USSD codes not working outside Verizon

eMWu

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As some of you may know, using USSD codes isn't working outside Verizon.
I'm located in Europe and it's pretty useful to me to be able to use them.

(USSD codes are those *112312*424# *101# etc USSD on wikipedia)

My question is, would it possible through a custom ROM or an app to make it work? Or is there no hope for that?
 

Gasai Yuno

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Seconding the question.
The question is, whether the USSD is hardcoded into the radio module or it can be fixed with a custom ROM like Fission?..
 

leobg

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I think this depends more on the radio firmware. I am afraid even custom rom cannot overcome this issue.
 

jb0072011

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Ya it is a real bummer not knowing how much you have left. I hope Verizon fixes this. For a "world" phone they sure seem to make it a pain to use outside the US on another SIM
 

leobg

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I doubt. They want you to use the phone with their SIM card and their service. Fixing it means less profit for them. Sure enough this would be "against the company policy" :)
 

jb0072011

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It seems that is Verizons attitude although why they would then advertise it as a "world" phone is crazy. I worry that they might try some kind of software permenant SIM lock so that the phone only works with their SIM and no other carrier (make it unlockable)
 

Xplorer4x4

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It seems that is Verizons attitude although why they would then advertise it as a "world" phone is crazy. I worry that they might try some kind of software permenant SIM lock so that the phone only works with their SIM and no other carrier (make it unlockable)

They advertise it because the phone is both GSM and CDMA compatible. While you are in the US they want you to use there service, not ATT or any other network, and understandably so. However when you go overseas, you simply switch out the sim card and your ready to go. They are not going to lock down there phones because when you travel over seas you cant use there network, so what do they have to loose?
 

MariC

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Shame on Verizon

This is terrible.

I bought a new droid pro before I went overseas. The Verizon store people assured me that it was fully unlocked and that I wouldn't have any problems using sim cards from different countries... They were wrong!

I am in France and bought an Orange mobicarte and the voice part works. But now, I want to add a month of internet and also check my remaining credit. To do that I have to enter #123#, but it doesn't work!!! It just says "USSD code running." (I also tried #+123#).

The people at the Orange store here in Paris had no idea what the problem is. They called their service center, but all I was told over and over again is that American phones won't work with internet in France because the "parameters" (les paramètres) of the internet are different. Does this make sense to anyone???

I am going to be spending several months in Morocco soon. I am worried that I will have the same problem with my droid there as in France. I am deciding if I should stop my credit card payment for this droid and insist that Verizon pay for me to ship this piece of junk back to them in the States, or if there is any way to make it work with internet and be able to check my credit.

Any suggestions? I am not very tech savvy, so please explain things simply. Thanks.
 

Gasai Yuno

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It's impossible to use USSD with Droid 2 Global when using a non-Vodafone SIM card. Simple as that.

If you need to add services, or check balance, some carriers provide text numbers to which you send an empty message and receive a message with account balance etc in return.
There are also sites provided by some carriers that allow you to configure additional services and check your balance.

You could get a cheap European dumb phone, and check the balance by putting the SIM card from your Droid into that dumb phone. But I agree, that's just a pain in the ass.
 
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eMWu

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Huh? You mean "bump"?

Anyway, since I'm here, let me just mention that there's an improvement in the Gingerbread firmware.
Now the USSD is being sent, or at least it appears so. Previously the phone was getting stuck on the "USSD Code running" message, now it gets past that and a Network Message "MMI Complete" appears.

But still there's no USSD reply received, so it's still useless. And I'm not really counting on another firmware update where it will be fixed completely...
 

Gasai Yuno

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USSD is an extension of MMI.

On some carriers (like f.ex. Softbank and North West GSM), such MMIs are parsed by the carrier, and they send you a text message in reply, seeing how your phone cannot receive the USSD response.
 
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eMWu

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The service I want to use it for, after you send a USSD code, sends you a USSD response back, to which you need to reply with another USSD msg.

Currently on my D2G with GB I actually get a response with a window with "MMI Complete" message and a text field, where I can put my response in and send it. But it doesn't look lke it is sent properly, because after that I receive the exact same message with a text field. And it goes on like that.
 
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