Guide - Unlock XT862 for T-mobile/ATT

JonJt · Jan 27, 2012

I'm attempting to follow this guide to root/unlock my D3 for use on ATT. Unfortunately, the first unlock code I tried did not work. I'm going to try a second tomorrow. If that doesn't work, I'm going to sell the phone.

My question to you guys is this:
Is there a finite number of times that I can attempt to network unlock a D3 before I damage/disable/brick the phone? I'd rather just sell the phone now instead of bricking it. Anyone?

g35mt · Jan 27, 2012

JonJt said:
I'm attempting to follow this guide to root/unlock my D3 for use on ATT. Unfortunately, the first unlock code I tried did not work. I'm going to try a second tomorrow. If that doesn't work, I'm going to sell the phone.

My question to you guys is this:
Is there a finite number of times that I can attempt to network unlock a D3 before I damage/disable/brick the phone? I'd rather just sell the phone now instead of bricking it. Anyone?

i bought an unlock code from ebay. tried for total of 4 times and it didn't work. The seller on ebay told me that 30 percent of the droid 3 can't be unlock and can only be unlock by getting the code from verizon.

then finally got one from verizon, mistype the first time and second times work fine. So i was able to enter 6 times. Time difference between ebay code vs verizon, i said about 4 hours.

BenSWoodruff · Jan 27, 2012

Just beg someone with a Verizon account to a) let you activate your phone *temporarily* on their account, b) have their unlock code used on your phone, which is only possible every ten months or so per account, and c) reactivate their own phone after you get unlocked. You may need to pay them or do some other favor in return, but it's worth it.

This is pretty much the only fail-proof way of getting unlocked. The phone would be great to use on AT&T as it gets 3G. I'm fine just using it on T-Mobile which only gets Edge lol, but it's worth it to kick Verizon in the teeth! And that way you don't have to sell this awesome phone to buy some other AT&T garbage.

On another note, how come the best phones are always on carriers other than the one you're on? LOL

rustyxj6 · Jan 27, 2012

I just got my second Droid 3 to try it on T-Mobile using this guide. Should have read it through I thought it would be easier. The first one I unlocked and sent it overseas.
Also have old Droid 2 that I use with Page Plus and bought a HTC sensation to use on T-mobile. Got the Sensation unlocked thanks to xda.
I got the first Droid 3 unlocked with swiftunlock from ebay. Worked like a charm. Hoping to get lucky again with my New D3.
I'm really trying to take advantage of the new T-mobile offer of unlimited internet for $30 a month but finding a phone that I like is a pain.
Also their signal at my job is bad.
How are the T-mobile edge speeds? I'm coming from page plus and don't watch that many videos or download stuff. However I do some Skype. Page Plus is Ok for this. I seem to get 3G speeds on my Droid 2.

sic4672 · Jan 27, 2012

So any answer on switching between VZW CDMA and GSM with the chineese radio.img?

JonJt · Jan 27, 2012

So, I tried another unlock code but, the phone said the unlock was unsuccessful. But, unlike last time, the phone went straight to the homescreen and did not request another unlock code. Is there anyway to verify the unlock? If it is of any importance, I can tell the phone to operate in Global or GSM/UMTS mode exclusively and tell it only to select a GSM network.

Edit, restarting the phone with the SIM card in place did not cause the phone to prompt me to input a network unlock code.....

BenSWoodruff · Jan 27, 2012

rustyxj6 said:
I just got my second Droid 3 to try it on T-Mobile using this guide. Should have read it through I thought it would be easier. The first one I unlocked and sent it overseas.
Also have old Droid 2 that I use with Page Plus and bought a HTC sensation to use on T-mobile. Got the Sensation unlocked thanks to xda.
I got the first Droid 3 unlocked with swiftunlock from ebay. Worked like a charm. Hoping to get lucky again with my New D3.
I'm really trying to take advantage of the new T-mobile offer of unlimited internet for $30 a month but finding a phone that I like is a pain.
Also their signal at my job is bad.
How are the T-mobile edge speeds? I'm coming from page plus and don't watch that many videos or download stuff. However I do some Skype. Page Plus is Ok for this. I seem to get 3G speeds on my Droid 2.

I use Edge quite often and even for Pandora, since I have unlimited data at $10 a month

sometimes it takes a minute or two between songs, but wifi is a huge help for getting data quickly. I'd think you might want to save most skyping for wifi lol. Sometimes, I'll start out at my house on wifi, then Pandora will get me through several songs before having to load again.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

BenSWoodruff · Jan 27, 2012

sic4672 said:
So any answer on switching between VZW CDMA and GSM with the chineese radio.img?

I don't have a Verizon line to test this on, so I can't really test this.

JonJt said:
So, I tried another unlock code but, the phone said the unlock was unsuccessful. But, unlike last time, the phone went straight to the homescreen and did not request another unlock code. Is there anyway to verify the unlock? If it is of any importance, I can tell the phone to operate in Global or GSM/UMTS mode exclusively and tell it only to select a GSM network.

Edit, restarting the phone with the SIM card in place did not cause the phone to prompt me to input a network unlock code.....

Congrats, seems it worked for you. To verify unlock, just complete the steps of the guide and see if you can make calls on gsm lol.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

JonJt · Jan 28, 2012

BenSWoodruff said:
I don't have a Verizon line to test this on, so I can't really test this.

Congrats, seems it worked for you. To verify unlock, just complete the steps of the guide and see if you can make calls on gsm lol.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

Yep, everything worked. I get 3G speeds on my phone, through ATT, calls are clear and messages go through fine.

Now I just have to bootstrap the thing.....

BenSWoodruff · Jan 28, 2012

JonJt said:
Yep, everything worked. I get 3G speeds on my phone, through ATT, calls are clear and messages go through fine.

Now I just have to bootstrap the thing.....

Let me know if you try Safestrap and get a nand backup. I installed Safestrap after doing this mod and couldn't get a backup or get any ROMs to work on the safe system partition.

Might've had to do with the build.prop saying it was a different phone lol.

I've just decided to stay on the stock ROM until I get on Verizon again...whenever T-Mobile goes under lol.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

RWALEY · Jan 28, 2012

So far so good with this method.

Very rarely do I see the Chinese am/pm symbols. Not an issue at all.

I have been running it on Eclipse and 2G/3G ATT is working fine.

Just wondering what are the specifics in that build.prop to make it work.
Perhaps people can merge it into the build.prop files of their desired ROM?

RWALEY · Jan 28, 2012

Also, if anyone is interested:

I experimented with adding some features from the Bell Canada XT860 build.prop
The signal strength and speed improved after this modification.

Speed Test app went from around 1000~2000 to almost 5000 for me.

However, there is no CDMA support at all.
Pretty much a hybridization of the XT883 and XT860 build.prop

File is attached.

EDIT: New file attached. Think I got rid of the Chinese letters on the am/pm.
Using Verizon XT862 regional settings so now this is a combination of XT860, 862, & 883 build.props

Rebooted about 25 times, no sign of the Chinese letters so far.

fl4r3 · Jan 29, 2012

Thanks RWALEY, will try this edited build.prop out (couldn't be bothered going through the whole thing myself lol).

JonJt · Jan 29, 2012

BenSWoodruff said:
Let me know if you try Safestrap and get a nand backup. I installed Safestrap after doing this mod and couldn't get a backup or get any ROMs to work on the safe system partition.

Might've had to do with the build.prop saying it was a different phone lol.

I've just decided to stay on the stock ROM until I get on Verizon again...whenever T-Mobile goes under lol.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

Yeah, this is a major concern for me. I was about to try installing the Maverick rom, until I noticed that it includes some build.prop edits. I don't know enough about the phone to modify the Maverick ROM build.prop file to match what's needed for the xt862 to work on ATT so, I might just remove the bloatware, install an anti-logging app and keep using the stock ROM until I move to a new phone.

JonJt · Jan 30, 2012

Has anyone tried doing OTA updates for a D3 unlocked for use on ATT? Does it edit the build.prop file?

BenSWoodruff · Jan 30, 2012

JonJt said:
Has anyone tried doing OTA updates for a D3 unlocked for use on ATT? Does it edit the build.prop file?

I would flash back to stock, do the update then reapply this tweak. This seems to me the best method also for flashing ROMs. Any unique attributes of the updated/custom build.prop from your new ROM or OS update should be compared to the tweaked build.prop, so that conflicts don't show up. I haven't tried any of this, so feedback is appreciated!

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

BenSWoodruff · Jan 30, 2012

As for the modified build.prop above, I am testing it now to see what kind of performance it gets me. It was missing my custom edits, so I added some of them. So far, no Chinese am/pm signs lol.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

JonJt · Jan 30, 2012

BenSWoodruff said:
I would flash back to stock, do the update then reapply this tweak. This seems to me the best method also for flashing ROMs. Any unique attributes of the updated/custom build.prop from your new ROM or OS update should be compared to the tweaked build.prop, so that conflicts don't show up. I haven't tried any of this, so feedback is appreciated!

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

I'd have to unroot, correct? But, even then, the unroot wouldn't change all the files back to stock. So, are you saying that I'd have to find a stock XT862 ROM, flash it over, update with verizon software and then retweek?

If that is the case, wouldn't it be better to just intall a custom ROM, and then try to combine the changes in the build.prop file from this thread with whatever build.prop file is provided in the custom ROM, just as you are doing now?

BenSWoodruff · Jan 30, 2012

JonJt said:
I'd have to unroot, correct? But, even then, the unroot wouldn't change all the files back to stock. So, are you saying that I'd have to find a stock XT862 ROM, flash it over, update with verizon software and then retweek?

If that is the case, wouldn't it be better to just intall a custom ROM, and then try to combine the changes in the build.prop file from this thread with whatever build.prop file is provided in the custom ROM, just as you are doing now?

I don't know exactly what happens when you update. Just to be safe I'd put it back to stock using the fast/easy unbrick method found in the general forum (moto fastboot), since it's so damn easy. Then I'd update and go through this guide's steps again.

For flashing a new ROM you don't necessarily have to go back to stock. I think some may not require wiping /system, in which case you may run into errors. If /system is wiped (which is where the build.prop is), then you don't need to worry about anything because the new ROM will place its files in /system including its build.prop. Then, yes, you'd need to go through the steps in this guide again and be careful to only add the necessary changes which are required because replacing the custom ROM's build.prop may cause errors. Might also be a good idea to check with a ROM's dev to see what build.prop tweaks they are including. Or you can just compare the two files yourself and save them some time.

Tl;dr
Go back to stock to update to OTA. Wipe /system if you just wanna flash a ROM. Then repeat steps of this guide to regain gsm functionality. I'm no expert, but this is what I think will help.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

JonJt · Jan 30, 2012

BenSWoodruff said:
I don't know exactly what happens when you update. Just to be safe I'd put it back to stock using the fast/easy unbrick method found in the general forum (moto fastboot), since it's so damn easy. Then I'd update and go through this guide's steps again.

For flashing a new ROM you don't necessarily have to go back to stock. I think some may not require wiping /system, in which case you may run into errors. If /system is wiped (which is where the build.prop is), then you don't need to worry about anything because the new ROM will place its files in /system including its build.prop. Then, yes, you'd need to go through the steps in this guide again and be careful to only add the necessary changes which are required because replacing the custom ROM's build.prop may cause errors. Might also be a good idea to check with a ROM's dev to see what build.prop tweaks they are including. Or you can just compare the two files yourself and save them some time.

Tl;dr
Go back to stock to update to OTA. Wipe /system if you just wanna flash a ROM. Then repeat steps of this guide to regain gsm functionality. I'm no expert, but this is what I think will help.

Sent while mobile using Tapatalk.

I'm thinking I'm going to go with the custom ROM route and just compare the files in a good text editor. One lazy afternoon, when I have the time.....

Guide - Unlock XT862 for T-mobile/ATT

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