The easiest way to confirm whether an Android Phone is Locked or Unlocked is to take out the existing SIM Card from the phone and insert a SIM Card from another Carrier into the Phone. If you can successfully make a call with another carrier's SIM card in your phone, your phone is unlocked; however, if you can't, the phone is carrier locked and you'll need to talk to your carrier about unlocking it. Before getting a new SIM card, figure out which size of SIM card your phone will use.
- Is My Phone Sim Unlocked Flip Phones
- How To Tell If My Phone Is Sim Unlocked
- Is My Phone Sim Unlocked Sim Card
Jan 16, 2020 If you have the phone on your person - whether it's an iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry or something else - then the easiest thing to do to check whether your phone is unlocked is. Jan 14, 2020 For this test, you need two SIM cards for your phone from two different carriers. First, turn off your phone’s power. Remove your phone’s SIM card with a removal tool or a paperclip. Watch this video for how to tell if an Android phone is unlocked. Dec 05, 2020 SIM card is carrier-specific so if another one is inserted to your phone and shows one of the messages below, it’s not unlocked at all. Your Samsung phone is network locked if it shows these.
2017
- Check your phone if it is SIM network locked.
- Ask your carrier for SIM network unlock.
- If your carrier is unable to provide a SIM network unlock, you can manually unlock your phone through IMEI information, or
- Unlock your phone through unlocking service.
Traveling overseas has been a trend today, and more often than not, generating SIM network unlock PIN codes is still an issue for most travelers. Some spend way higher on it than buying unlocked basic phones, or unfamiliar carrier phones may not be available to service in particular countries. With that said, it is only important to be aware of how to unlock your phone – should you need to do so.
But first, we will start with the basics.
Is Your SIM Network Locked?
In most cases, certain mobile phone makers such as ASUS and Alcatel do not sell their phones as locked. Hence, it is only important to start off with the question: how to determine if your phone’s SIM network is locked?
To be able to identify if your phone is locked, you can check its documentation. It can most likely be stated in the invoice or receipt if your phone is unlocked or locked.
Another way to determine if it is locked is through contacting the carrier or inserting another SIM card, which is the easiest way possible. If you tried a different SIM and it didn’t work, then it can most certainly be locked on the original SIM’s network.
Is My Phone Sim Unlocked Flip Phones
You can also note that most likely, phones bought directly from third-party retailers and manufacturers such as Huawei, Samsung, Motorola, or Amazon are unlocked. On the other hand, carriers such as T-Mobile and AT&T are usually selling SIM-locked phones to their respective networks.
Now, if your phone is SIM locked to a specific network, read on to know how to unlock it.
Ask Your Carrier for SIM Network Unlock
Given that you cannot use your preferred SIM network on your phone, ask your carrier for help.
How To Tell If My Phone Is Sim Unlocked
You can call them, tell them you need to unlock your phone for a network change, and eventually, they will give you a code that will help unlock your phone. This code should be entered once the phone asks you for one when you insert a different SIM card on your device. Your phone should be unlocked after the code is entered or after a reboot (if prompted by the device).
However, in most cases, especially those phones that are under a financial contract or “plan,” carriers will not unlock your phone unless it qualifies on the terms that are specified in their unlocking policy. But don’t worry, there is an alternative route around it.
How to Manually Unlock Your Phone
If you can’t get through a carrier service, then you can do it on your own. You’ll just need to perform a few tricks or use an unlocking service to help you with. Refer to the following information below:
Unlocking Through IMEI Information
For Android phones, you will need to confirm the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number first. This number serves as a unique distinction between phones and appears as an identification code of your phone on any given network.
To confirm your IMEI number:
- Dial *#06# or directly head on to your Settings
- Select About Phone
- Scroll to Status and look for your IMEI information (though in some phones, you can immediately see the IMEI information when you open the About Phone page).
- By handing over the 15-digit IMEI information, your network should be able to provide you with the PIN code needed to unlock your phone.
It should also be noted that the process may vary from across networks and your newly inserted SIM network may require you to input a particular code to enable its use on that specific carrier.
Additionally, carriers may charge you an additional administrative fee for unlocking your SIM network (except for American carriers as per the law).
Unlocking Through Unlocking Service
If the above option doesn’t work for you, then you may proceed with finding a reliable phone unlocking service on the web – which may be difficult.
One way to walk your way through this is to visit forums to get reliable information regarding unlocking services, and at the very least, get some advice from people who have been in the same case as you.
An example of a reputable service that you can go to is Unlock Base’s Unlock My Phone feature, as aside from their expertise on the niche, there is also a variety of phone brands that they unlock – hence, a higher possibility that yours is included.
Beware: Unlocking Phone App Scamming!
In the process of choosing an unlocking service, you may probably encounter apps that may also do so. Beware! As this does not guarantee an unlocked phone, moreover, it may get your phone in trouble. In particular, cracked apps from download sites or Torrent networks may possibly infect your phone with Trojans and other malicious software. Yikes!
Key Takeaway
Unlocking your phone for easier communication is possible if you choose the safe and legal way. You may spend a bit, but that would be for the good of your phone plus, you get to enjoy the convenience an unlocked device can provide you in your most exciting trips overseas.
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Is My Phone Sim Unlocked Sim Card
As we know, we need to buy a SIM card from mobile carrier in order to make phone calls or send text messages. The fact is that each mobile carrier employs different technology for its wireless service. Thus, some of the carries lock the phone to protect the phone from being used with other service providers, which means even you inserted a new SIM card to the phone, it will not work at all. This will be a very bad thing if you travel to another country. So in such a case, unlocking SIM card is an urgent thing for you.
Typically, there are two ways to unlock Android SIM card for now. One is asking the service operator. Well, this is the best way to do that and it is not a joke. However, not all of them are willing to help you on this matter. And they are a lot of requirements listed on their website and you are only qualified to use SIM unlock service once all the conditions are fulfilled. Anther way is using Android SIM Unlock software. The two methods will be demonstrated clearly in the follow parts.
Part 1: How to Unlock Android SIM Card for Free
If your phone is locked, you can get in touch with the operator who locked the phone. This is the first choice we should consider. In order to unlock the SIM card of your Android phone, you must first obtain IMEI number, which is the unique identifier to your phone. You can find this code by typing *#06# on dial pad. Alternatively go to Settings ->About Phone ->Status ->IMEI. Then give this IMEI code to the operator. If they found you eligible to the service, then you will receive a PIN code soon. Then you can use the code to unlock the phone once a new SIM card being inserted.
This method applies to the following but not limited to those mobile service providers: T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Vodafone, EE, Virigin Mobile, O2, Orange, etc...
However, sometimes carrier does not want to give you the unlock code for certain reasons. If you found out your Android phone is locked with a particular operator, and they are not helping you with that. The first thing you should NOT do is go to Google Play and try to unlock the SIM with some apps. These services have a very poor reputation and most likely frauds.
Part 2: Unlock Android SIM Card with Reputable Unlocking Software
You need to look for a reliable service or software that makes this operation in safe place. It is very difficult for you to choose the best because you can't tell which one is good or bad. To make your search easier, we recommend a better solution to unlock Android SIM card: Android SIM Unlocker . It is a legal and safe method to unlock Android SIM card. What is more, SIM unlocking is only a feature of the program, you can find several other useful tools such as data backup and restore. If you have deleted important files unintentionally on the phone, the program will be a great help to recover the lost data. To unlock Android SIM card, please just follow the steps below.
Step 1 Download and Install Android SIM Unlocker
Download Android SIM Unlocker by clicking the above button and install it on your computer. Launch the program and you will find the option 'Android SIM Unlock' in 'More Tools', which is displayed on the left sidebar.
Note: Please don't disconnect your phone from the computer during the whole process.
Step 2 Connect Android to Computer
Turn on USB Debugging mode on the phone and connect the phone to computer with USB cable. The phone will detected automatically by the program, just click 'Next' and follow the instruction on the screen.
Step 3 Enter into Service Mode on Android
You will see on the screen that you need to get the phone into 'Service Mode'. Now, open the dialpad and enter one of the codes: *#0808# or ##3424# or #9090#. One of them should work your phone. After inputting this code, you will automatically enter the 'Service Mode'.
Now on the 'Service Mode', you have to select DM + MODEM + ADB or UART[*] or CDMA MODEM from the menu.
Step 4 Start Unlocking Android SIM Card
When you have selected the options properly, just click on 'Unlock'. Then the SIM card unlocking service will be initiated and it will be done in a few minutes.
Step 5 Restore Android Phone to Normal State
Once the phone was unlocked successfully, click 'Restore Mode' to get back the phone to normal mode. Dial: *#0808# or ##3424# or #9090# on the phone and select MTP + ADB or USB[*] or PDA from the menu. Then just click 'Next' on the program, your Android device will go back to its normal mode. For now, you can insert new SIM card without any limitation.
Part 3: How to Unlock SIM Card for Rooted Android Phone
For new Android devices powered by Android 5.0 and later, you should root the phone first. Then connect the phone to computer and launch Android Data Recovery on the computer. Now click 'Unlock', the phone will be unlocked in a few minutes. The whole unlocking task is done in background and you don't need to type anything on the phone, which is much easier than the above method.
In the end, Unlock Android SIM Card is not a simple task but with Android SIM Unlock, it's not complicate either. However, we request you to carefully consider the pros and cons of this SIM unlock process. And don't give your phone to anyone who claims to help you unlock the phone. According to online community's feedback, there are a lot of scams in this kind. Please be careful.
One more tip: what is to do if your Windows computer locked by hackers? You can easily unlock it with the assistance of Androidphonesoft Windows Password Recovery tool.
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