's highly addictive
mkerr said:
so all i'd need to do, assuming i keep the stock rom, is to sim unlock it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

One further bit of advice if buying one of these phones from ebay - ask the seller for a picture of the phone when switched on so you can check it has a radio signal - also get him to confirm that it doesn't display NO GSM on the bottom right when it is booting. The NO GSM indicates a brick which may or may not be fixable by the tools we have here.
mkerr said:
Sorry if this is asked constantly, i tried searching and couldn't see any threads about it.
Basically what i'm wanting to know is if it's possible to unlock a phone that's still locked to a specific carrier (eg, optus or telstra if you're in australia). is this what CID unlocking is?
If so, then i guess i can grab a hermes / jasjam from ebay that's selling for less because it's carrier locked, unlock it, and use it with my current sim card?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

cheers for the reply
at the moment i've got an imate k-jam, and have been reading up about cooked roms etc, but didn't realise exactly what the unlocking involved (except that it let you play with the roms).

Are all Polaris CID-locked?

Seeing how Bepe's WM6.1 ROM requires HardSPL, does this mean all Polaris are CID locked?
Are there any issues when upgrading (like IPL/SPL problems on G3 vs G4 Wizards) that I should be aware of?
Thinking about getting a Polaris but just want to see what I'm getting myself into first. I personally have a G3 Wizard so I never really had to worry as much about bricking my phone.
If not all Polaris are CID locked, is there a way to tell if it is on the spot?
Also have some general questions on purchasing in the General Polaris forum here (600 for a LNIB Polaris Too good to be true?)

Polaris is not CID locked, basically.
If you buy a Polaris marked by a carrier (like O2 or Telecom) that should be CID locked, but where's the problem again? We have CID unlocker!

wonderiuy said:
Polaris is not CID locked, basically.
If you buy a Polaris marked by a carrier (like O2 or Telecom) that should be CID locked, but where's the problem again? We have CID unlocker!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true... Polaris is not SIM locked, basically.
But... all devices are CID-locked, until you use hard-SPL of course!

athanaso77 said:
This is not true... Polaris is not SIM locked, basically.
But... all devices are CID-locked, until you use hard-SPL of course!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A few of us fortunate ones were able to get a pre-release Polaris which were not CID locked, but this was very limited quantities shipped to distributors for initial evaluations. The way to tell on the spot, as per your original questin is to invoke bootloader and read the SPL. Mine came with a MFG SPL, not a fixed version. It is highly unlikely that any unit bought from general retail woul be such a device, but that is how you would check it.

Excuse me mates, but he is asking about CID locked, not SIM locked.
CID = Carrier ID that means that if the phone is CID locked it is linked to a Carrier (ie Vodafone, Orange, etc etc) and you can use only that carrier's SIM
I bought my Polaris from Mediamarkt (they have tons of) and is NOT linked to any carrier (i can put whatever SIM form whatever carrier in it) so is CID unlocked.
We r saying the same things mates. I call CID what u call SIM.
Farewell

wonderiuy said:
Excuse me mates, but he is asking about CID locked, not SIM locked.
CID = Carrier ID that means that if the phone is CID locked it is linked to a Carrier (ie Vodafone, Orange, etc etc) and you can use only that carrier's SIM
I bought my Polaris from Mediamarkt (they have tons of) and is NOT linked to any carrier (i can put whatever SIM form whatever carrier in it) so is CID unlocked.
We r saying the same things mates. I call CID what u call SIM.
Farewell
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So basically, what's the difference between CID-Unlocker and Sim-Unlocker, because we have thoses 2 here?

Ther eis no difference, they r the same.
Really do we have a CID and a SIM unlocker?
I bet we have only 1

This is all utter bull****!
CID lock is completely different to a SIM lock. All devices coming from HTC are CID locked to prevent you from loading a non-genuine ROM onto the device. SIM lock has nothing to do with CID lock bud. My orbit 2 is CID but not SIM locked, it's not connected. But there are Polaris out there (no orbits/dopods but Touch Cruises) which are sold branded and SIM locked and of course, CID locked.
SIM is NOT the same as CID. It never was and will never be.
dau_xu said:
So basically, what's the difference between CID-Unlocker and Sim-Unlocker, because we have thoses 2 here?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are devices which dont feature a SIM lock, they work with all SIMs out there on all networks. But they all are CID locked. Those devices can be unlocked to eat custom ROMs using the HardSPL. The HardSPL skips the check the original loader does when you try to load a ROM onto the device.
But there are devices which are supposed to be locked to the carrier you bought it from. Very much like the American iPhone: it's (well, it should be ) tied to AT&T and doesnt eat custom SIM cards. For that case Olipro created the second unlocker available, is a combined solution. Its the HardSPL (letting you flash a custom ROM) with a SIM-unlocker (which will let you use any SIM) strapped on top. Since I have a CID locked only device, I didnt look into the unlocker that deeply, but I don't even know if it features the function to leave the SPL alone and only SIM-unlock your device... But, to be brutally honest, who around xda-dev is interested in that

schaggo said:
This is all utter bull****!
CID lock is completely different to a SIM lock. ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks mate...
I was a minute ahead to post the link to the explanations in the WIKI for wonderjuy (sorry, don't take it personal)

Oh no, my post wasnt meant in any offending way. But I'm quite sorry, its kind of hard to nicely explain it after so many very determined wrong statements of wonderjuy. But yeah, don't take it personal and the correct information can be found in the WIKI.

Seems that I used wrong words - so please:
Accept my apologize if I offended somebody!

wonderiuy said:
Ther eis no difference, they r the same.
Really do we have a CID and a SIM unlocker?
I bet we have only 1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't bet because you will lose. Sorry... but you have messed things up and you are completely wrong!!!

YEs, sry all...there's always room for knowledge

Not a problem at all buddy, thats right. Theres always room for knowledge and thats in fact why we all gathered here at xda-developers.com

Using my Artemis in the USA?

Hey guys, please excuse my noobness, I have read thoroughly but I am still confused!
I have an O2 Orbit (ie Artemis) and I am going to the USA soon.
I've become a bit confused as to what I need to do to my Artemis to get it working with a prepay sim in the states.
I've seen the posts about cid unlocking, but I'm not sure if that's the same as a sim unlock, and I don't want to brick my phone!
I'm not too bothered about cooked roms etc, I have updated to WM6 and I'm reasonably happy with it, I just want to be able to use my phone in the USA.
Would someone be kind enough to take the time to explain what I need to do?
Thanks

I forgot to add, I tried this tutorial to perform a sim unlock:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=400445
but unfortunately the 'artemis sim unlock' download link is broken

I think it should already work in the US. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that only phones bought in the US from a provider are SIM-locked. CID unlocking is only used to help you flash your phone to a different ROM, which, as you already mentioned, you are not interested in doing.

I see, so CID unlocking is nothing to do with what I want, I simply need a SIM unlock, assuming my phone is SIM locked.
SIM locking is normal practice for UK service providers, so I assume it is locked.
Is there any way I can tell if my phone is SIM locked, or do I have to test it by putting a SIM card from a different provider in it?

SIm locked after ROM flashing?

I wonder if my SFR (french vodaphon) Magic will be sim unlocked after a ROM flashing?
Thanks

nope the sim lock resides in a different part of the phone from the OS so flashing won't affect the lock or unlock status of the phone

Thanx Sammy for the answer
I'm very amazed the community don't managed to unlock this!
Only few website manage to unlock sim and make a business with it
Even the WM community is more active... Android is a deception for me in this point of view...

after flashing with the ion multi 5 rom mines is unlocked......just put an orange sim in my vodafone (uk) handset and works.

vodafone UK ones are unlocked by default
actually there are unlock services on here and for most recent winmo phones you have to pay anyways

Pmsl there u go then learn something new every day so used to them locking phones that was unexpexcted

difference b/w cid unlocking and sim unlocking

I am confused between these two terms even after reading the sticky.I know i don't need to perform the ''sim unlock'' process because i have htc touch gsm version.My other question is-Do i need to perform cid unlocking before flashing the rom.I am trying to install windows 6.5 on my touch.Can you guys help me finding the best ROM.

@ isthisreallife
From http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=406721
CID: Carrier Id - commonly used in the form `CID-Unlocking`. If you purchase your phone (example) from Qtek (Qtek is the 'carrier'), your phone will only accept Qtek ROMs (the carrier's ROMs). If you want to flash ROMs from other carrier, you'll need to CID-unlock your phone, so that your phone will accept other ROMs. Note: In general, the phrase 'unlock your phone' usually refers to SIM-unlock, not CID unlock.
SIM: Subscriber Identity Module - commonly used in the form `SIM unlock`. Some phones are locked to the specific telco from which you purchase your phone, eg you can't use a locked O2 phone using a Vodaphone SIM/smart card. To use SIM card from other telco, you need to SIM unlock your phone. Note: In general, the phrase 'unlock your phone' usually refers to SIM-unlock, not CID unlock.
I hope this will clarify the difference between the 2 terms or is it just fantasy ?
Best Rom (for me) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=426540 don't forget to read posts 2 and 3 and the link I gave you in the beginning.