[Q] ATT Galaxy S3 SIM Unlock Method

remydlc · Aug 10, 2012

hey guys,

Straight up, no BS. I, unknowingly, bought an stolen phone... it worked the first day, until they blocked the IMEI next day... so whatever, lesson learned. AT&T got me by the balls next time with $550 since i am going to buy it straight from them. I prefer do that than getting tricked again.

My question is, if I unlock the phone, via one of those unlocking website, can I use the phone on one of those small GSM networks (Simple Mobile)? They piggyback of TMOBILE. But I read somewhere that once AT&T blocks an IMEI, it get blocks with TMO and the others GSM?

TIA.

elatllat · Aug 10, 2012

remydlc said:
...blablabla...

No you can't I use the phone with a blocked IMEI on a piggyback provider.
You should not change the IME; you will get arrested.
You should return the phone to the original owner.
You should get the guy who sold you the phone arrested.

remydlc · Aug 10, 2012

elatllat said:
No you can't I use the phone with a blocked IMEI on a piggyback provider.
You should not change the IME; you will get arrested.
You should return the phone to the original owner.
You should get the guy who sold you the phone arrested.

easier said than done:

No you can't I use the phone with a blocked IMEI on a piggyback provider: all i needed to know, thanks.

You should not change the IME; you will get arrested: im not planning or planned on doing this

You should return the phone to the original owner: I called AT&T because my SIM got blocked, explained and they didnt care about following through. They dont want to initiate an investigation, they are not losing a customer. They are not gonna give me the customer info.

You should get the guy who sold you the phone arrested Can you tell me how? Cops dont give a **** if you bought somethign stolen, hell i can get arrested for buying stuff from thieves... no thank you.

edit:

mrtraveler · Aug 11, 2012

pwned101 said:
UPDATE: I just did live chat with AT&T support and told them I'm travelling to Europe for a month and need to get the phone unlocked to use a local SIM there. GOt the unlock code in 5 minutes max . Tired the code with an international sim and it worked.

So guys with AT&T S3(or other models too) , I can tell you one thing for sure, dont bother wasting your money on cell unlocking websites. Rather call up(or do a live chat) and they'll give u code in less than 10 mins.

Same here except my phone was never connected to the AT&T network (shipped straight to me overseas) so I had to Fax

yes FAX them a copy of my receipt. After that a email came in, well not sure how long it took as I went to bed and checked when I got up which the unlock code was there. Put in the code and happy happy joy joy SGS3. :good:

woody1 · Aug 12, 2012

pwned101 said:
UPDATE: I just did live chat with AT&T support and told them I'm travelling to Europe for a month and need to get the phone unlocked to use a local SIM there. GOt the unlock code in 5 minutes max . Tired the code with an international sim and it worked.

So guys with AT&T S3(or other models too) , I can tell you one thing for sure, dont bother wasting your money on cell unlocking websites. Rather call up(or do a live chat) and they'll give u code in less than 10 mins.

FYI, here's my experience:

1. Bought the phone at an AT&T company retail store 3 weeks ago. I asked the manager what the policy was on unlocking the phone. He said that they would not unlock it until the contract expires.

2. Tried AT&T online chat today. I connected to online chat for "Technical Support". Was told that they were unable to unlock and that I should place a telephone call to get it done.

3. Immediately tried online chat using the "International Support' connection. This time, the online chat rep asked me for some identifying info, asked for the IMEI, and then gave me the unlock code in about 1 minute.

Lessons learned: Some AT&T personnel are clueless. If you don't get what you want, keep asking until you find somebody who knows what they're doing.

pwned101 · Aug 12, 2012

How to get the unlock code!!

Just like woody1 said in the post earlier, you guys need to do a live chat with ATT International support. If you try the other chat options, they'l most probably tell you that they cant give u the code unless ur 2yr contract expires (or until ur eligible to the next upgrade).
All you need to tell them is that you need to get ur phone unlocked thats it. Here's my chat with the ATT rep. Quick n easy..no money spent!! :highfive:

gabotowers · Aug 15, 2012

Question???

i am from mexico, and i buy a S3 on ebay for AT & T, you think I could do the chat with an executive of AT & T International to give me the unlock code or would be better to pay for, because I not have a line in the United States.???

XblackdemonX · Aug 15, 2012

harryrasul said:
Hello Folks,

I just received my ATT Galaxy S III and was wondering if there is an unlocking tool to unlock the device as I will be travelling overseas and wanted to use my S III without having to pay crazy roaming charges. Since I just got the phone ATT will not unlock it until some time has passed. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

The thread title is soooo misleading.

I thought YOU had the method to unlock it :crying:

dLo GSR · Aug 16, 2012

XblackdemonX said:
The thread title is soooo misleading.

I thought YOU had the method to unlock it :crying:

to be fair, it is in Q&A, which implies it is a question in search of an answer

Ngambek2003 · Aug 22, 2012

pwned101 said:
Just like woody1 said in the post earlier, you guys need to do a live chat with ATT International support. If you try the other chat options, they'l most probably tell you that they cant give u the code unless ur 2yr contract expires (or until ur eligible to the next upgrade).
All you need to tell them is that you need to get ur phone unlocked thats it. Here's my chat with the ATT rep. Quick n easy..no money spent!! :highfive:

International support live chat didn't work for me. The agent gave me a number I need to call.

I immediately tried a live chat with Tech Support. The agent asked for my IMEI and gave me the code a few minutes later. Cheers!

robroth · Aug 22, 2012

ATT gave me the unlock code before I left the US, arrived in europe, bought a SIM card from Ortel at the airport, put it in, was prompted for the unlock code, entered it and it failed and told me I had two more attempts.

I contacted ATT via online chat and they gave me the same unlock code, said I must have made a mistake. It failed again, I was told I had one attempt left.

So, I've been trying to find a way to unlock my rooted SGS3 (stock rom). Learned that there is no NV_DATA.BIN. Is there another alternative besides unlock code? I don't want to try to enter another one and permanently lock my phone.

woody1 · Aug 23, 2012

robroth said:
ATT gave me the unlock code before I left the US, arrived in europe, bought a SIM card from Ortel at the airport, put it in, was prompted for the unlock code, entered it and it failed and told me I had two more attempts.

I contacted ATT via online chat and they gave me the same unlock code, said I must have made a mistake. It failed again, I was told I had one attempt left.

So, I've been trying to find a way to unlock my rooted SGS3 (stock rom). Learned that there is no NV_DATA.BIN. Is there another alternative besides unlock code? I don't want to try to enter another one and permanently lock my phone.

That's pretty weird. Some thoughts:

1. Sometimes, I've gotten foreign SIM cards where the SIM card had its own lock code. I think what you're seeing is the lock code for the SIM, not the phone. If that's the case, you need to look at the material that came with the card and locate the code. According to this site:

http://www.ortelmobile.nl/en-GB/faq/getting-started/

The initial PIN code is 0000. Also, if you put it in incorrectly 3 times, You'll need the PUK code, which should be with the material that came with the card. If all else fails, to to the retail store for Ortel and get help or a new card.

2. As I said, my guess is that the code you got from AT&T probably successfully unlocked the phone and your problem is with the SIM card, not the carrier lock. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think that the AT&T code would be entered first, then the SIM pin code. If it's the other way around, then maybe you need to successfully unlock the SIM card before you can put in the carrier unlock code. Maybe somebody can enlighten us on this.

If it happens that you have already successfully input the carrier lock, then no worries, that's done for good.

If it should be the case that it actually is the AT&T carrier lock which is the problem then it's possible that you gave AT&T an incorrect IMEI and that caused them to generate a bad carrier unlock code, but I doubt that's the case. I really think the problem is with the Ortel PIN code. I don't think that putting in the carrier unlock code incorrectly will block your phone (but somebody else may know otherwise).

3. If you do manage to get the card unlocked, you will probably want to change the phone settings so that the phone doesn't ask for a SIM pin every time you boot the phone (it's annoying). Go to 'Settings>Security>Set up SIM card lock' and uncheck the "Lock SIM card" box. Then it won't require the code anymore.

Good luck!

GuestK003 · Aug 23, 2012

I bought my phone out right cash from Bestbuy. The next day got on AT&T chat and just asked for the unlock code and they gave it up. I talked to customer service and I'm pretty sure it was based in the US. No big deal. I've got a few SIMs from other carriers now, but that's not a big deal considering I'll use them to unlock my wife's iPhone 4 before I sell it. You can pick up another carrier's SIM off Ebay for like $1-$2.

Just a couple things to remember: You can only use dialer codes to get to the unlock screen while on the stock ROM. Otherwise you have to use a different carrier's SIM to activate the unlock screen. AOSP ROMs don't keep the libraries that contain the carrier dialer codes.

robroth · Aug 23, 2012

THANK YOU WOODY!!!!! This was exactly the problem! Once I entered 0000 *THEN* I was prompted to enter the carrier unlock code. The instructions that came with this thing were not in English and I had no idea I had to enter a code. 3 days late, but I now have a phone. It's been a rough life living off of WiFi and Skype to call home and I was totally roughing it not being able to 'check in' to places

. I guess I owe AT&T an apology, I gave them a lot of grief via chat again yesterday. Sorry AT&T!!

woody1 said:
That's pretty weird. Some thoughts:

1. Sometimes, I've gotten foreign SIM cards where the SIM card had its own lock code. I think what you're seeing is the lock code for the SIM, not the phone. If that's the case, you need to look at the material that came with the card and locate the code. According to this site:

http://www.ortelmobile.nl/en-GB/faq/getting-started/

The initial PIN code is 0000. Also, if you put it in incorrectly 3 times, You'll need the PUK code, which should be with the material that came with the card. If all else fails, to to the retail store for Ortel and get help or a new card.

2. As I said, my guess is that the code you got from AT&T probably successfully unlocked the phone and your problem is with the SIM card, not the carrier lock. I'm not absolutely sure, but I think that the AT&T code would be entered first, then the SIM pin code. If it's the other way around, then maybe you need to successfully unlock the SIM card before you can put in the carrier unlock code. Maybe somebody can enlighten us on this.

If it happens that you have already successfully input the carrier lock, then no worries, that's done for good.

If it should be the case that it actually is the AT&T carrier lock which is the problem then it's possible that you gave AT&T an incorrect IMEI and that caused them to generate a bad carrier unlock code, but I doubt that's the case. I really think the problem is with the Ortel PIN code. I don't think that putting in the carrier unlock code incorrectly will block your phone (but somebody else may know otherwise).

3. If you do manage to get the card unlocked, you will probably want to change the phone settings so that the phone doesn't ask for a SIM pin every time you boot the phone (it's annoying). Go to 'Settings>Security>Set up SIM card lock' and uncheck the "Lock SIM card" box. Then it won't require the code anymore.

Good luck!

dLo GSR · Aug 24, 2012

X10D3 said:
Just a couple things to remember: You can only use dialer codes to get to the unlock screen while on the stock ROM. Otherwise you have to use a different carrier's SIM to activate the unlock screen. AOSP ROMs don't keep the libraries that contain the carrier dialer codes.

dialer code doesn't work on the US variants at all, stock rom or not.

js2021 · Sep 8, 2012

I used UnlockClient.com it is a software that basically changes the unlock code to 00000000, its all done throught the software it seems but requires you to input the email you used to pay via paypal. so basically its connected to a online database making sure you paid up before it changes the unlock code to 00000000 on your phone.

elatllat · Sep 12, 2012

js2021 said:
I used UnlockClient.com it is a software that basically changes the unlock code to 00000000, its all done throught the software it seems but requires you to input the email you used to pay via paypal. so basically its connected to a online database making sure you paid up before it changes the unlock code to 00000000 on your phone.

So that supports the idea that the unlock information is stored with the IMEI, and if someone dumps data from QPST before and after using UnlockClient.com we might have a solution.

merrickville · Sep 28, 2012

elatllat said:
So that supports the idea that the unlock information is stored with the IMEI, and if someone dumps data from QPST before and after using UnlockClient.com we might have a solution.

I would do this, no problem, just QPST 2.7 will not install, tried a couple of different DL's, but during install, says that QPST.2.7.378.msi is missing, well, it's not. And wide open permissions. So, I don't know.

---------- Post added at 04:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:50 PM ----------

I manged to use an earlier version. I'm running WANAMLITE ROM, I'll assume that it's not unlocked after you flash that ROM? I can't try it, I don't have those 'mini' SIM's, only the regular sized ones.

-rwx------ 1 Mystry None 185344 Sep 28 16:06 SGH-I747M_IME_FROM_QPST.qcn

---------- Post added at 04:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:22 PM ----------

This worked for me.

I used qpst_2.7_348.exe on Windows 7 Pro

xavenged said:
Ok so I am going to purchase an unlock code from the site above. I have used them for my galaxy s2 skyrocket with success. Now I would like to help out the community by taking a system dump before the unlock and after. If anyone has info on how to do this or what to do please let me know. I have no idea how to go about this process.

sp991 · Oct 4, 2012

Can anyone with software skills check this out.

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Instant-Unlock-Bell-Samsung-Galaxy-S-III-3-SGH-I747M-USB-cable-/271016069224?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f19d10868#ht_1349wt_1027

The guy as made a software to unlock yourself the phone but there is a system and I think the program will only work if it can reach the server and see that you have paid for an unlock.

This software could be used as a start point for a DIY tool.

mnkhzrg · Oct 10, 2012

SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 unlick code

enzyne said:
If anybody needs an unlock code pm me. I have a couple unlocks remaining on my account.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda premium

could you please give me an unlock code for AT&T SAMSUNG-SGH-I747.

Thanks So Much

[Q] ATT Galaxy S3 SIM Unlock Method

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