What you'll receive.

Unlock the V3

There is quite a bit of misunderstanding about what really unlocks a locked phone and why you should even bother to unlock a phone in the first place. I'm going to get a little long winded here so bare with me...

A locked phone is one that will only operate on one particular network, like Cingular. A service provider does this to make it harder for people to leave their network for better service with someone else's network like T-Mobile. They know you love your phone too much to actually buy another one just to go somewhere else for service, so they got you.

Why do you want to unlock your phone in the first place? Many do it just because they can I guess and have no real use for it being unlocked. You would unlock a phone to switch networks and keep the same phone, or if you plan to travel out of the country and don't want to pay international roaming charges.

With an unlocked phone you can go to sites like Cellular Abroad or In Touch Smart Cards or Telestial and buy international SIMs. Or you can just buy them when you arrive in country and make your phone calls at much cheaper, local rates.

There are many monster packs and other files that are labeled as unlocked. All this means is that if your phone is already unlocked, then flashing it or flexing it with these files won't relock it.

There is no monster pack or any other flashable or flexable file that will unlock a locked phone, period.

How do you determine if your V3 is locked? A simple test with a SIM on a different network will confirm if your phone is locked. A locked phone will ask for a password to override the subsidy lock. Once you unlock a phone the subsidy password screen will go away and the phone will log onto any network it can communicate with (in our case GSM networks).

This is what a locked V3 displays if you try
to use a SIM not on your provider's network.

Here's where I take one for the team...

I'm going to take a perfectly good V3 that's unlocked and relock it back to T-Mobile to test this new program called Motorola Unlocker 2005.

I started out with an unlocked V3 which had default Motorola branding on it. I'm using T-Mobile service. It has bootloader "08.23" on it. I flashed bootloader "08.26" on it.

Then I found this file: "R374_G_0E.42.09R_PDS005_LP0003_DRM0001_JPJAVA_G_0E_V3_02_09R_GSMV3xxTMB01NA106_1FF.shx" which would lock my V3 to T-Mobile.

I launched RSD Lite and flexed with the file. It flexed just fine and I started up the phone with a T-Mobile SIM in it to make sure it worked which it did. Then I put my Cingular SIM in it and got the subsidy lock screen. Success, I'd locked my phone again.

A reader of this site sent me a program and said it would unlock my phone and that it had worked for him and it was easy to use. Cool, I like easy things that work magic. The program he sent was called "Motorola Unlocker 2005". I've read it also goes by the vague name "Final.exe". Click here to download this program.

But before I could use this program I needed I to use the Scotty2 downgrader program to change my bootloader to "07.D0". It did this without a problem (see the example screen on the page labeled "starting out").

I then launched the Motorola Unlocker 2005 program. It tells you to put the phone in flash mode and just click the button.

I clicked the button and got this blank confirmation screen. Guess I'll click yes at this point. What have I got to lose?

My output text will be different from yours.

I disconnected my phone and started it up with the Cingular SIM in it. It registered to the network and it was now unlocked!

Ok, now lets discuss other methods of unlocking a phone. I would first call my service provider and try to get the unlock code from them for free. You bought your phone from them and you pay them every month for service, it is the least they can do and should do for you in return. Some providers make you wait 90 days after starting an account with them before they will do this. Sometimes they just won't give you the code.

Next you could seek out people like me (who have a black box to unlock phones with) who advertise in various free papers or on community websites like Craig's list. You could also try going to mom and pop style cell phone stores. These are shops that are not run by the big networks like Cingular and T-Mobile. Sometimes they will do this in the back room for you. Other independent cell phone stores take out ads advertising the fact that they will unlock any phone brought to them. They can charge anywhere from $10 - $50, depending on the model.

The next thing you could do is to try using a remote unlocking service online. I think there are several of them out there. Here's one of them:

Motounlocker.com uses a system which operates online to unlock your phone while you make a test point connection. It is called Unimoto PLUS and it costs $24.99 for a one time use. There is also an unlimited account (which does not specify how many phones you can unlock with it) for $150.00 Read about it here.

I would next try to do the test point procedure myself, without the help of an online unlocking site. There is a thread on the MotoX forums that a reader wrote about their experience unlocking their phone. It worked for them, it may work for you. You will need to disassemble your phone though to do this. Here is a Spanish language video made by someone who demonstrates how to do a test point. I love the board with the nails he has in it to wedge the phone and battery into to keep a constant connection while performing the work. Click the image to play the movie.

Here is the image that GSMServer.com provides for the test point.

The final way to unlock your phone is by using a black box to do it. Here are a couple products that claim to do the work. I do NOT receive any money from these companies to show their products (in fact I question their usability having owned them myself). I'm merely trying to demonstrate to everyone what is out there.

I would caution against the purchase of any of these devices. I have personally owned the Smart Clip and the Ultima Box and was not happy with either device and I'll tell you why. The documentation is non existent to very poor on how to use these devices. Additionally, you will spend all your free time in their respective forums with everyone else that doesn't know how to use these devices. You will be at the mercy of someone else to read your question and hopefully give you the correct answer. I don't like that. Their support is also suspect. I had to deal personally with the Smart Clip people about a defective clip. They blew me off for two weeks (either intentionally playing dumb hoping I would go away and not bother them anymore, or they really are stupid - which I think is actually the case) asking me the same questions over and over again before finally telling me to go to my reseller to have the problem solved. What a joke! They should have told me this on the very first message I sent to them. The Ultima Box people (the owner himself) didn't even know the proper procedure for selling one of his devices to someone else (I got tired of mine quickly and sold it to someone).

Also note, when you buy equipment like this, that there ARE NO REFUNDS. This is scary considering these devices sell for $200 and up. BUYER BEWARE!

GSMServer.com sells a device called the Smart-Clip for $299 You can also find them on eBay much cheaper (but beware, if you buy this device and it's not from an authorized reseller, you may not get support for it).

Unlockcellular.com sells an unlocker/flasher/PDS repairer called the Ultima Box and it costs $199.

Unlockcellular.com also sells an unlocker/flasher/PDS repairer called VictorGSM MSSv4 for $599. Apparently this is a software program with a USB dongle that you must keep in your computer to allow the program to function. It claims to perform testpoints without having to open the phone! This is the only image (besides program screen shots) that I've seen of the actual product.

This ends the "unlock" section of this tutorial.