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< Esato Forum Index > Sony Ericsson / Sony > Symbian phones > General Notes About Debranding/Unlocking - Please Read! Bookmark topic

I am writing this as a neutral there will be no advertising of any sort trhoughout this tutorial, it is for informational purposes only.

For those of you who are looking to have your phone debranded and/or unlocked, there are some things that you should know, sort of a FAQ, if you like.

Firsts things first,

Debranding is only available from some members and some businesses who have the requisite tools, it CANNOT be done by asking your Network Operator.

Debranding can be done at home by yourself in one of 2 ways:

- Buy the tools require for the service, at over £120 for the tool, and then you need to buy credits every time you use it. these tools are not intended for end users they are intended for companies who service and upgrade SE phones as a business, but can still be bought by anyone. They are relatively simple to use, but it is still VERY easy to make a your phone into a VERY expensive paperweight.

- Use an online service, there are a few, whom shall not be mentioned by name. These services are quite expensive and are IMHO unreliable, as you are doing it yourself, and if there is any problem or issue whatsoever, you will have wasted your money, and will have to pay again or then send it off to someone more experienced. The main issues are that it is doneover the internet and therefore the connection is not always stable, and that the user is dong everything which heightens the possibility for things to go wrong. I would suggest that these online services are good for standard handsets, but most don't offer PDA support and those who do are very unreliable, as you are requiring to flas over 60 Mb and the connection to the server isn't always the best.


Next, Debranding WILL technically void your warranty, there are a few service centres who will still work on your phone under warranty even if it is debranded but as I say technically your warranty is void.

During the debranding process all information stored on the phone is lost, so a backup of any relevant material is required. I would suggest to all users that you backup the MINIMUM amount of info required, such as settings, calender, notes and unified inbox. Leave the rest to be flashed and renewed, my reasoning for this is because SOMETIMES restoring all of the info you can back onto the phone after flashing, intorduces errors into the FW and then you will need to master reset everything, and just restore the basics. So just save the MINIMUM you need and restore it onto the phone afterwards and all should be well.

If you choose a "good" company/member to debrand your handset the should CHANGE THE CDA for you. If you get your handset back and the CDA hasn't changed then you have been done, I would ask they do it. The reason for this is, the CDA in PDA phones is what ties the phone to it's network branded FW, if you change it then you can update your FW much more regularly through SEUS, in the comfort of your own home, without having to send it away to people to work on. If they leave the CDA the way it was before you will not be able to update very frequently, if ever, and when you do, your crappy branded firmware will be flashed back on, meaning you need to get the handset debranded again.

Notes:-

CID:
This "number" defines the version of SE's protection present in the phone.
New CIDs are deployed from time to time, for the some reason of preventing them from beeing unlocked/flashed/tampered with by non-SE service tools. Current CIDs in use by SE are 16/29/36/37/49/51. SE-based LG/Sharp phones use the same system (but different versions). The OTP (One Time Programmable memory) and EROM of a phone might be protected by different CIDs.

OTP
One Time Programming Memory: Area in the flash which can be locked permanently.

EROM
Extended ROM (Read Only Memory) that contains primary certificate.

GDFS
Global Data File System
Non-volatile memory area for parameters in the phone. This is the phones "stash", where all settings and calibration data is stored (this also goes for the firmwares IMEI-resource as well as the SIM locks)

CDA
This "number" defines which variant of a specific firmware a phone is supposed to have. It lets among others SEUS (Sony Ericsson Update Service) know which languagepack/branding/brandlocks a phone is to be flashed with. Generic world CDA's are /1 and /2, which are the most frequently updated, there are other Generic CDA's for other regions, however there are also LOTS of Branded CDA's which will only allow the phone to be flashed with the specific branded FW, most branded FW's are generally considered to be absolutely crap.

Unlocking Notes:-

Unlocking the handset can be done by the Network Operator, and by third party companies, depending on handset type the cost for this can vary. In general I would suggest that the less your Network Operator knows the better. So it is adavantageous to use third party companies because that way the Net.Op. doesn't know it's been unlocked, and this benefits you if you require an insurance claim, as they are much more vigilant and wary when a phone has been unlocked to pay out on the claim. Other advantages of using a third party company are the time period, unlocking can be done in approx 10 mins so if someone near you can do it then it takes no time to just pop in, or you can send it to someone and it will take a couple of days for delivery etc.

The advantage to using the Net. Op. is that is can SOMETIMES be cheaper, however they can take anywhere between 7 and 21 days to give you the required codes, and the codes you get frequently don't work and you have to wait to get different ones.

I would say that if you have insurance and don't want the headache of having to go through even more hoops when you make a claim then definately use a third party, or if you want it done quickly then use a third party. If you arent; bothered about either of the 2 things mentioned then you may be finacially better off by getting it done by the Net. Op. BUT not always. You should check with them to find out costs first.

Unlocking DOES NOT VOID YOUR WARRANTY!!!

No information is lost during the unlocking servie, so there is no need to backup the phone before unlocking it.

General Notes On Sending Your Handset to Anyone:-

Usually people who provide these services require only the handset and battery. they do not want the sim card, or any accessories. please note that a full battery is recommended as the debrand/unlcok process can take anywhere between 20 mins and a couple of hours, depending on the handset and the internal memory, so a full battery is recommended to negate any problems that could occur by it running out of power mid-process.

If there is anything else anyone thinks should be added to this then please feel free to let me know.

Please DO NOT copy and paste this elswhere or use this guide in anything else without the courtesy of asking me first.

Thank You!

_________________
We offer many different solutions for SonyEricsson phones, including, Debranding, Unlocking, Flashing, and Repairs. We support ALL SE handsets, and our prices are excellent. Customer Service is our Focus.

SEunlock.co.uk

[ This Message was edited by: seunlock-uk on 2007-02-17 12:20 ]
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Posted: 2007-02-17 13:13:04
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Very informative!

Mods, this should be made a sticky
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Posted: 2007-02-18 00:57:57
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Excelent stuff!!! I agree this should be made sticky
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Posted: 2007-02-18 04:15:38
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Couple of minor corrections regards insurance:

Network Operator insurance is often not 'real' insurance (at least in the UK the selling of this 'insurance' by networks is currently under investigation). So, if you unlock your phone anywhere other then the network operator you can effectively void your insurance as you have signed an agreement with the network operator.

If you buy your insurance from a third party registered as an insurer with the FSA (a much safer option in all events) then unlocking has no bearing on your claim as it's not an illegal practice either in our out of network contract. However debranding almost certainly will void the insurance claim as the IMEI will have been registered with a network supplier and you have to quote this as part of the policy.
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Posted: 2007-02-19 01:07:12
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and what about hardware manufacturer's warranty?
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Posted: 2007-02-19 08:54:16
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Quote:
On 2007-02-19 01:07:12, peanut wrote:

However debranding almost certainly will void the insurance claim as the IMEI will have been registered with a network supplier and you have to quote this as part of the policy.


With insurance it would not matter if handset was debranded as it has the same imei.

the only majer problem would be warranty and handset going to service centre or back to the network, if it will switch on for testing they will see.
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Posted: 2007-02-19 10:15:01
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To clear this up.

Service provider insurance is NOT voided by unlocking, they offer the service, and they cannot void insurance for a service that does not change anything on the phone apart from it's ability to accept any sim card (as it should have been to begin with).

Debranding WILL void your insurance, AND your warranty. The only solution is to use a service centre who will still work on your phone under warranty even when debranded, there are a couple.

Now, I will start this section by saying that i am in no way endorsing you to con or "get around" insurance issues.

There is a simple way to get around insurance issues for debranded phones. Mainly due to the fact that the Service provider doesn't EVER ask if you have debranded or unlocked the handset so they will ALMOST ALWAYS replace the handset if there is a fault. However there is another solution, if you have issues and need a replacement, then you COULD, I suppose, render the handset completely useless. As to how you do that I would not be at liberty to say.

"What do you mean you can't take a phone swimming?/Bathing?"

Then if that was to happen you would be issued a replacement based on the fact the handset doesn't work at all, and there would be no way to tell what had been done to the handset. Apparantly!!

Again I am in no way supporting this, and will not be held responsible for you doing anything along these line, just making you aware.

Having worked for a service provider for over 4 years, and 2 of the other people involved in our business have worked for service providers for more than 10 years combined, and also with SE service engineers involved, we know the ins and outs.
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Posted: 2007-02-19 12:30:06
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Gentle Bump
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Posted: 2007-02-24 03:02:10
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Ahem sticky Ahem
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Posted: 2007-02-24 07:36:40
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Hi seunlock-uk, i would like to know whether changing CDA means debranding? From my location, all handsets purchase are not branded or locked. However, i want to change the CDA in order to enjoy newer firmware from SEUS. Does this means debranding and warranty voided?

Futhermore, some said firmware version is checking again CDA and IMEI. Is that true?

[ This Message was edited by: num8er on 2007-02-27 02:43 ]
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Posted: 2007-02-27 03:33:26
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