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When there comes a new device, there come hackers who want to use all of its capabilities. We saw this last summer with the unlocking on the original iPhone. The BlackBerry Storm presents an excellent hacking opportunity because of its dual radios. Get the GSM radio working, and you might be able to get it up on T-Mobile or AT&T in the U.S. It appears that one Howard Forum member was able to get it done. A little description after the jump.
It actually doesn’t sound all that complicated. Verizon hands out unlock codes if you’re headed to Europe and want to use another carrier’s SIM, so you just call them up and tell them that. They’ll send you an email trying to dissuade you, but you can just say “that’s okay, I want my unlock code,” and they’ll give it to you.
After you get the code, you have to download the T-Mobile (or AT&T, I guess) service books. There are three additional steps as well. You can find instructions here. After you follow them, you should be up and running on T-Mobile’s 2G network (sorry, no 3G). The Howard user even says his VZNavigator works when he’s on T-Mobile. He also notes that you can switch between networks.
As of now I have no Storm, thus no way of confirming this. Anyone give it a try? If you do, leave a comment and let us know how it goes.
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24 Comments ↓
Important note- 2G *only*.
I’ve found T-Mobile’s 2G network (GPRS) to be near-unusable. Quite often, I can’t get a BIS connection over their GPRS network, so only apps that can use a direct TCP connection will function. And very slowly.
This is cool from a pure techie perspective, but I wouldn’t call this a practical solution. Especially since Verizon won’t allow WiFi on their devices to mitigate this problem.
Since it’s dual band will it work with sprint if unlocked? Also i heard the vondafone version would be easier to accomplish the at&t t-mobile sim swap.
If the storm runs on T-mobile’s 2G network is it going to have the same speeds as the curve? or is it going to be slower? is it still EDGE?
Twenty: From what I’ve read/heard, Sprint will not let you activate any phone that isn’t Sprint branded. So, no, even if you get the Storm unlocked you will not be successful trying to get Storm working on Sprint. Sorry.
Weston: 2G is EDGE so it’ll be just as fast as your Curve. Keep in mind T-Mobile’s been working on converting some of their bigger markets to 3G, some of them already are 3G. The Storm is 3G capable so if you’re in one of T-Mobile’s big markets you should have 3G connection… If you’re as unlucky as I am and live in the boondocks, you will not get to enjoy T-Mobile’s 3G for YEARS to come. Yup.
MII and Twenty,
I’m a sprint user and have called tech support recently asking if it were possible to use an unlocked phone on there network. The technician explained that the phone I wanted to try was not compatible with there network, but offered to try if I wanted to. I did not have the phone so I did not try. He was willing to try for me though. I’ve been thinking about trying to get a strom to try it but it’s a bit expensive to simply “try” to see if it works.
if you switch it to att can you use the 3g internet like if i took a iphone 3gs sim card and put it in the blackberry would it have the 3g internet
Okay the even if you unlock the storm to work on tmobiles 2g edge network it will NOT work on their 3g since the storm does not have the correct frequency bands (1700/2100)but will work as fast as the curve on edge.
ANY ONE HAVE VERIZONS EMAIL??
I just got my Storm Unlocked for T-mobile today and it doesnt have any internet connection on it…Does anyone know where can I download the service book for t-mobile?
Andy, here you go.
http://images.crackberry.com/files/kevin/101/stormunlock/tmo_servicebooks.zip
Question for you guys…How can the storm work on t-mobile if it only has the dual international frequencies? Thanks in advance
Unlock Your Verizon Blackberry Storm at http://www.Cellphoneunlockingonline.com
If you can’t get the code from Verizon, your best bet is to contact these guys, they
can unlock anything,
Hi Will,
The Verizon Blackberry Storm 9530 is a CDMA phone, but is also has Quad Band GSM Coverage built in.
This, when the phone is unlocked will allow you to use it on any GSM network in the world
just get an unlock code from verizon, if they refuse to give you one, you can buy one from us.
enter it and your phone will be permanently unlocked to work with any GSM network including T-mobile.
Regards,
Alen
Andy,
I am curious to know how things are working for you…?
I just chatted with someone on the Verizon website and they told me that the storm would work on other networks. I was specifically asking if it would work if I just put my sim card from my t mobile phone into the storm. And I asked her 2 times and both times she told me yes it will work and yes the storm will work on other networks. I would like to know if this is true before I purchase the storm.
Andy how did u get your storm unlocked
I really need to know!!!!!!!! well, can the Storm become prepaid with T-Mobile?
Alen - thanks for the info. I was under the impression it only had dual gsm. I will give it a try.
I just got the storm and called verizon for the unlock coad and I just found out they don’t give out unlock coads is there any other way it can be unlocked ?
Ya, just buy a code
from Freeyourcellphon.com
Just Buy a code
after i get the phone unlocked where do i go from there? how do i use the phone after its unlocked?
does have a slot for a sim card on the back
I found a company that unlocks the Blackberry Storm so you can use it on any network. http://www.cellularunlockcodes.com
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