Help unlocking Note 2

[Alexp08]

im sure this has already been asked/answered but the auction is about to go off on ebay and i need a quick answer. can a note 2 from us cellular be unlocked to work on at&t. and is it hard?
thanks

 

[Alexp08]

okay lol just bought it, can someone direct me to a link on how to do it? thanks

 

[NeoGrandizer]

Check XDA developers. There was someone there that found a method to unlock it through the phone's diagnostic settings. However it is a hit and miss and not guaranteed. You can try that method first as it's a 'built-in' option. If not you will need to pay to have it unlocked.

I personally haven't tried it as it seems based on luck as well.

Edit: here's the link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2037017

 

[colnago]

Given that the carriers use different technologies (gsm vs. CDMA), it will be harder than it needs to be. T-Mo (USA) version confirmed to function on at&t HSPA.

Good luck with that.

 

[Alexp08]

lol "good luck with that" he/she says, thats reassuring!! well its already bought im gonna try to do it regaurdless and let you know how it turns out. thanks for the link to the XDA forums, much help!

 

[colnago]

Does the US Cellular phone even accept a SIM? If not, it won't work on at&t's network. If it does, the phone would then have to posses the 850/1900 radios for use on the network. If the answer is no for either question, unlocking will not help at all.

 

[Alexp08]

lol funny thing, i work for US cellular but i have at&t as a phone carrier. im not currently able to upgrade and the us cellular note 2 went for a little bit cheaper then the at&t at the time of the auction. but yes the us cellular phone do now accept sim cards, but only the phones that are 4g capable (which the note 2 is) as for the radio, i dont know.

 

[Alexp08]

3G CDMA 800/1900MHz EvDo Rev A/4G LTE, this was a spec on the site - is that what you mean as far as radio?

 

[colnago]

3G CDMA 800/1900MHz EvDo Rev A/4G LTE, this was a spec on the site - is that what you mean as far as radio?

At&t is not a CDMA carrier, and the US Cellular LTE frequency is most likely not the same either.

 

[Alexp08]

ive also found this. LTE, HSDPA+ (4G) 42.2 Mbit/s, HSUPA 5.76 Mbit/s, UMTS, EDGE, GPRS, EV-DO Rev.A. which notes that itll run off of HSDPA and edge which is at&t, but i dont no, im getting mixed signals lol so i guess all i can do is wait and find out when it gets here.

 

[colnago]

At&t = 850/1900 GSM/UMTS.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

Okay, I got this info from PDAdb.net, not sure how accurate this is. This is for the Galaxy Note 2 (SCH-R950) which is US Cellular branded.

Cellular Networks: CDMA800 (BC0), CDMA1900 (BC14), CDMA1700/2100 (BC15)

Cellular Data-Links:cdmaOne, CDMA2000 1xRTT, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rel. 0, CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev A

Secondary Cellular Networks:LTE850 (B5), LTE1700/2100 (B4), LTE1900 (B2), LTE700 (B12)

Secondary Cellular Data Links:LTE

I have no idea if it'll work. Maybe colnago can confirm if it will indeed work or not with this info.

 

[h1r0ll3r]

Check XDA developers. There was someone there that found a method to unlock it through the phone's diagnostic settings. However it is a hit and miss and not guaranteed. You can try that method first as it's a 'built-in' option. If not you will need to pay to have it unlocked.

I personally haven't tried it as it seems based on luck as well.

Edit: here's the link
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2037017

I did this unlock and it worked perfectly for me. Some of the users have claimed it to be hit or miss so it's not 100%. I followed the steps as described and my AT&T Note 2 is now unlocked. I tested it with a T-Mo SIM and it picked up the network and I was able to place a call without any error messages or whatever popping up on the phone.

 

[NeoGrandizer]

The OP is bringing over a US Cellular CDMA phone over to AT&T. The question now is whether it will work in the AT&T infrastructure even if the phone is unlocked. I honestly don't know.

 

[Alexp08]

after doing the reasearch ive done im going to say it wont work. but i did work for at&t and i remember them saying that phones could be unlocked from us cellular but the 3g/4g wouldnt work and it would only run on edge, which is fine as im usually around wifi. but i was under the impression that the note 2 was a world phone and would be able to work on any frequency as long as you got the unlock code. but ive been wrong before lol i gues only time will tell.