Unlocking phones

[minimoose]

So I am looking into used phones, and something I was wondering was if it would be possible to unlock a sprint phone for gsm/t-mobile use. The sprint phones are cheaper. In case it matters I was looking at the HTC One M7 and the iPhobe 5C

[Shd0w2]

Iphobe 5c lol....

 

Why not HTC one M8?

[c3p0]

I can't see a diffrence between a sprint phone and a normal one. Well most mobileshops do this service for like 20 bucks to unlock the provider. Thing you should take care of is the gsm baseband. Like 3G support. 4G will not work in your area then if your desperate provider uses 3G only.

[minimoose]

Iphobe 5c lol....

 

Why not HTC one M8?

Haha, maybe a Froidian slip . Not the M8 because the M7 is way cheaper, and TBH looks better IMHO

[minimoose]

I can't see a diffrence between a sprint phone and a normal one. Well most mobileshops do this service for like 20 bucks to unlock the provider. Thing you should take care of is the gsm baseband. Like 3G support. 4G will not work in your area then if your desperate provider uses 3G only.

Didn't follow that at all.

[c3p0]

Didn't follow that at all.

 

This means you can't call someone with a 4G phone in an 3G only country. So check what you useing right now like GSM 1900mhz 3G (common EU) and if the phone you want to get supports this. Because 4G isn't downwards compatible to 3G and viseversa.

[dalekphalm]

This means you can't call someone with a 4G phone in an 3G only country. So check what you useing right now like GSM 1900mhz 3G (common EU) and if the phone you want to get supports this. Because 4G isn't downwards compatible to 3G and viseversa.

What he's trying to say is that you'll need to check to see what Network Carrier Frequencies the sprint phone uses, and see if T-Mobile also supports those frequencies.

 

Examples of North American 3G freqs are 850/1900 MHz

 

Common LTE freqs in Canada is 700/1700/2600 MHz. Just make sure the numbers match.

[TopWargamer]

Sprint uses CDMA.

T-Mobile uses GSM.

These technologies are incompatible with one another, as in, you cannot use a CDMA phone on a GSM network and vice versa.

BUT, some CDMA phones DO have GSM frequencies. Look at the specs for the specific model (Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T) phone that you're buying and see what frequencies you're getting. As an example, I'm using a Verizon (CDMA) LG G2 on T-Mobile (GSM). This is because the Verizon version of the G2 has the GSM frequencies, even though it is a CDMA phone.

Now, when buying carrier specific phones, those phones are just about always locked to that carrier, even if it may be compatible with another carrier. Do what you'll have to do is unlock it.

There's a few different ways to unlock your phone:

1) Call your carrier and request them to unlock the phone for you.

2) There are websites that you can go on to find the specific unlock code for your phone.

3) You can root your phone and put a custom ROM on it, which in turn unlocks the phone.

(I did #3.)

[dalekphalm]

Sprint uses CDMA.

T-Mobile uses GSM.

These technologies are incompatible with one another, as in, you cannot use a CDMA phone on a GSM network and vice versa.

BUT, some CDMA phones DO have GSM frequencies. Look at the specs for the specific model (Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T) phone that you're buying and see what frequencies you're getting. As an example, I'm using a Verizon (CDMA) LG G2 on T-Mobile (GSM). This is because the Verizon version of the G2 has the GSM frequencies, even though it is a CDMA phone.

Now, when buying carrier specific phones, those phones are just about always locked to that carrier, even if it may be compatible with another carrier. Do what you'll have to do is unlock it.

There's a few different ways to unlock your phone:

1) Call your carrier and request them to unlock the phone for you.

2) There are websites that you can go on to find the specific unlock code for your phone.

3) You can root your phone and put a custom ROM on it, which in turn unlocks the phone.

(I did #3.)

That's true for 2G technologies (GSM and CDMA), however with 3G (UMTS/HSPA/HSPA+) they may in fact use the same frequencies, and they will be using the same technology. Some people often incorrectly call UMTS/HSPA "GSM", because it uses SIM cards (Like serious, I've even seen this in Mobile Phone websites... they should fucking know better). UMTS, or HSPA in particular is actually the evolution of CMDA (W-CDMA).