Unlock Sim for GSM How to

[Gabriel51]

1. We are in the SPRINT LG G3 forum and this is a thread about unlocking the SPRINT G3.

2. Sprint phones do not use unlock codes. The code they give out is the MSL (also called SPC) which only allows for CDMA programming and does nothing for GSM use. There is no way to force a prompt for a GSM unlock code on a Sprint phone because a code doesn't exist.

Hello "his post" and he is in Toyko. It may not apply to his need or model but I reserve the right to share.
I'm telling the extent of my experience with sprint and using it for GSM in Europe.
They provided the code and it worked there .
Call it what you like, Sprint called it the "Unlock code", so unless your were there or clairvoyant? well you know.
I'm done with this, I'm not on the entertainment committee, have a nice day....

 

[iBowToAndroid]

Hello "his post" and he is in Toyko. It may not apply to his need or model but I reserve the right to share.
I'm telling the extent of my experience with sprint and using it for GSM in Europe.
They provided the code and it worked there .
Call it what you like, Sprint called it the "Unlock code", so unless your were there or clairvoyant? well you know.
I'm done with this, I'm not on the entertainment committee, have a nice day....

There is no GSM unlock code for Sprint phones and no way to force the prompt that asks for one. You were a Sprint customer using the phone on a Sprint line and you requested that they unlock it and they did so over the air, which enables the phone to be used on GSM in other countries, not the US. The code they gave you was not used in the unlocking process whatsoever.

 

[jannmedia]

Not workin

Ok please try these settings on your phone exactly as displayed in the screen shots. This should give you correct signal bars on your phone and get rid of the dreaded gsm icon (i hate that icon with a passion) and should show H icon if you have 3g or E icon if you have 2g. I've attached a screen shot to display this as well. I'm using this internationally but this should theoretically work domestically as well since after these settings the phone becomes truly global and not the gimped Sprint version. Please provide feedback on this thread to let me know if this works (Im the same person the OP used the phone of as a guide to unlock his as i had mine unlocked from Sprint).
I suggest you use Rom tool box to edit your build prop as there's minimal chances of it going into bootloop then.
So change your ro.build.target_operator to GLOBAL as in screenshot (ALL CAPS just in case) and change ro.build.description as in the screen shot (first line of first screen shot)
Good luck!

Sent from my LGLS990 using XDA Free mobile app

It doesn't work, will show me ERROR loop, until I turn on the Airplane mode

---------- Post added at 06:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:05 AM ----------

Thank you, it works now

 

[treezy26]

Can someone help me out here? I have the ls990 and my sprint account is almost over and I can't afford to start a new contract. Will I be able to use this method with metropcs? Do I need to start an account with metro first or can I do this method and then set up the account?

 

[jamesb85]

Can someone help me out here? I have the ls990 and my sprint account is almost over and I can't afford to start a new contract. Will I be able to use this method with metropcs? Do I need to start an account with metro first or can I do this method and then set up the account?

According to this search i did for you id say you do what i did.. And just buy a tmobile starter sim kit.. (30 bucks) at walmart. That is if metro truly runs off tmobiles towers... Cutting out the middle man.

 

[treezy26]

How exactly does that work?

 

[1619415]

Check my post out one person reports my method working on t-mobile and reported getting 4G (12 millibyes down)

 

[MikeDroid]

First off backup all data thats required from your phone.
Restore to COMPLETE stock like its out of the box, Use this LINK
Root the phone using STUMP
Install Root Explorer
Use Root Explorer only, yes its a paid app, nothing is free all the time.
Using Root Explorer go to system/priv-app/ look for LGStartupwizard.apk, rename it to LGStartupwizard.apk.bak -> Sprint users who want the handsfree activation should not do this. Its only for those who want to use the phone for GSM and get rid of "Activate Phone" notification.
Download attached carrier.rar and extract the folder on to your phone, same with apn-conf.rar & Unlock2.rar.
Remember to "REPLACE" the carrier folder and "NOT" copy its content to carrier folder.
Now copy the contents of Unlock2 folder and replace the original files from carrier/apps/ folder.
Change permissions for carrier folder is rwxrwx-x.
Please refer pic for the correct permissions. you need to change permissions of carrier folder only.

Pop in your GSM sim and reboot to see if you are getting GSM signal . There is no APN menu but the G3 automatically detects the APN from the provider and sets it for data.
If not Install Shortcut Master Lite
In search field search for apn, make sure there is not space after apn while searching, Refer pic below.

Select the first result as shown in pic.

Select launch as shown in pic.

You should get the APN menu now, Add your APN and save.
If you still have problems with getting the GSM to work, Replace apn-conf.xml file from the download section and replace it in /etc/ folder, then delete telephony.db file from /data/data/com.android.settings.telephony/database/ , reboot. Follow the manual APN adding using ShortCut Master lite like i mentioned earlier.
Hope this helps.

I appreciate the completeness of the "Proper" unlock and the simplicity of the buildprop edit to "spr". To me it appears the difference is that the "proper" unlock allows you to simply switch out sim cards, anytime and often, due to the addition of the Unlock and APN's zip. Whereas the buildprop edit requires manual apn entries. Is that a fair assessment? Is LTE/4g an issue with either? Back to the "proper" unlock, I don't understand why the carrier.zip is necessary as that's just customer specific profile information like zip code, billing date, postpaid, prepaid, etc. found in Carrier/omadm/subscriber . I'm thinking about getting a used Sprint LG G3 as an unlocked back up for bad sprint coverage and international travel, but would like some more input from the subject matter experts.

 

[iBowToAndroid]

According to this search i did for you id say you do what i did.. And just buy a tmobile starter sim kit.. (30 bucks) at walmart. That is if metro truly runs off tmobiles towers... Cutting out the middle man.

Maybe he wants Metro due to the plans they offer. At any rate, to answer him, it's your choice as to whether you purchase service before or after the unlock. Keep in mind that you do need to give the IMEI to Metro for activation - it is not true plug-and-play like other GSM carriers. So might want to contact them first to ensure that they'll allow the IMEI on their network.

I appreciate the completeness of the "Proper" unlock and the simplicity of the buildprop edit to "spr". To me it appears the difference is that the "proper" unlock allows you to simply switch out sim cards, anytime and often, due to the addition of the Unlock and APN's zip. Whereas the buildprop edit requires manual apn entries. Is that a fair assessment? Is LTE/4g an issue with either? Back to the "proper" unlock, I don't understand why the carrier.zip is necessary as that's just customer specific profile information like zip code, billing date, postpaid, prepaid, etc. found in Carrier/omadm/subscriber . I'm thinking about getting a used Sprint LG G3 as an unlocked back up for bad sprint coverage and international travel, but would like some more input from the subject matter experts.

The "Proper" unlock really does nothing different - just extra unneeded steps. Even with the simple method, the phone is truly unlocked - SIMs can be swapped at will. I'm not sure what the "proper" unlock does as far as APNs, but all you need is an APN shortcut added to a homepage somewhere - plenty of apps in the Play Store for that

 

[MikeDroid]

If you open the APN.zip, you'll see a pretty complete carrier list which would be indicative of an auto find based on the SIM that the phone detects. Otherwise It's a manual apn entry. Is that a fair assessment? Like I said, zips 1 and 3 make sense, not sure whats different in the carrier.zip. While I can appreciate either method. I'm just trying to dtermine the difference. It looks like there are a couple other carrier unlock methods as well but the 2 that I'm referencing seem to have no issues.

Sent from my LGLS990 using XDA Free mobile app

 

[jamesb85]

http://m.androidcentral.com/metropcs-now-welcomes-unlocked-gsm-devices-its-network

 

[iBowToAndroid]

http://m.androidcentral.com/metropcs-now-welcomes-unlocked-gsm-devices-its-network

That article is 18 months old. It was written back when Metro was switching over to GSM. Yes, they allow unlocked GSM devices. But you still have to have the IMEI attached to your line. It's not plug-and-play like true GSM. Hence the reason for the website checker to determine compatibility

 

[Samstealth7]

so I've been doing a lot of reading and decided to give it a shot,
I used the simpler method "build prop edit to a lower case spr" changed the permissions to the correct ones followed the other steps to get the APN settings in with the Tweaker app,

long story short it does work but not fully for me,
I get edge internet, incoming and outgoing texts, incoming calls are no problem,

but outgoing calls on the other hand from the dial pad where you actually have to input the number, do not work the phone app force closes when I hit the call button.

I can however call from the recent calls menu with no issues anyone else encounter this problem or have any information on how I may fix this.

thanks in advance

 

[iBowToAndroid]

outgoing calls on the other hand from the dial pad where you actually have to input the number, do not work the phone app force closes when I hit the call button.

I can however call from the recent calls menu with no issues anyone else encounter this problem or have any information on how I may fix this.

thanks in advance

You didn't read the whole thread. The fix for that has already been mentioned

 

[Ruben32]

You can manually add the international code and it will work. There's another method but I didn't try it.

+1 for US. That's what did it for me.

Sent from my LGLS990 using XDA Free mobile app

 

[aukhan]

Hi,

Perhaps I have found a method to unlock the LS990.
I dont know, if this works with us carriers.
I have tried it with a non US carrier and it works for me.

Needed:

Root
Root Explorer
Shortcut Master

1. Replace the two files in /carriers/apps with the two files below with Root Explorer
2. Reboot your phone
3. Open Shortcut master and select search
4. Search for apn adn select com.andoird.settings.ApnSettings and then click Launch
5. Select on the Top Right new apn
6. Fill this form out with the apn from your provider (If you don't know the apn look it up in google)

Done
Now everything should work

Still to do:
Disable the Hand free activation from sprint - I have not found the right app now
In the GSM mode my phone shows only GSM in the status bar and not G E H or H+ - Does someone know how to change this?
Automatic selection of the apn, this can perhaps be done with the file /etc/apns-conf.xml

I hopeed I could help some people, if the unlock was succesfull please give me a feedback

This is at your own risk.
Please do it only, if you know what you do!

This does work I can confirm @Assamat.

 

[treezy26]

What exactly is the "simple" method? And the "Proper" method? Please forgive me. I've read this thread a thousand times and I am lost. I planned on using metro but I noticed that T-mobile in my area has better towers. Would someone be kind enough to elaborate a little clearer as I am confused. This thread seems to be all over the place and I cannot afford to buy a new phone. I want to take all the right steps to avoid any confusion on my part. thanks

 

[MariPestaRia]

Hi,

Perhaps I have found a method to unlock the LS990.
I dont know, if this works with us carriers.
I have tried it with a non US carrier and it works for me.

Needed:

Root
Root Explorer
Shortcut Master

1. Replace the two files in /carriers/apps with the two files below with Root Explorer
2. Reboot your phone
3. Open Shortcut master and select search
4. Search for apn adn select com.andoird.settings.ApnSettings and then click Launch
5. Select on the Top Right new apn
6. Fill this form out with the apn from your provider (If you don't know the apn look it up in google)

Done
Now everything should work

Still to do:
Disable the Hand free activation from sprint - I have not found the right app now
In the GSM mode my phone shows only GSM in the status bar and not G E H or H+ - Does someone know how to change this?
Automatic selection of the apn, this can perhaps be done with the file /etc/apns-conf.xml

I hopeed I could help some people, if the unlock was succesfull please give me a feedback

This is at your own risk.
Please do it only, if you know what you do!

I already follow this step.. finnaly i got signal for GSM mode..
but i cant get for "Mobile Data" - i cant browse internet..because no 3G icon, just only signal GSM

anyone can help me?

 

[pvinodnayak]

As per the OP, by replacing just the 2 files did the trick for many, my phone went into a com.android.phone crash continuous, i could not come out of it, same for couple of others, had to re-flash the tot.
By replacing the carrier folder from the G2 thread and further replace the 2 files from this thread did the Proper GSM unlock, there was no need to do the build.prop edit. The phone worked with all GSM international networks and it worked like a world phone on GLOBAL mode, CDMA/GSM. APN was not needed to set as the G3 auto detected APN's somehow without the need of apn-conf.xml file. but for those whose APN's were not autoset needed to either replace the said file or use shortcut master lite app to set the APN manually.

 

[sinnedone]

Hello all

I'm finding this thread very interesting and have a couple of quick questions.

First question is about the "quick" method and "proper" method. Using either will I be able to quickly switch back to Sprint without issues? ( I take it the quick way I'll have to constantly change apns when swtiching?)

Second is actually about acquiring a tmo or att sim card to try this out with. What is the cheapest to try out to make sure you are getting data services at good speeds?

Thanks all.