Q These problems included the phone recognising the home network as a 'roaming' network,
A I can understand why you say as their are 100 of sim card overlay devices on the market.
Most of them use the original hack to get in to the phone where a spoofed IMSI is sent to the phone where the first 5 digits of the IMSI is sent as 00101xxxxxxxxxx.
The problem with this old hack is that the phone does not get the Original IMSI of the network simcard to be able to create Authentication Keys and can only use pre stored TIMSI keys in the network sim to connect to the network. On top of that this method only works for GSM/PCN 2G networks.
This limits the user experience and users would need to Turn off 3G UMTS connectivity in the phone and is not a very good way of doing things.
The thing is with the Rebel simcard II we are are never supplying the phone with wrong info. The phone always obtains the Real IMSI of the network simcard used 100 % so users loose any other the functions of the phones and can use all 3G functions.
Q dodgy reception (no signal where other phones have full signal),
A Yes if you use other products that supply a Fake network code to the Phone you are limited to 2G networks where as with the Rebel Simcard II you have Full 3G functions as the Real IMSI is supplied to the phone at all times.
Q inability to use 3G networks, AAs described if use TMSI to get network signal and send fake IMSI to the phone then you cant use 3G. However with the Rebel Simcard II its possible to use the Full 3G as no info is tampered with and the network gets the correct info
Q an apparent inability to switch cell mid-call AYes this is correct if your sim unlocker supports only TMSI as the TIMSI is a Temporary IMSI which is valid only within a certain area and when you travel outside this are or go though a tunnel before you can reconnect to the network the phone will need to send the Original IMSI to the network agian to get you going agian.
With the Rebel Simcard II as the phone is given the Correct IMSI in the first place as it does not tamper with any data coming and going to the network and network simcard. So users always have network and ability to travel freely without signal loss.
Q and also higher battery drain. AThe Sim overlay technology makes no drain on any resources as it uses existing power that goes to the network simcard and that Voltage is set by an ISO specification and cannot change.
Also the magic is done at the boot up stage of the phone only in few seconds and is not used all the time while the phone is running.
Hope that helps you better understand how sim overlay technology works
Quote:
Originally Posted by Scy
Thanks for this.
I have the same problem but I'm slightly reticent to go the Rebel sim route as I've had problems with similar devices in the past. These problems included the phone recognising the home network as a 'roaming' network, dodgy reception (no signal where other phones have full signal), inability to use 3G networks, an apparent inability to switch cell mid-call and also higher battery drain.
I'd like to try Iggy's route, but before I embark on that procedure could I ask if it's still possible to flash a stock HTC ROM after you've done all of this? I'd ideally prefer to end up with a stock phone rather than the MoDoCo ROM.
Last edited by rebelsimcard; April 24th, 2010 at 04:54 PM.
Reason: spelling errors
@madej: I know the Hero won't let you access it without a valid SIM, but I don't know if that would necessarily prevent you from performing any of these steps. I suspect it would. Worst case scenario, you could always get a PAYG SIM...
Hi Scy ,
I want to do this unlock but will this work if i have a orange Sim but i do the unlock in another country... reason being im in Asia and have a locked hero orange phone
Guys i hv found out my way to unlock HTC hero orange UK By using
1) rebel Sim
2) upgrading its firmware to 2.73.61.66. You can download it from HTC Support
first upgrade ur firmware then use your rebel sim. it will definately work!!!
Last edited by Slug; August 12th, 2010 at 03:20 PM.
Reason: link changed to official HTC site
Q and also higher battery drain. A [I]The Sim overlay technology makes no drain on any resources as it uses existing power that goes to the network simcard and that Voltage is set by an ISO specification and cannot change.
Well, yes. I'd be amazed if the card itself was directly responsible for that battery drain for the reasons you mention, however I did notice a sizeable reduction in longevity, with the phone no longer lasting through a single day's use. I think this was because I hadn't disabled 3G data and the phone was constantly searching for a 3G network that it could use (which, thanks to the overlay, didn't exist).
Thanks for the rest of the info though, interesting to know.
The reason I'm back on this thread after a few months is because I'm now experiencing this problem all over again. My phone has just been returned to me from HTC repair, and it came back locked to Orange. Unfortunately, they had also changed the IMEI (probably changed the main board) and the original unlock code obviously won't work. Worse still, no-one can unlock it as the new IMEI hasn't appeared on their databases yet.
Hence I've just ordered a Rebel SIM. We'll see how that goes. The SIM overlay I'm currently using is driving me nuts, with all of the problems listed above in evidence. Right now I'm not even getting data through 2G networks, never mind 3G...
The Following User Says Thank You to Scy For This Useful Post:
What are you trying to do, exactly? This "dance" is no longer required to unlock Orange handsets as the most recent firmware removed the "unrecognised unlock code" bug.
I need to unlock an HTC Hero handset currently on Orange, how do I go about doing this? I've read through this thread but things have apparently changed since the original instructions were posted.....
The instructions here were only applicable for a short time, while Orange had a bug in a particular firmware. If your handset is running an up-to-date firmware there's no problem with unlock codes being accepted. Another member asked about unlocking here recently.
For tech lovers dreaming of a magical phone, HTC's 3rd Android Phone - the HTC Hero - seems poised to rescue the masses from mobile phone boredom. The design is a more sleek, sexy version of the HTC Dream and HTC Magic and both hardware and sof... Read More
Just to clarify some point and mis conceptions.
We'll see how that goes. The SIM overlay I'm currently using is driving me nuts, with all of the problems listed above in evidence. Right now I'm not even getting data through 2G networks, never mind 3G...
