Upgrading Radio Rom Illegal ??

[Scotty]

Hallo,

On the dutch forum of Qtek support forum.qtek.nl there is being claimed that upgrading the radio ROM is illegal.

Since I upgraded to Radio Rom 1.04.02 a few problems I had concerning bluetooth and GSM functions are resolved :-)

So I find it strange that solutions to problems are illegal ?

Can anyone comment on this ?

Kind regards,
Scotty

[techDot]

I doubt that there is any case, for it to be considered illegal.
This is especially true since you are reffering to the Qtek (similarly to the i-mate, but possibly different than other versions of the Universal): your device is similar to any other device (or PC for that matter) that you buy - you may change, alter or add to its software, I guess - as long as you don't infringe the software's copyright by distributing it, etc...

On the other hand - a company may rightly claim that a device's warrenty is void if its software was altered or changed. For example that is what most, if not all, of the cell operators claim (which is why I mentioned that the situation with the other versions of the Universal may be somewhat different).

Another point is - what the company doesn't know - can not hurt it.
and even more importantly - what you do with your fully paid-up device is up to you, and as long as the ugrade solved your problems, why care?

[wmeter]

I doubt that there is any case, for it to be considered illegal.
This is especially true since you are reffering to the Qtek (similarly to the i-mate, but possibly different than other versions of the Universal): your device is similar to any other device (or PC for that matter) that you buy - you may change, alter or add to its software, I guess - as long as you don't infringe the software's copyright by distributing it, etc...

On the other hand - a company may rightly claim that a device's warrenty is void if its software was altered or changed. For example that is what most, if not all, of the cell operators claim (which is why I mentioned that the situation with the other versions of the Universal may be somewhat different).

Another point is - what the company doesn't know - can not hurt it.
and even more importantly - what you do with your fully paid-up device is up to you, and as long as the ugrade solved your problems, why care?

Well.... The radio ROM in general 'governs' how the device is acting as a GSM 'client' or 'end-point'. I can imagine quite well that a bug in the radio ROM could cause havoc on a GSM cell if things go wrong, therefor I can very well imagine that at telecoms provider only wants to allow certain tested ROM's for it's device... A GSM phone remains a 2W transmitter, and is in general pre-approved by telecoms due to it being tested and accepted with a specific radio ROM version.

[crusher]

yes, but this should not be an issue with factory ROMs (altering may affect your license to use the network though).

the reason of this spread may be as there are some versions which are more generic (thus quite easily unlocked) than newer ones. this way downgrading is discouraged, not upgrading, in fact.

[oltp]

yes, but this should not be an issue with factory ROMs (altering may affect your license to use the network though).

I even doubt this very seriously. I bought my Magician straight from TMO with a 1.01 radio. After 3 months a regular TMO upgrade came along to radio 1.12. As I got my device on a 2 year contract after this period I can get the unlock code for free & put in any sim I like. So who's gonna stop me from using it on other networks then? And what about roaming use? I even could have bought it in a phone shop, same contract, higher price, but ... no simlock at all. Still everything perfectly legal.

Probably they know what can be done & try to discourage any changes with bold statements. To avoid any issues with your warrenty you can always flash it to a standard provider rom, before sending it back.

Maybe the only thing to worry about is a missing sim-lock, don't know whether they check it or keep track of the fact that you might have paid your provider for an unlock code. Mine for instance somehow just 'disappeared' very strange ;-).

Regards, M