Root Worth changing/possible to change CID?

[omdaddi]

I am a bit of a n00b, but whilst ill over the last few days I have had a happy time fiddling with my old GSM Hero on Orange UK. I had been running CyanogenMod 7.1 but have moved it to VanillaEclair 6.2 which is much much faster (though the DPI appears to hide some apps in the market; nothing sideloading can't fix). I had fun and games when I corrupted the recovery using ROM Manager to flash recovery, then forgot the right button to press on boot (Home) to get in to it, but I got there in the end.

Anyway...

My CID is ORANG001, and I wonder whether it is worth me trying to change it to Super CID (11111111). In my investigations I have managed to get ENG S-OFF, and fiddle about with fastboot.

I tried

fastboot oem writecid 11111111

but this failed ((bootloader) [ERR] Command error !!!), I suspect because writecid is not in the list when I do fastboot oem h, but possibly there are other reasons I don't understand.

I am still on Orange UK, but I used not to be, and may not be in the future. Whilst I drive a Desire HD at the moment, I still occasionally use this phone.


WILL this phone, on VanillaEclair work if I stick in a Sim from another network?

and

If it won't, is there a way to change the CID?

(I found the unlocking on Orange UK thread, but not sure if that changes the CID, and it requires an unlock code, which I don't have).

 

[omdaddi]

Probably worth noting a thread on htcsensationforum.com that explains that changing CID has no effect once you have discarded the stock ROM.

Changing the CID will not affect you in anyway. It just means you will not get OTA's from your carrier if you're on stock Rom.

I also realised that what I am really asking may be "Is rooting the same as unlocking?", something that has been asked before in these forums (the answer is "no").

Rooting and unlocking are two completely different procedures. Rooting your phone does NOT unlock it. In order to unlock your phone and use it on a different carrier, you must either purchase an unlock code (if you have GSM phone), flash a new carrier’s firmware manually through a cable (if you have a CDMA device), or you have to alter the phone’s baseband (as with the iPhone unlocking software).

This does not answer my "can I change my CID?" question though. Checking if I am unlocked is easy enough if I can find a willing friend on a different network.

 

[Xyro]

There is no point altering your CID, that I am aware of.

So, your ultimate aim to unlock the phone for use on other networks, right? Because whether or not your phone is locked to a network has no relation to your CID, or even what firmware you're on. Similarly, rooting or getting S-Off is not going to unlock your phone either.

As far as I'm aware, the only way to unlock a Hero is via purchasing an unlock code. Now, I do know that the Desire HD can be unlocked using a windows program, but I don't know if a similar exploit was ever found for the hero.

 

[omdaddi]

So, your ultimate aim to unlock the phone for use on other networks, right? Because whether or not your phone is locked to a network has no relation to your CID, or even what firmware you're on. Similarly, rooting or getting S-Off is not going to unlock your phone either.

I think that answers my question, and I think after my researches today you neatly summarise what I have found. It is like Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I didn't really know what my question was.

So, the whole point of the CID is *just* for OTA updates?

And what is the unlocking mechanism? Is there some cunning partition that we can't get at, or is it something on the network end that they change in response to the correct code?

 

[Xyro]

I think that answers my question, and I think after my researches today you neatly summarise what I have found. It is like Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - I didn't really know what my question was.

So, the whole point of the CID is *just* for OTA updates?

And what is the unlocking mechanism? Is there some cunning partition that we can't get at, or is it something on the network end that they change in response to the correct code?

Yeah, that seems to be the case. When you receive an OTA update, or use one of the desktop firmware installers (RUUs), it will check your CID to make sure you're using firmware with the correct branding. It also stops you installing older firmware. So if you have the super CID, which isn't recognised, you can install anything you want.

I'm not really sure on the specifics of the unlocking mechanism. However, you don't necessarily need to purchase an unlock code from your network provider (you can buy them cheaper from third parties) and some phones can be unlocked simply by tampering with the phone (e.g. the DHD). So I'd say the lock is going to be on the phone it's self.

 

[Slug]

what is the unlocking mechanism? Is there some cunning partition that we can't get at, or is it something on the network end that they change in response to the correct code?

It's coded within the device firmware, maybe the baseband ROM. I've never seen a method for unlocking the Hero other than using a code, so it must be well secured.

There are several recommendations from other users in this section for online unlockers. They'll be much cheaper (and probably quicker too) than Orange.