unlocking

[musomaniac]

hi guys , i have just bought a brand new samsung galaxy s2 , which is locked to t-mobile , i know i may be covering old ground here , but i'm a total novice at this , and what i would like to know is ----

should i take the phone to a shop to get it unlocked , and also would they debrand it at the same time , any ideas of what they would charge ?
Also if i went ahead and unlocked it myself , is there any concise up to date instructions for how to do the unlocking /unbranding .

I am presently on a 2 year contract with virgin , which has 6mth left to go , i was wondering if after i get my phone unlocked , could i transfer my sim from my old phone , and use it in the s2 , and finish my contract off with virgin ?

many thanks in advance ( i hope )

[greenman]

Yes, a well trodden path musomaniac.
Take your phone to a shop to unlock will cost around £15.
Unlock it yourself and you will have to root your phone and then apply an unlock application from the Playstore.
I wrote about it on a giffgaff site:

http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Lea...y/td-p/1377821

Once unlocked, any networks sim will work in your S2, so yes you can put in your Virgin sim.

[RichH]

I suggest that, after rooting and unlocking you flash open (XEU) FW as TMobile protect the EFS file on their FW and you will most likely find the phone will relock after you reboot the phone.

[musomaniac]

thanks so much for the info , i probably think it'll be best to take it to the shop , can the shop debrand it as well ? I've no idea what flashing open (xeu)FW is or how to do it !!!
So if i get it unlocked at the shop will it re-lock to t-mobile again when i boot it up ? Seems a waste of money if that is the case

[RichH]

You would have to ask for it to be debranded as it's not part of the unlock process. I don't know how shops unlock Tmob phones but I assume they have a way around the issue otherwise, as you say, pointless...
There are loads of guides on flashing on here, Google, U Tube and www.sammobile.com.

[Doomed]

Or try your sim in the phone, as virgin use t-mobile

[musomaniac]

hi guys , heres a little update on my samsung galaxy 2 experience so far . I took it down to my local mobile phone shop , and he said it would take approx 15 mins to unlock , so off i went for a stroll around the shopping centre .

When i returned he said he cant do it because of the new firmware it has installed V 4.04 , and he said he would have to take it back to V 2.04 unlock it and then return it to the new version .

Anyway 24 hours later i went back to pick it up and he said that the only way it could be unlocked and stay unlocked was with V2.04 , and he told me not to update the phone otherwise it would re-lock itself back to t-mobile .

So i now have a working phone with my virgin sim card , but on V2.04 instead of V4.04 . Has anyone got any ideas as to why this is the case , and if there is a way to get it back to V4.04 , if there is , could i have instructions how to do it , bearing in mind i've never done sanything like this before .

Whats the difference between the firmware i have on now as opposed to V4.04 ?
Is it worth the hassle to get it to work on the latest version ?

Thanks again guys this is a great forum

[RichH]

May I refer you to my post above #3.
It's down to the protection that Tmob put on the EFS. If phone is now unlocked you should be able to flash open (XEU) 4.04 without any issues.
Search for it on www.sammobile.com

[musomaniac]

May I refer you to my post above #3.
It's down to the protection that Tmob put on the EFS. If phone is now unlocked you should be able to flash open (XEU) 4.04 without any issues.
Search for it on www.sammobile.com

thanks rich , but its all gobble-de-gook to me i'm afraid i don't know what to search for on sammobile , or indeed how to go about it

[Tufftoad]

Sign up to SamMobile.com

From their main page click the firmwares tab, a new page will load then click the firmwares tab that's lower and a little to the left of the first firmwares tab you clicked on.

You will then see some drop down menus, choose the type of phone, then model phone, network and then region/carrier. Submit your answers and a list of available firmwares will be generated.