So,
I seem to have a problem of dropping my phone as of late... lol. Everytime i've got out of my car my poor hero has crashed to the floor and split into pieces a few times. The aluminium has taken a beating but luckily the screen remains undamaged at all! (for now) lol.
So I was looking at getting a "spare" mainly for rom testing etc, the seller says that the phone was on 3 UK but they had it unlocked for orange and since cannot get any signal at all and that it may be "blacklisted". Can a network lock/ban be removed with flash.
I can't remember how I changed the recovery image on my current t-mobile hero a while back but I think it involved fast boot...
Should I buy and how would I go about "fixing" it? .
Any help would be much appreciated!
if its been blacklisted i wouldnt bother. Ive got a blocked G1 and the only way for me to unblock it is to buy a faulty G1 (cracked screen etc.) and replace the radio with the unblocked radio
If the phone is blacklisted it is usually because it has been reported lost or stolen.
The block is placed at a IMEI level, something that is embedded in each phone so no matter what you do I think the block stands.
Although I have heard rumours that if you leave the region e.g. European blacklisted phone taken to USA it might work.
However do you want to risk purchasing a phone that may be stolen anyway?
Related
Ok, so I highly doubt this will work at all BUT I've been tossing around the idea of switching from AT&T (GSM) to Verizon (CDMA) and since I know I can neither take my TILT w/ me nor mod my phone to work on CDMA (that's the way I understand it so someone PLEASE let me know if there's some miracle work around for this lol) so I was pondering if I could take some CDMA phone w/ the same slide functions so it's "landscapable" and tear the guts out of it and put it in my TILT. A HUGE thing for me is the tilting action of the screen. I knowwww it's such a truly MINOR detail but I dont think I could ever go back to a "single slide" phone like the Fuze or anything.
My first HTC phone was my lovable Wizard but my biggest complaint was having to turn the whole dern phone just to look @ the screen w/o the sun glaring all over it but I went through THREE of them (yes, sad, I know lol). One was an original from an AT&T store which met it's initial demise when it's screen got cracked beyond repair. The second was bought from eBay and met IT'S demise after I found out it was a 4th gen model and couldnt be unlocked (at the time) for ROM flashing and attempted to flash it ANYWAYS so it totally bricked my phone () BUT I took the two and Frankensteined a THIRD working phone from the innards of the cracked screen phone and the casing and screen from the bricked phone. Sadly, the 3rd phone (and the one that made me proudest lol) met it's untimely death to WATER DAMAGE of all things.
Ok, so that whole story being said...I don't mind breaking my TILT open and plucking out the insides IF another phone's innards can be transplanted into the remaining casing. Again, doubtful it's possible butttt figured it wouldn't hurt to ask!
Thanks in advance!
Dont switch to Verizon. If you want to go CDMA go Sprint. But I would never go CDMA.
All the devices can only be used in the US, the selection of phones sucks, and Verizon handicaps almost all phones they sell.
AT&T is clearly the premier GSM provider in the US. Anything else would be a downgrade.
Hi everyone,
So I have to share my horror story with you all for you to understand how customers can be royally messed with.
This is not a "get back at them" thread but mostly a place where we can post our stories with issues we had and where I can direct you to a Facebook page where everyone can go make their stories public and so we can make them increase their standards of customer service and warranty.
So here is my story with HTC:
N.B. None of our phones are rooted and only her's was SIM unlocked via a code we purchased.
So since December 2011, my girlfriend (Phone B) and I (Phone A) have both been using HTC Desire Z sold by Bell Canada. I am a Bell user and she is a Rogers user. Mine was bought under my contract and her's was bought by someone else who got a contract to get the phone but sold the phone brand new and gave me the receipt.
So we had been using our phones without any problems until I started experiencing issues in July 2011. The screen was not responding and I had to send it (A) for repairs. It was returned and was used without any issue until the next problem popped up (keep reading).
In December 2011, I decided to send my girlfriend's phone (B) since she had been complaining that her earpiece was crackling. So in December, I sent the phone.
I leant her my phone for the time her's was under repair. One night, my phone froze when she loaded a PDF. It restarted fine but the next morning, it was stuck at the HTC screen (A).
I called Bell. In Canada, it turns out carriers are responsible for handling the warranty so they consider that if you are not a customer under the carrier, you can't avail yourself of the manufacturer's warranty. This makes absolutely no sense but just another way of licking up customers with their companies.
I called HTC USA (as HTC doesn't have any offices in Canada) and fought for an hour until they transferred me to a repair unit. With them, they told me that the phone was still under warranty and gave me a work order to send to the subcontractor responsible for repairs.
I sent phone A for repairs. In the meantime, phone B was returned. We sent phone B for repairs unlocked and they returned it locked (new IMEI). I paid to get it unlocked and my girlfriend started using it. She told me that it rebooted every 2 minutes. I took a video of it and it is pretty ridiculous. With a Rogers SIM, it reboots every 2 minutes, without a SIM, it reboots every 15 or so. I'm now going to have to send phone B for repairs again and cross my fingers that it doesn't fail again.
Now the pièce de résistance is coming up. I just received a call from the repair company and they are asking 200$ to fix phone A. They consider that a phone under warranty with a work order and sent because of random software failure needs 200$? What is this?
Posted my story on the HTC Canada facebook page and guess what? INSTANT DELETE! Because of this, I started my own Facebook page. We are customers, I bought not 1 but 2 phones from them and look at what they do!
So here it is, the facebook page where all of you should post your stories:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/HTC-Ce...751052?sk=wall
If it gathers wind, we might finally get some real help from HTC. I was a BIG fan of them. Until they fix this mess, NEVER again will I buy or advise anyone to buy their products!
Thank you and sorry for the long post.
Show some support and share your stories, the more posts there are, the more likely they are to help us.
Wow that sucks sorry, but if your these forums why not do all the software fixes yourself?
Yeah I totally understand your point of view. I rooted my Dream in the past and now the Galaxy Nexus but my girlfriend's, I thought, didn't need to be rooted.
Plus, when they are under warranty then I don't see why risk bricking it (if you're good enough, it shouldn't happen) but now that they will be out of warranty, I will root and unlock them for sure.
The only problem is when being repaired, they are updated to the most recent firmware so it makes it a bit harder to root.
Apart from that, the phone that is stuck on the HTC screen is S-ON and is not USB debugging since she had factory reset it herself. Makes it inaccessible from my knowledge right?
The other one is still under warranty and is the one that is rebooting constantly. I don't know whether I'm better off rooting it and installing another firmware or having it corrected by them. It should work out of the box no? Am I being unreasonable for expecting my phones to work? I am also not the first one to experience this, plenty of threads seen on this and other websites...
Anyways thanks for your reply.
HTC Netherlands did a great job for me!
The power-button was not working anymore after the phone fell on the ground. I told them that I want it to be fixed, if it was not getting too expensive. They fixed it and did not charge a penny!
Yeah pven, I guess we should be unbiased and present both sides, fairer that way.
But my case is particularly bad. I ended up rooting her phone and installed the most recent build of cyanogenmod. It rebooted once since but another issue has appeared. When she presses the power button, it locks the screen but sometimes it is actually powered off and needs to go through a short boot process to get back to the home screen.
Also, the phone had been sent to repair the speaker. Turns out they changed the whole board and the speaker isn't fixed. I'll have to put it back to stock ROM, put the original hboot, and unroot it in order to send it back to get it repaired twice.
Surprised she doesn't want to give up on it... after all that has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if would simply forsake HTC altogether... She had an HTC Touch Pro 2 and didn't really like it either so I'm out of options...
As for my DZ, the situation is being corrected with HTC and their contractor. I'm hoping for positive news but it seems it would be going my way. I have a bunch of emails from HTC support that has it going my way at least (them saying it's covered but not for out of warranty damage and a faulty board is not out of warranty damage).
Bottom line, I will think twice before buying a non-nexus device. My Gnex is working like a charm! Too bad the unstable software out-shadowed the amazing hardware of the DZ.
Oh man, this is interesting, i have got my htc phone repaired in China, and all those workers act really nice
Hey guys,
I'm with Vodafone UK (notorious for their bad signal coverage) but this morning when I woke up, my HOX has had absolutely no signal.
I've tried everything I can think of to resolve the issues, standard restart, hard restart, removing the sim card etc. but to no avail.
I also wondered if it was maybe Vodafone having a bad day too and asked my friends who are also with them, if they had any signal. They all have full signal.
Then i checked the settings on my device, phone identity.
For some reason, the IMEI, IMEI SV, IMSI and phone number are now all unknown. I'm not really sure what this means, but I know they normally have something underneath them.
This has led me to believe its an issue with my sim card/contract whatever... maybe I haven't paid my contract so Vodafone cut me off, went online and checked. Everything has been paid for.
Got any suggestions as to whats wrong and how I can resolve this please?
Hi,
I had a similar problem (also on Vodafone, but it may just be coincidental). I had no signal for a couple of days and thought it was due to a screw up during my number porting from O2.
Anyway, after 2 days of calling customer services and having my SIM swapped twice I went into the store and they replaced my phone. It's fine now.
Funny enough I also woke up to phone having zero signal, but am with o2. After 1min or even less signal came back.
just got off the phone to the Vodafone people.
After trying my sim card in my friends Vodafone HOX (black), I got signal. This has led me to believe its a hardware issue, but despite this the phonerep still insisted it might be a software issue (I have the latest OTA update, same as my friend and his is fine? NB: his device doesnt have the flicker issue unlike mine).
Will have to visit the local store to have the shop monkey tell me the dreaded, "we'll have to send it away for repair" probably. If this is the case, the phonerep said I would probably have to pay for any repairs/new handset as I dont have insurance. Is that fair because I'm still well within warranty..?
Sounds about right, if you within your 28 days you can ask for a replacement. As per rules. Even HTC say to replace. Anything after 28 days needs to be sent to HTC for repair. You shouldn't have to pay for any repairs it should be covered under warranty. They can refuse or charge if you have tampered with it, as in did the HTC unlock and installed a custom rom.
See what the shop says, if HTC do charge then kick up a big fuss.
No issues with my vodafone sim in mine, however had terrible issues with GG, kept losing sim card I assumed it was a faulty sim card causing the issues.
Hey there, my girlfriend is on Vodafone with an iPhone 4S, she lost her signal yesterday morning and still hasn't had it back bar a five minute window this afternoon. she lives near a place called Devizes (its in Wiltshire) but her mum had it back from last night, I don't know anyone else on Vodafone so I don't know how far it has spread.
Edited to add: you can check for reported signal/mast issues here (http://forum.vodafone.co.uk/t5/Faults-Board/bd-p/69) the bit on the right of the first set of numbers in the thread title is the start of the postcode for the area the mast is based.
Think I'm a few days past the 28 days, just my luck! And I haven't done anything to the phone whatsoever, everything is stock.
More evidence that something's gone wrong... After leaving it on charge all night (as per), the battery has dropped from 100% to 14% in the space of 4 hours with just some casual wifi usage. It's also extremely quick to heat up now, and thats just from leaving it on charge.
If they make me pay for a blatant hardware issue I will kick up a massive fuss. Why should I pay to have the manufacturer fix a phone that has clearly been made to an unsatisfactory level?
Hi all,
A couple of weeks back I had to have my z2 repaired since it suddenly lost service. Since I bought it abroad there's no local official support and I had to trust in unofficial service. They supposedly changed the antenna board or something like that (they were very non-specific on the description of the fix). The phone was working correctly afterwards.
However I started to notice that, when not on wifi, the phone looses signal periodically, not only internet but phone and sms as well.
I'm planning on sending it back for repair though I don't look forward to doing it so. It just occurred to me that maybe they put the replacement part from a different model (mine is xt1710-09) and that my current stock image has problems with this spare part, baseband configuration or something. Is this really possible? I've already wiped completely but it remains the same.
I'm thinking on flashing a different stock version for another model (retail us, or retail br). But don't know if that's a good idea though.
Any thoughts or ideas?
Thanks!
Hello, this is my first post but sure it not the last!
I have been exposed of fraud! I bought Note 10 Plus on a website called Blocket in Sweden were you can buy everything. The guy told me that the phone was locked to 3 and that was no problem because i have that to. But when he came to me he had activated the phone so WiFi call was on (I didn't know that). I logged in to my google account and then I also connected to my WiFi. Then i tried a call and no problems so I paid the guy and got a receipt and took his ID. But as soon as I went out I couldn't call and did some research and the phone had only 0 as IMEI and in small letters on the back it says that it is a Demo unit and have a serial number and its name is SM-975X . So my question is if anyone have been able to get a phone like this to work? Everything is reported to the police but he had false ID and the phone number has been turned off! I payed 650$ so would be so happy if anyone has an solution of my problem :fingers-crossed :fingers-crossed:
Sadly, there is no solution, only a motherboard replacement would work
Hm, is it so bad! Do they remove the radio parts for everything else works like a charm even WiFi calls and wireless charging both on my phone and to other phones to!
Do you know if the they only remove/disable the radio part and let everything else work?
What I know, is that there is no way to make it work as a regular device, they are intended to be used by vendors, to discourage people from stealing them from showrooms, precisely the cellular part is totally disabled
the IMEI is generally a unique identifier used by networks and such to track devices (stolen or otherwise) without one a device wont work on a network and the only way for a device to get one is from the factory encoded into the hardware, so short of swapping out hardware for a different board that has an IMEI there is pretty much nothing you can do.
as if it was simple to change them people would be able to hide stolen hardware or their tracks when swapping SIM cards. also would get them around blacklisting and other features on the networks.
the IMEI is basically the same as a VIN number on a car, even if you could change it you would need a valid one to register the device on a network.
it's sad but unfortunately all you can use this as is a learning experience, in future only buy from reputable sources that offer some level of consumer protection and always check things like the IMEI as people even sell blacklisted phones as they will turn on and seem to work but will be blocked off the majority of networks.
Yes it was a wakening call, but I have sold and bought 40-50 different phones and other stuff on "Blocket" but this was the first time i was cheated. I had no idea of that you could make WiFi calls otherwise it wouldn't worked! He had receipt and everything so I had no thought that it was a demo phone! Before he came i was looking for a site were you could write the serial number and look if it was stolen but couldn't find any! Apple has one and have used that often and had one guy that tried to sell a iPhone that was stolen!
I talked to a independent repair shop and he was willing to buy it for 200$ so he could use it for parts, then my lost is only 450$ but it hurts anyway
yeah screen battery and a few other parts would still be viable, it's mainly the board with the phone modem on that would be unusable as little more than a demo/home unit.
WIFI calling will still work as it doesn't use any of the phone identifiers other than stuff like the MAC address of the phone WIFI chip that even a demo unit would need.
A quick google should give you IMEI checker sites and it's something you should always check, if you have bought as many phones as you say, you have been very lucky this is the first to have a problem as there is a massive black market for stolen devices that are black listed and such, that is why IMEI checker sites are fairly common as most networks do allow access to blacklist device lists as they don't want them being sold on. so really IMEI is probably the most important thing to check when buying a phone as there are multiple ways it could cause you problems.