Droid 2 Global Unlock & foreign SIM?

[silver6054]

Folks,

I bought an international GSM card from OneSimCard (looks like they use Estonian phone numbers). They partner with GSM providers in various countries (T-Mobile and AT&T in the US).

I'm a long-time Verizon customer and I just unlocked my D2G by getting a code from the VZW global support. After typing in the unlock code I got a message "Unlock successful".

After rebooting the network name was displayed as "T-Mobile | 1 Sim Card", however no networks were found so I don't get any signal bars. Search for available networks in the settings menu showed no networks available. Is this because VZW blocks the US GSM carriers? Since I do see that the phone is unlocked can I assume the phone will work when I actually go overseas?

Thanks!:icon_eek:

Yes, as you say, because GSM carriers are blocked in the US. First time I encountered this I thought something was wrong, because my previous Verizon Global (non-smart)phone, the Renown, worked fine in the US.

So the fact it doesn't work here doesn't mean it won't work overseas. But some have had trouble getting data to work abroad. Before you go, try to get the APN information from the carrier, as often it is not detected automatically. And, to be extra safe if you really need to make a call, get the Vodafone SIM activated as well. (Oh, and take a simple quad-band voice phone!)

 

[Gasai Yuno]

foglifter, make sure you never chose “USA Band” in the service menu, though. Otherwise you will have to SBF to unlock European bands back.

Another question; will a locked D2G pop up an unlock request if I insert an unregistered SIM card? My friend has acquired a D2G that is stated to be unlocked, and when switched to GSM mode with an unregistered AT&T (or H2O) SIM card it doesn't show any unlock requests. (Also, do AT&T cards come with SIM PIN request disabled?..)

We bought these two unregistered cards for $0.99 each on eBay to test if the phone is unlocked, but I'm still being paranoid. Sending it from the US to Japan takes time, and I wouldn't want to have to return it.

 

[foglifter]

foglifter, make sure you never chose “USA Band” in the service menu, though. Otherwise you will have to SBF to unlock European bands back.

Gasai, I don't have any Service menu with such an option. All I have is a Network Settings menu with an attribute Network Mode that can be set to Global, CDMA, or GSM/UMTS. I use CDMA in the US. I switched to GSM before I replaced the Verizon(Vodafone) SIM with the foreign card.

BTW what is SBF?

 

[Ackyraw]

yeah, BTW WTF is SBF ?

LOL, TLAs!

 

[garylet]

Experience with onesimcard.com in Turkey, UK

Just got back from a trip to Turkey, with layovers in the UK.

I've followed this thread with great interest from the beginning, and thought I would report on my experience.

I had gotten an unlock code from Verizon, and already unlocked the phone with a T-Mobile Sim (but since I was in the US it would not connect to the network).

My experience with onesimcard was very good. I turned all the data off at first, and just used the phone, following instructions. I paid for an "800" number here in the US, so people in the US called for free, and I received calls for $.20/minute, and outgoing calls were $.55 in Turkey and $.39 (I think) in the UK. I could check my balance and successfully recharge it using the simcard menu (had to hunt for it in my app drawer).

I could not get texting to work with the onesimcard sim, but didn't troubleshoot it, since the phone worked great on wifi (skype calling & google talk). When I first landed, and then headed home and just wanted to send short texts, I used the Verizon Sim, which works well ($.50 to send, and $.05 to receive). Sometimes I had to recycle the phone to recognize a new sim, and in the UK I had to manually select O2 while putting in the onesimcard, but it was not a big deal.

I set my phone to "gsm/umts" mode, with all data off, and it worked fine as a phone. On a long bus trip, I followed the instructions in the instruction booklet to manually set up an APN, and it worked! It showed a large "E" which I assume means Edge? In Turkey, data costs about $1/mb, so I would just turn it on in spurts, use it, and then turn it off. No problems with gmail and internet. Didn't use maps/gps at all. In the rest of Europe data is more than $3/mb, which would start to get pricey.

In short, it worked for what I needed, at a reasonable cost, connecting to gsm networks in two different countries. Combined with wifi, skype and google talk, the Droid 2 Global is a great global workhorse. I didn't have to mess with buying and registering a local sim (which would have been cheaper) and the price is reasonable. When I could use skype, I did (either free or .02/minute). When I was away from wifi, or the wifi was unreliable, I used onesimcard.

Steps I followed:
1. Call verizon and get the verizon sim activated, and international dialing enabled. Also get the SIM unlock code.
2. Just before leaving US, set phone to forward calls to Google Voice so you don't inadvertently pay $2.89/minute to receive a call. Instead you receive an email if they leave a message.
3. Turn off all the data.
4. Insert onesimcard and unlock (or unlock here in the US - the unlock will work, but the phone still only works outside of US gsm bands).
5. Give others your 800 number so they don't have to call Estonia.
6. Dial the number you wish to call per the directions. The call immediately terminates, and a little message pops up advising you to answer the phone when it rings...which it does in 2 - 4 seconds. Then the call is placed and you ask the person to call back on your 800 number. First minute (outgoing) = $.55, then it is $.20/minute (incoming). Sure beats Verizon at$2.89.

Hope this helps someone else.

Gary

 

[foglifter]

Gary,

This is fantastic! Thanks for a very detailed feedback, very helpful. Just a couple of points I wanted to clarify:

Steps I followed:
1. Call verizon and get the verizon sim activated, and international dialing enabled. Also get the SIM unlock code.

Is Verizon SIM activation necessary for the phone to be used with OneSimCard or any other SIM card or have you only done that in order to be able to use Verizon SIM just in case? I called Verizon and successfully unlocked my phone, but I didn't activate the original SIM as I don't think I will use it.

6. Dial the number you wish to call per the directions.

I asked OneSimCard technical support about D2G calling instructions, but they are not familiar with this phone yet. What section of the instructions did you use? The one for Verizon world phones (initiate a call by sending a text message ) or the one for Android-based phones (calling with prefix *146*)?

Thanks!

 

[garylet]

Is Verizon SIM activation necessary for the phone to be used with OneSimCard or any other SIM card or have you only done that in order to be able to use Verizon SIM just in case? I called Verizon and successfully unlocked my phone, but I didn't activate the original SIM as I don't think I will use it.


I asked OneSimCard technical support about D2G calling instructions, but they are not familiar with this phone yet. What section of the instructions did you use? The one for Verizon world phones (initiate a call by sending a text message ) or the one for Android-based phones (calling with prefix *146*)?

Thanks!

Foglifter,
You don't need the Verizon SIM to be activated to use the onesimcard, I did it "just in case." But it was the only way I was able to send texts texts away from Wifi, like in airports, so it was very worth it for me. And besides, it is completely free if you don't use it.

Like you, after reading the onesimcard support, I was expecting to need to use one of the alternative dialing methods...but I just started from the top. Having read all the instructions, I didn't expect it to work, and was surprised it worked just fine.

So the first dialing method is:

00 - Country code - Area Code - Number -Talk.

So to call Colorado I dialed: 00 - 1 - 970 - xxxxxxx - Green Send Button. The call immediately disconnected, I got the message to wait for the call back, clicked "OK" to dismiss the message, and about 2 seconds later I got the call back, and then the other line started ringing.

The instructions, etc, make it all seem like it is going to be complicated, but it was very easy.

Gary

 

[OneSimCard]

Other Verizon/Android models used with OneSimCard?

Gary, thank you for your very helpful feedback on the compatibility of OneSimCard with your Droid 2 Global. We have added this phone to our compatibility page.

Since we're not able to test every phone model that's out there, we really appreciate it when customers let us know which models they have successfully used with our service, especially when they are Verizon/Android phones.

We encourage others to post on this forum about which phone models they have used with our global SIM card so we can provide this information to all customers. Thank you again!

OneSimCard Team

 

[foglifter]

Gary, thank you for your very helpful feedback on the compatibility of OneSimCard with your Droid 2 Global. We have added this phone to our compatibility page.

Since we're not able to test every phone model that's out there, we really appreciate it when customers let us know which models they have successfully used with our service, especially when they are Verizon/Android phones.

We encourage others to post on this forum about which phone models they have used with our global SIM card so we can provide this information to all customers. Thank you again!

OneSimCard Team

Thanks for joining, OneSimCard! I've recently bought your card and already unlocked my phone. Since Verizon blocks GSM bands in the US I can't connect and make a test call. Thanks to Gary now I know that the phone will work with the European GSM bands so I will definitely share my experience as soon as I get back from my trip.

 

[garylet]

Gary, thank you for your very helpful feedback on the compatibility of OneSimCard with your Droid 2 Global. We have added this phone to our compatibility page.

Since we're not able to test every phone model that's out there, we really appreciate it when customers let us know which models they have successfully used with our service, especially when they are Verizon/Android phones.

We encourage others to post on this forum about which phone models they have used with our global SIM card so we can provide this information to all customers. Thank you again!

OneSimCard Team

Since you are here...
Any suggestions for getting text messages to work? I only tried with "00-1-xxx-xxx-xxxx" both directly from phone and from the sim card menu, and nothing happened. Any other ideas? Of course, I'm back in the US now, so I really can't troubleshoot.

Gary

 

[Massachutian]

If I SBF my unlocked phone (which might be necessary to install the coming update), will it remain unlocked -- or will I need to go through the process again?

That is, is the locked/unlocked state of the GSM side of the phone one of the things that gets wiped by the SBF process?

 

[Gasai Yuno]

This has been discussed many, many times. The unlock is permanent. SBF does not restore it.

 

[Massachutian]

Thank you for the information. Very helpful!

(No need for the snarkiness, however!! Before posting my question, I searched this forum for "SBF" and "unlock", and failed to find an answer to my question. If it has indeed been "discussed many, many times", can you tell me where -- and what kind of search should have led me there?)

 

[Gasai Yuno]

http://www.droidforums.net/forum/mo...reflashing-sbf-file-re-lock-my-droid-pro.html

For example, this. Popped up in Google after a search for “droid sbf sim unlock reset”.

 

[Massachutian]

different forum, different phone!