Unlocking old phone (for life or death purposes!)

[Anon]

Ok, so I have a major major problem here and I'm hoping you will all put your biscuits and tea to one side and concentrate for a moment.

In under 60 days, Electric Picnic will be kicking off, and I will be there, wellies on, in the middle of the mud, outside the Salty Dog @ 6am, crying like a baby who's just been bitten by a Liverpool striker, if I don't get sorted here.

The problem: I use an iPhone 5S, and it will be either power dead or lost in a tent within hours of the festival kicking off.

The solution: I have a couple of very old phones around the house. A Nokia, and a Sony Ericsson. So, I'm planning on popping my 48 sim into one of those (using my nano-to-giant sim adapter thingy) and enjoying lots of lovely battery and not really caring too much if I do end up losing or breaking it...

So the problem that I need help with, is that both phones are locked to some network. I haven't a clue which network that is though. So, I had a look at your handy unlock guide, but when I request an unlock (from whichever lucky provider my phones are locked to), I will be missing some things which you say are mostly required from all operators such as the old operator phone number and the PIN.

So my long winded question is: Is there any hope for me to get either or both of these old gems working again or is this a lost cause?

[dalyer · Accepted solution]

One way to find out which network a phone is locked to is to get a free (?) SIM from each provider and see which one works. Then you can ask that provider if they can unlock it for you. 

Otherwise just bring it to a phone shop and see if they can unlock it and how much it costs.

Check online in case there are any free unlock code sources for any of the phones but beware of scam sites.

Hope this helps.

[Anon]

Thanks for that. I have ordered a Meteor SIM and will see if that works in it. I have a feeling it might be that network. 

Checked online but wasn't able to get far with unlocking it. There is an 'setool' thing, but I can't see how I can unlock the program to get it working on my PC.

[dalyer]

What specific phone makes and models do you have that you want to unlock?

[Anon]

The Sony Ericsson is a W300i. I will try and find out what the Nokia is later.

[dalyer]

Here's one example of somebody managing to get SETool to unlock their W300i - admittedly with a bit of a scare along the way...

http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f473/unlock-sony-ericsson-w300i-1519019/

However I can't personally vouch for this or the SETool (which seems to be available from here: http://files.setool.net/support/SETool2/) so anybody attempting to do this needs to be sure they know what they're doing and exercise caution when downloading stuff from sites.

Anyway - best to check if you can identify the network to which it is locked and then see if the operator can unlock it. If not then taking it to a phone shop for unlocking may be easier and may not cost that much (especially if it costs them nothing - e.g. using SETool! ).

Hope this helps.

[Anon]

Thanks Dayler. Yes, I managed to get it downloaded eventually, but when I run the program it asks for a license key, but I cannot find how to buy a license to use it. I reckon it is out of action...

Whenever I figure out the network, I'll pop into the store and politely ask someone if they can help. After all, this is a life or death situation 😉

[Anon]

Ok, I'm a dumbarse! 

So, it turns out that the Sony Ericsson is already unlocked.

Basically, I tested it by putting in a 3 Sim card, and that didnt work, so I presumed it was locked. 

Well, it turns out that not all older phones support the Three network, so that's why it didn't detect the SIM. 

I popped in my 48 sim and it worked fine (except for internet, but this phone doesnt even support 3G, so I don't think I'll be needing that anyway! ).

Thanks for the help all the same!

[dalyer]

Great.

Enjoy the festival when it comes around.

Hopefully you won't need this but just in case...

http://community.48months.ie/t5/Most-Popular-Questions/Need-to-swap-your-SIM/m-p/15707