[Replicant] Network unlocking on Replicant

amuza amuza at riseup.net
Mon Apr 1 20:04:00 UTC 2019



Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli:
> On Mon, 01 Apr 2019 01:17:00 +0000
> amuza <amuza at riseup.net> wrote:
> 
>> Hi,
> Hi,
> 
>> I installed Replicant on a Galaxy i9300, and then I noticed it was
>> network-locked.
>>
>> I followed some instructions on several websites to unlock it, but I
>> did not succeed. I even paid for the unlocking services of a website:
>> I gave them some data (country, original telephone network and IMEI)
>> and they gave me the unlocking code, but it did not work either : (
>>
>> I guess I should have asked here before doing anything of the above...
> This is an issue that is related to the way we wrote the installation
> instructions.
> 
> Our way to deal with installation instructions have some issues:
> - We have one installation instruction for each Replicant device we
>   support or group of devices when the hardware is very similar. So that
>   makes 9 installation instructions. Updating the instructions usually
>   means that we need to update it for each device or group of devices.
> - I tried to fix it by making some generic installation instruction
>   that cover many more devices at once[1][2], however I didn't have
>   many people reporting if they work fine.
>   As I understand from test with people, the new generic instructions
>   are harder to follow as the person following it needs to understand
>   exactly which image to download, whereas in the device specific
>   instructions there was a link to the images so it was easier.
> 
> Because of the above, there is actually some documentation about how
> to install Replicant while keeping the unlock in the Galaxy Nexus
> installation instructions[3] but this was not added back to all the
> installation instruction mentioned above.
> 
> To move forward on that:
> - It would be great to have more people test the generic instructions,
>   especially if they have very basic command line knowledge and are
>   not very confident with it. 
>   The first Saturday of each month, I'm involved in an install party
>   that is called "Premier Samedi du Libre" in Paris[4] where I sometimes
>   help people install Replicant, and I'm also trying to get more
>   feedback there. But finding people that are fluent enough in English,
>   that not very confident with the command line, that have the time, and
>   that have everything required to install Replicant (compatible
>   smartphone, the will to do it) is not that common.
> 
>   More specifically I'm interested in understanding what is complicated
>   to understand in the instructions, and more specifically if making
>   them generic results in people not being able to follow them by their
>   own (so without any knowledgeable people nearby to help them or to
>   reassure them that they are doing it right).
> 
> - We need to add documentation on the partitions present on the
>   devices. This way anyone could verify if the instructions that works
>   on the Galaxy Nexus are supposed to work on the other devices too.
>   I've already started doing that for the Galaxy SIII 4G[5], and I'll
>   also do it for the other devices I have access to.
>   Once this is done we would just need to test such instructions on
>   for all the supported devices.
> 
> Backuping the EFS partition, which is just data is also crucial as
> under certain conditions the data on that partition can be corrupted.
> If that happens people cannot use the cellular network anymore as the modem
> fails to work.
> It could also prevent the device from booting if the partition is not
> able to be mounted.
> 
> References:
> -----------
> [1]https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/RecoveryInstallationWithHeimdall
> [2]https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/MinorVersionUpgrade
> [3]https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/GalaxyNexusI9250Installation
> [4]https://www.agendadulibre.org/events/19212
> [5]https://redmine.replicant.us/projects/replicant/wiki/GalaxyS3I9305#Partitions
> 
> Denis.
> 

Hi Denis,

Thank you for your answer, but there must be a misunderstanding of my
problem, or maybe the message you sent was not really for me... The
thing is that I got lost with your answer : )

My question is: How can I network-unlock a Replicant i9300?

I installed Replicant on this Galaxy i9300 easily (the instructions on
the Replicant website are really good -congratulations, by the way).
But, when I booted the phone, it asked me for the "SIM network unlock
PIN". So this phone was one of those sold by one of those
Telecomunications Companies which lock them to stay in their network.

And that's when I went to the Internet and followed some unlocking
instructions for the Samsung Galaxy SIII i9300 which did not work, and
also paid for a network-unlocking service which did not work either.

Next time I install Replicant on a phone I guess I should first check
whether it is network locked or unlocked. Maybe it is easier to unlock
phones with their original firmware.

So, how can I unlock it now?



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