Database Users

Is the IMEI change only locally relevant on the XDA??

Hi all
I was wondering if anyone knew the answer to the above question.
to explain a bit better:
If i change the IMEI on my XDA it will obviously show up on the phone. What i want to know is will the network see the new of old IMEI. Ie whis is sent out by the phone.
Also:
From that i have found out the new service which blocks off stolen phones work that runs in the UK work by the IMEI code of the phone.
How do i make sure i don't change my IMEI to a number that is registered as stolen and in turn block my phone off.
Also again:
If at a later stage my phone does get blocked will changing it back to the original IMEI unblock it?
After all this i'm wondering if i should bother changing the IMEI. Although it would be nice to have my DOB there.

Oops I think I posted this in the rwong place!!
To Adminstrators:
Sorry
If it is in the wrong place could you move it?

The IMEI is stored in two places: one is displayed, the other is used to send to the network. The Manipulator changes both locations. The chance you'll change your IMEI to one of a stolen phone is small, very small. (It's six digits if you exclude the manufacturer part, so the chance is definitely bigger than getting hit by a meteorite, but still)
We included the IMEI change bit because:
a) We could
b) Privacy concerns: we'd like to live in a world where people can have multiple identities that are hard to connect, even if their opponents happen to run the country / telco.

WOW!!
Thanks for the great answer. As soon as it is possible to change my imei and unblock my phone i'll be doing it. (I have version 4.20 so it don't work yet).
Does anyone know of a web site where it list all the imei that are recognised as stolen or a number i can call in the UK to find out. The local police are useless and don't know anything.
A number to report a stolen phone would be useful as well cos my little sis got her knicked.

IMEI Question for MDA Compact

Hello Everyone
I was just wondering if it was possible to work with the IMEI number for an MDA Compact ?

Work with it in what way? You can add up all the numbers in the IMEI number, and if it adds up to more than 50 you will have good luck for the rest of the week. Lucky colour: green.

elyl said:
Work with it in what way? You can add up all the numbers in the IMEI number, and if it adds up to more than 50 you will have good luck for the rest of the week. Lucky colour: green.
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Click to collapse
HAHA! I was laughing for ages when I read that! :lol:

Change IMEI
Someone has sold me an MDA Compact, but apprently this has been blocked, so i was wondering if the IMEI number can be changed.

blocked from what? the network? that means its a stolen phone.

just install new image and it will be fine
ftp://ftp.clubimate.com/ u will find image for JAM

A new image will change IMEI? I dont think so.

install new image to unlock the phone , not to change the IMEI .

if the phone is blocked (and not locked) then flashing a new image will change nothing.
The best is to go to the seller.

can you explain more what is the block ? Thanks

If it's been blocked from the network, then tough luck - you've bought a stolen phone - or you have stolen a phone - either way, you'll not get any help on this forum to change the IMEI.
If you did indeed buy the phone, speak with the seller, or contact the police. If you stole the phone, enjoy your new PDA but forget about the phone.

Well, to be utterly fair, it is possible that he is on a different network, in which case the phone was locked to a specific carrier, not blocked. Phones can be unlocked for a different carrier.
Did you mean blocked or locked?

Well the fact that he said the phone was blocked, and wanted to know how to change the IMEI suggested to me that it had been stolen, and he knew exactly what he was talking about.

how we can check if the phone stolen or not , and in this case is it safe to buy from ebay .. ?
regards

There's not really any way to check - just make sure the seller has good feedback, and get full contact details, and buy via PayPal or a credit card - if it turns out to be stolen, contact PayPal, your credit card company, or ultimately the police.

not necessarily "stolen".
Sometimes it has been reported broken and insurance is claimed (which would be stealing from insurance company).
Or phone with contract (simlocked & sponsored by phonecompany) and refusing to pay the contract (which is stealing from the phone provider).
In both cases the Phone could get IMEI-blocked.
You can always ask the provider if it is blocked. tell them you can buy a phone, but want to know beforehand. Sometimes they will tell you.

changing IMEI
about changing IMEI.
There could be onother reason for doing that: i've been looking for a way to do it just to make shure ==the phone company could not identify me if i change the sim card e.g. buy another number and use the same device==

Will they really care?

question SPVM3100

Is it possible that my SPV imei is blocked by network an i cant phone anywhere? because i bought my phone in secon hand shop. if yes how i can change my imei. thank you for a help

der_Tiger said:
Is it possible that my SPV imei is blocked by network an i cant phone anywhere? because i bought my phone in secon hand shop. if yes how i can change my imei. thank you for a help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know you have been trying to get your Hermes working (from your other posts) - bottom line is, yes it may be blocked.
Demand your money back as it's not working. If the phone is blocked then tell them it will be a matter for the police to resolve unless you get your cash. (Legally speaking of course if you suspect it's stolen you should report the matter to the police - some poor sod is missing a Hermes and may not have been insured)
In nearly all cases it's illegal to change the IMEI. As you rightly assume if it's blocked it's stolen.
Mike

Technically you cannot do anything except inform police.
Returning it to the place it was purchased would mean you commit an offence of handling stolen goods if you suspect it to be stolen (which a blocked IMEI might imply).

Thx folks better i will go give them back this phone. thx for help.

hd2 lost and then found afte replaced by insurrance.

I have a dumb question.
If i lost my hd2 and i have insurr on the phone, I get a new one after paying the deductible. If i ever found the lost hd2 or somebody else found it what happens ?
is it rendered useless by tmobile or the guy that found it can still use it when he pops in his sim ?
thanks,

rancidm said:
I have a dumb question.
If i lost my hd2 and i have insurr on the phone, I get a new one after paying the deductible. If i ever found the lost hd2 or somebody else found it what happens ?
is it rendered useless by tmobile or the guy that found it can still use it when he pops in his sim ?
thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats very subtle.

In the UK, I was told by my retailer that a lost phone can be blocked from accessing the network and that this was done as soon as a phone became an insurance write-off. I don't know what constitutes 'the network' in this case.

rancidm said:
I have a dumb question.
If i lost my hd2 and i have insurr on the phone, I get a new one after paying the deductible. If i ever found the lost hd2 or somebody else found it what happens ?
is it rendered useless by tmobile or the guy that found it can still use it when he pops in his sim ?
thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the UK, the re-found phone now belongs to the insurance company.

Every network knows the IMEI numbers that are accessing their network. They will block any IMEI's that are reported lost or stolen and add it to the black list.

In the UK our phnes would be blacklisted as soon as reported lost or stolen by the networ operator, if you havent recieved your replacement there isa tiny chance th network may un-blacklist your phone but a ver small chance, and for using it in a different country erm im not telling you,............... lol

there is a site that for ~£2 can verify a phone by IMEI if is stolen.
there are some free sites also that can verify if the IMEI is blacklisted.
i think black list is international and it will not work any ware on this planet if blacklisted.

cedesmith said:
there is a site that for ~£2 can verify a phone by IMEI if is stolen.
there are some free sites also that can verify if the IMEI is blacklisted.
i think black list is international and it will not work any ware on this planet if blacklisted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network in that country. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "ban" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless in that country, whether or not the phone's SIM is changed. However, the phone can be used abroad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity

Demon_man said:
The IMEI number is used by the GSM network to identify valid devices and therefore can be used to stop a stolen phone from accessing the network in that country. For example, if a mobile phone is stolen, the owner can call his or her network provider and instruct them to "ban" the phone using its IMEI number. This renders the phone useless in that country, whether or not the phone's SIM is changed. However, the phone can be used abroad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Mobile_Equipment_Identity
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Click to collapse
In other words, you can not claim the insurance without make a report to the police, then, that phone is blocked by the network(useless after that) and if all goes right you get a new one.
Just a question, does the insurance pay if you lost it? Or is just if is stolen?
A mobile insurance has many "If..."

xokos said:
In other words, you can not claim the insurance without make a report to the police, then, that phone is blocked by the network(useless after that) and if all goes right you get a new one.
Just a question, does the insurance pay if you lost it? Or is just if is stolen?
A mobile insurance has many "If..."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess it would depend on what you are covered for, im covered with Virgin for anything, so even if i throw it at a wall drop down the toilet im covered i will get areplacement, my friend is only covered if its stolen so depends who you cover is with and what thre T&C's are.

cedesmith said:
i think black list is international and it will not work any ware on this planet if blacklisted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMEI blacklists are only vaild in the country the phone was barred from. So it goes without saying you could take it to another countrys cellular network and use it with a different SIM.
Demon_man said:
if you havent recieved your replacement there isa tiny chance th network may un-blacklist your phone but a ver small chance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's impossible to unblock a blocked IMEI number, once it's been blocked it's usless in that country.

Kalavere said:
IMEI blacklists are only vaild in the country the phone was barred from. So it goes without saying you could take it to another countrys cellular network and use it with a different SIM.
It's impossible to unblock a blocked IMEI number, once it's been blocked it's usless in that country.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not true i have had a vodafone phone that they blacklisted by somestupid reason i still had the contract and had upgraded and i got it un-blacklisted

[Q] Need help: strange block on phone

Hello,
I recently bought a S5 in the netherlands (i live and use the phone in belgium). Started it up, everything works fine. I make one phonecall as required for the regionlock, works fine.
Then something strange happens, after the one phonecall required, i cant accept or make phonecalls anymore.
I get a message "your phone has been locked due to security reasons"
Now the weird thing is, if i use a simcard from another carrier, the phone just works fine, no locking whatsoever...
Called Samsung support, told the story, they tell me phone is region locked and i need to get a code, but the phone never asks me for a code nor can i put one in anywhere.
So i called my provider, they tell me the phone is blacklisted probably but they cant check that...
After some research i found out the phone is actualy from UK with an international firmware on it: G900FXXU1ANG2 (countrycode BTU)
Anyone have an idea how to get rid of this problem?
I dont want to root the phone just yet in case i have to exchange it for another one.
Would it help to get the countryspecific stock firmware installed for my country? (Belgium)
thanks a lot for the help
thale

You'd get better help if you gave us more details, notably verbatim error messages, rather than paraphrasing.
Your provider can certainly tell you if your phone is blacklisted since an IMEI blacklist is under their direct control. So ask them again to clarify that. Region locking is much more likely though. Samsung region locks phones to prevent grey market sales, which is exactly what you've tried to do. The region lock is released after you use the phone a short while with a provider in the original region, which sounds like the UK in your case. Region locking is also a type of blacklist, although that term is almost always used to refer to carrier IMEI blacklisting unless otherwise specified.
As you didn't make any preliminary calls in the UK, nor apparently did the previous owner (or vendor), the phone is now restricted. You could travel to the UK and use your phone there for a day to dissipate the region lock. Or a lot of people claim that a regular SIM unlock code, such as you can buy on Ebay or any number of other places will also remove the region lock (unconfirmed). Or you can root your phone and circumvent the region lock by editing the blocked regions in your customer.xml file.
There are lots of existing threads on this subject, as you would know if had you done a search. Refer to those for further elaboration or you can search my post history as I've posted in detail how to remove the region lock in previous posts.
.

Thanks for the reply, this forum was my last resort since i didnt understand the problem.
I dont get any error messages at all.
provider A in S5 --> while calling i get the message phone blocked for security reason
provider A in S4 mini --> works perfectly
Provider B in S5 --> works perfectly
so i thought problems lies with faulty simcard, exchanged it but problem stays
when i call samsung they tell me its a provider problem
when i call my provider they say its a phone problem
in europe shouldnt matter realy where you buy your phone since there's free traffic of goods and services. I wonder if the webshop knows they are selling UK phones, ill talk to them about it tomorrow.
thanks again for the reply ill try to get the problem sorted, if that doesnt work at all, i guess ill just root it and fix the problem
kind regards,
thale

Humh, sounds weird.
Use the code *#7465625# (*#SIMLOCK#) to check for the lock status. On some devices this code needs root to launch.

thalekick said:
Thanks for the reply, this forum was my last resort since i didnt understand the problem.
I dont get any error messages at all.
provider A in S5 --> while calling i get the message phone blocked for security reason
provider A in S4 mini --> works perfectly
Provider B in S5 --> works perfectly
so i thought problems lies with faulty simcard, exchanged it but problem stays
when i call samsung they tell me its a provider problem
when i call my provider they say its a phone problem
in europe shouldnt matter realy where you buy your phone since there's free traffic of goods and services. I wonder if the webshop knows they are selling UK phones, ill talk to them about it tomorrow.
thanks again for the reply ill try to get the problem sorted, if that doesnt work at all, i guess ill just root it and fix the problem
kind regards,
thale
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understood you correctly, your SIM card works properly in other phones. So your SIM card shouldn't be the issue. If your S5 is SIM unlocked (carrier unlocked), you could try someone else's SIM card in your S5 to rule out less common problems e.g. bent SIM socket.
And regardless, in your place, I'd open a support ticket with your provider. That should cover anything like a IMEI blacklist. All in all though it does sound like region locking. Which is Samsung blocking a phone from being used in a different region unless it has been first activated (i.e. used for a few calls) in the original region first. I wouldn't think that a region lock between two parts of Europe would be intentional, but it is still something to look into.
Without any explicit error messages, it is difficult to narrow down the cause. You might consider installing a logcat app to capture the system log which may have more information about the error.
Also try dialing *#06* and ensure that you have a valid IMEI (not all zeros)
And dial *#0011#. You should see a (IMEI) certificate "Pass"if at the end. If it says IMEI CERTI: FAIL or NA you may have a flash error or IMEI blacklist.
.

Hello,
phone is an unlocked one, i used 2 different simcards from 2 different providers.
imei certificate passes so thats good!
im gonna make some phonecalls today and keep you all posted
kind regards
thale

Try to use Provider A with another sim card?
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

Had another talk with the helpdesk from the provider, they told me the phone is blacklisted but couldnt give me a reason why.
Im only blacklisted with provider A, if u use the phone with another simcard from another provider it works like a charm.
Ive had to send them my proof of purchase, and they will unblock the phone...
Havent had any feedback yet from the shop i bought it from, so maybe they can shine a new light on the whole deal!

Try
How about contacting the retailer? I think you'd better not root the phone or fix it by yourself.