Who is my old phone locked to?

Lbarefoot on 09/10/2013 - 16:25

A few years ago, I jumped the smartphone bandwagon when the Huawei Ideos U8150 suddenly got very cheap. There were a few offers posted on OzB, and I seem to remember picking mine up at DSE. I bought it outright, but it might have come with a SIM starter kit that I never used.

I used it for about a year, then upgraded to a Galaxy S2… an infinitely better phone by any reckoning. Chucked the Huawei in a cupboard and barely touched it again.

Now I have use for a mobile WiFi hotspot, and figured I could resurrect the ol' Huawei. Got one of the $1 Dodo SIM packages. But it doesn't seem to want to connect to their data network.

Makes me think that it must have been network locked. But I can't remember who I used, who it would be locked to, so I have no idea who to beg to for an unlock code.

I've used several different Optus resellers over the years, so that's the network I would have been on. I remember having Optus, TPG and Virgin (current) SIMs, but probably had others. I understand some of them work in spite of each others' locks, but others don't. So I might have, for example, stuck my existing TPG(?) SIM into a phone locked to the xxx network and had it work anyway… but now my new Dodo SIM won't.

Does anybody remember back that far to remember which network might have been pimping out the mighty Huawei, probably in early 2011?

Thanks,
tim

Mobile

Comments

  • tanoshiiki on 09/10/2013 - 16:33

    Virgin.

    http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/48758

    I bought one of them too.

  • scotty on 09/10/2013 - 16:40

    Here are some of old Huawei U8150 deals — do you remember where you bought it from? DickSmith one should be unlocked. Otherwise it's likely to be locked to Virgin. While they use Optus network, Virgin-locked ones might not be able to work with SIMs from other Optus resellers. You sure your current Virgin SIM doesn't work?

    You might also have got it from CrazyJohns, which would have locked to Vodafone.

  • snappy1234 on 09/10/2013 - 16:41
    +3

    Barefoot…you may just need to change the APN for it to work ?

    • ESEMCE on 09/10/2013 - 16:47

      ^This

  • ajh on 09/10/2013 - 23:41

    I bought one from ALDI for 60$ at that time and it was virgin.
    (theres a link to it in scottys post)

    I had to unlock it using some website for about 15$ i think

  • JediJan on 10/10/2013 - 20:30

    If you own a phone outright and it is now past the locking contract (as yours appears to be) then I don't believe you should have to pay a fee for unlocking. I have always unlocked my mobiles I have bought previously from Optus, 3 and Vodafone with no problems. Should be able to do so online by supplying your phone's imei (?) # under battery and possibly your name.

    • barefoot on 11/10/2013 - 16:44

      I expect so to… but my problem is knowing who I should supply these details to, because I don't recall who would have locked it.

      I'll have another try this weekend noting your suggestions. I'm pretty sure I tried my current Virgin SIM and it also didn't work - but I'm also pretty sure it wasn't originally a Virgin phone. I was an early Huawei adopter, and paid $149 or maybe even $199 for it at (I think) DSE… certainly not Aldi, and certainly more expensive than $60.

      I'll have another play with APN settings too. The whole process gets a bit tedious when I have to reboot the phone a few times, because it takes several minutes to wake up.

      Worst case, I'll just bin it. Or give it to my 5yo without a SIM to play (very slow) Angry Birds on. Or use it as an expendible GPS bike computer as I did for a while after I got the S2. It's not as though I have big $ invested in either the phone or the Dodo data SIM (which also wouldn't work in my S2, but it's still under contract to Virgin until December).

      Thanks all for your suggestions.

  • [Deactivated] on 11/10/2013 - 16:58

    I took up a Dodo mobile sim offer just for the data component, about 18 months ago. Optus network, yes, but would only work on Dodo's own (horribly speed throttled) APN.
    Try dodolns1 with CHAP authentication, if you haven't already.

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