So I've been trying to hunt down a source of information regarding device specific information based on device serial number. Does anyone have any idea where I can do this? And/Or, anyone have any idea what you can learn about a device's hardware, origin etc, based on the serial number?
Thanks
If you mean the IMEI, plenty. In the case of my Galaxy S4, I used it to find out who the original carrier was along with, if I recall correctly, the date the device was originally sold. Naturally, an IMEI check would also reveal if the device is blacklisted.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
If you mean the IMEI, plenty. In the case of my Galaxy S4, I used it to find out who the original carrier was along with, if I recall correctly, the date the device was originally sold. Naturally, an IMEI check would also reveal if the device is blacklisted.
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Oh, yeah, I know about the IMEI. The serial number is different. If you look at the About Phone menu, it's listed in the Status sub menu- second from the bottom.
Unfortunately then, I cannot answer your question. I know what info is built into the IMEI, but not the serial number.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
Unfortunately then, I cannot answer your question. I know what info is built into the IMEI, but not the serial number.
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Click to collapse
Thanks, though! I appreciate the effort.
Related
My phone has been repaired and IMEI number has changed.
I need to reinstall the old IMEI number.
Does anyone know how to do that?
It's illegal and you can't.
Your phone hasn't been repaired, it has been replaced, hence having a new IMEI.
Well, weather it's illegal or not really depends on where you are. There's no law in Bolivia for example that prevents it...
But seriously, unless you want to (try and) deceive your carrier there is no valid reason for a consumer to need to change the IMEI.
What problems are you experiencing with your new phone that you want to address?
i used have problem with my touch screen. htc fixed my problem but they changed my imei number.
i am using this phone in turkey and i registered with old imei number.
i just want to replace new imei number with the old one.
You can't. Why can you not just tell them your new IMEI?
I need a new bill for the new IMEI number.
but i don't have
tdeper said:
I need a new bill for the new IMEI number.
but i don't have
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Type *#06# into your dialer for your IMEI number
tdeper said:
I need a new bill for the new IMEI number.
but i don't have
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Click to collapse
or take off the battery, the new IMEI code is there with the serial number too.
i think what he ment is that in order to register a new IMEI he needs some prooving documents for the phone (AKA measure agains registering stolen phones)
It's not illegal to change IMEI #s in the U.S. We don't blacklist GSM phones, so thieves have no reason to change IMEIs. I want to know how to do it, though, because I think it is bull**** that AT&T tries to charge different data rates based on what kind of phone you have rather than how much data you actually use. They don't seem to be forcing the AT&T branded nexus ones onto the more expensive data plan yet, but there's speculation that it's only because they don't yet have the IMEIs in their database.
So please drop the legality comments and post if you have something useful to add.
maxh said:
It's not illegal to change IMEI #s in the U.S. We don't blacklist GSM phones, so thieves have no reason to change IMEIs. I want to know how to do it, though, because I think it is bull**** that AT&T tries to charge different data rates based on what kind of phone you have rather than how much data you actually use. They don't seem to be forcing the AT&T branded nexus ones onto the more expensive data plan yet, but there's speculation that it's only because they don't yet have the IMEIs in their database.
So please drop the legality comments and post if you have something useful to add.
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Hey dickhead drop the attitude. There was nothing like your elaboration in the op and you seem to have gained some insight that we're not privy to.
You jump in to a thread and start firing off, how about you have a little respect eh?
the regulations in Turkey state that you can register 1 imported cellphone in every 2 years, so once you use that, you are stuck with it for 2 years..its legal to change IMEI numbers until you get detected and the only consequence is that they block that IMEI number as well, nothing major..
you can change IMEI numbers for many other brands, I'm sure there is a way to do that so if anyone has an answer, I'd like to know as well in case I need it someday
Call HTC and tell them you need documentation and why. They should be able to provide it to you, OP.
And to the other guy... we have rules on this forum. One of them is that we don't do illegal ****, or teach others to do it. If AT&T disagrees with your sensibilities, change to another carrier. AT&T sucks anyway.
djmcnz said:
Hey dickhead drop the attitude. There was nothing like your elaboration in the op and you seem to have gained some insight that we're not privy to.
You jump in to a thread and start firing off, how about you have a little respect eh?
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If there's a dickhead in this thread it's the one spouting off because they think they were disrespected.
I wasn't even thinking about your post when I wrote mine. I get tired of IMEI-changing threads being effectively shutdown when someone makes a big deal over legality because it's illegal where they live and they assume it is everywhere. In plenty of the world it is not illegal and there are good reasons to want to do it to phones you legitimately own.
If there was any "attitude" at all in my post it was animosity towards carriers. I had no attitude towards any posters in this thread. I was even polite, saying please when asking for the legality comments to be dropped.
Changing IMEI Nos.
Lets forget about who is being nice and not nice and get to the subject matter at hand: changing IMEI numbers. I am interested in changing the IMEI number of my Nexus One.
I understand that changing the IMEI number is not illegal in the US (where I reside) and many other countries. So, can anyone point me in the right direction?
Regards,
Delafield
The problem with posting information like that is that it IS illegal in alot of countries. Where is XDA hosted? Who owns and runs it and what country are they in?
In many countries posessing the tools to change and IMEI is also illegal. So if someone were to start posting information it might not be illegal for you readers in the US, but it sure would be to have the information here for anyone hosting/runing/administrationg the forum in a country that it is illegal.
Bottom line is, its not about you, its about the people who run this forum and the rules they have decided to operate it under. You might think its just anal posters shutting down IMEI questions, but in fact they're being helpful by efectivly saying 'its illegal in many countries so you wont find the answer here'. I'm sure if you search there's many threads about IMEI closed by mods.
Having said that, if you are looking for that kind of information you are probably better off asking one of the many 'unlockers'. They would know about the security used on the Nexus and if its at all possible - AND if not illegal for them to help you they might do.
An IMEI # is a hardware generated number, and it is hard-locked to your device. Cant be changed, and even if it could there are no assurances that you wont duplicate a number out there already.
Whoever claimed changing IMEI's in the US is not illegal is wrong.
You are changing the IMEI to trick your network provider to steal services. This is fraud AND theft. It is most DEFINITELY illegal!
mikesm1234 said:
An IMEI # is a hardware generated number, and it is hard-locked to your device. Cant be changed, and even if it could there are no assurances that you wont duplicate a number out there already.
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Click to collapse
Actually on some phones its burned into OTP - but thats really rare these days. Its more often stored in a signed phone specific area (which also holds the simlock info) which isnt touched by any firmware updates. To change it you need to break that security or find some hole. As manufacturers make their phones harder and harder to unlock this secure area becomes harder and harder to change.
Most sim unlocks these days come from service centers, so although you can see _most_ phones out there can be simunlocked hardly any of those have had their secure area broken open.
Also the IMEI isnt used as a unique identifier for any network operations, so duplicating the numbers isnt a 'technical' problem.
But you can see from the above why even if it was legal its not easy and sometimes not even possible.
I need to change IMEI number for the following reason: I have an old phone that runs on a very good Sprint plan. However, when I bought a new phone (Nexus S) and wanted to replace my old phone, Sprint told me I need to change my plan too (with an 80% increase in monthly bill). So now that I have two phones in hand, I wanna copy my old phone's IMEI into the new phone and start using it as if I'm still using the old phone.
Please help!
Hi,
I bought a mobile while in the US. Later returning to India, I though of using it in GSM after reading posts in XDA. Removed the back cover and was shocked to see the labels were erased/tampered. The label inside the battery door is also erased. (See the attached images)
My Droid 4 that i got from ASURION due to original phone damage! I have the box from them there are 2 codes on the box!! Top one reads s300-1710-droid4. Next one below the 1st one reads: ESN(dec) 990000*******68. Was told it was a brand new phone! Don't know what has happened. Please tell me if these codes are Genuine! I am totally confused.
Is there any way to recover all those details that were in the original phone?
Having an IMEI with the below is OK?
990000*******68
I am going to use it outside US, to be exact in India. I like to see what my phones original IMEI, ESN, MEID etc are. Is there any other way to find the factory ones?
The about phone menu shows the same IMEI thats in the box.
Any help is really appreciated.
Thank you
If you got it from Asurion, I doubt it was new. I don't know this for sure, but my feeling is that you have a refurb with a (legally) reprogrammed number. Since most people will never take the back cover off, they either just scrapped off the old number and didn't bother putting a new one on, or (more likely) somebody forgot to put a new sticker over it.
I don't know of any way you could recover the original number (it should have been overwritten), nor any reason why you would want to.
IMEI
podspi said:
If you got it from Asurion, I doubt it was new. I don't know this for sure, but my feeling is that you have a refurb with a (legally) reprogrammed number. Since most people will never take the back cover off, they either just scrapped off the old number and didn't bother putting a new one on, or (more likely) somebody forgot to put a new sticker over it.
I don't know of any way you could recover the original number (it should have been overwritten), nor any reason why you would want to.
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Click to collapse
So IMEI with 990000*******68 is okay? Will I be able to Update via the Verizon if my actual IMEI is erased and have a new one?
I tried Motorola online warranty check but my bad luck, it said my IMEI was wrong. Below is the link for checking the info.
http://servicemyphone.motorola.com/iden/support/showUnitSearch.do
anoopch said:
So IMEI with 990000*******68 is okay? Will I be able to Update via the Verizon if my actual IMEI is erased and have a new one?
I tried Motorola online warranty check but my bad luck, it said my IMEI was wrong. Below is the link for checking the info.
http://servicemyphone.motorola.com/iden/support/showUnitSearch.do
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Click to collapse
If the phone works, the IMEI must be ok. I don't know how to check if it is valid, though.
Also, I wouldn't worry about software updates, I don't think it checks the IMEI during updates. That being said, if you plan on modifying the D4 to connect to GSM networks, you might not be able to update anyway.
Does the phone boot? If it does, go into the settings -> about -> status and punch in the IMEI number you see on the Motorola warranty check.
danifunker said:
Does the phone boot? If it does, go into the settings -> about -> status and punch in the IMEI number you see on the Motorola warranty check.
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Ya it worked. It seems that the Droid 4 has IMEI starting with 990000
Mine is still in warranty.
Sent from my DROID4 using xda premium
I'm eligible to have this Vivid unlocked, but I keep getting the run around from AT&T. They say that they havent received codes from HTC to unlock this device.
Thoughts?
Strange, I just called up HTC and the IMEI I gave them does not exist.
I gave them the serial number and it produced an entirely different IMEI than the one that the software and the sticker underneath the battery shows. Has anyone ever encountered this? Will my phone still unlock if the OS thinks the IMEI number is wrong??
Senorkabob said:
Strange, I just called up HTC and the IMEI I gave them does not exist.
I gave them the serial number and it produced an entirely different IMEI than the one that the software and the sticker underneath the battery shows. Has anyone ever encountered this? Will my phone still unlock if the OS thinks the IMEI number is wrong??
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Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1681145
If you are s-off see here. if you are not I can not help you
I just bought a Nexus 6 on Ebay, but I had problem register it on motorola.com. I went on live chat support with a Motorola representative, and according to her (her chat name is Alistair) "IMEI will come from the service provider upon activation of the network." This make me very confusing. I believe that IMEI should be come from manufacturer. Can anyone confirm this?
cucaido said:
I just bought a Nexus 6 on Ebay, but I had problem register it on motorola.com. I went on live chat support with a Motorola representative, and according to her (her chat name is Alistair) "IMEI will come from the service provider upon activation of the network." This make me very confusing. I believe that IMEI should be come from manufacturer. Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMEI is associated with the device. On Android 6.0, you will find it under Settings/About phone/Status/IMEI information
Never heard of that one! IMEI is unique device number and it comes with every device, regardles of service provider, so I have no idea what she was talking about.
Maybe your phone was already registered before if you have bought 2nd hand or refurbished device...
cam30era said:
IMEI is associated with the device. On Android 6.0, you will find it under Settings/About phone/Status/IMEI information
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Click to collapse
I gave her the IMEI number under setting->"IMEI information", but she said it is invalid. She assisted me to contact my service provider for a valid IMEI.
cucaido said:
I gave her the IMEI number under setting->"IMEI information", but she said it is invalid. She assisted me to contact my service provider for a valid IMEI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately your service provider will not be able to help with a "valid" IMEI number. As mentioned previously, the IMEI number is specific to the device and does not have anything at all to do with your service provider (carrier).
Sounds like some one reported the device stolen and then changed the IMEI to an invalid one and then sold it.
As stated above the IMEI is hardcoded to the phone. It is basicly the serial number of the board in the phone. This information is stored on the EFS partition for other devices. Not sure where it is stored on the nexus 6 yet.
On the Nexus 6 it's called EFS too. At least that's what TWRP offers to backup.
cucaido said:
I just bought a Nexus 6 on Ebay, but I had problem register it on motorola.com. I went on live chat support with a Motorola representative, and according to her (her chat name is Alistair) "IMEI will come from the service provider upon activation of the network." This make me very confusing. I believe that IMEI should be come from manufacturer. Can anyone confirm this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Motorola websites ( uk,usa,canada,brazil,india,middle east) etc. only accept imei numbers from devices which are bought form their spesific region. For example, If your devices' origin is from Brazil, you need to register it from moto brazil website, otherwise you can run into such stupid issues with other motorola region support girls Since they dont have a clue of what they are talking about, never bother with them. You can find the origin of region on the original device box. If you dont have the box, check www.imeidata.net , motorola warranty. That site will give you enough information about the origin of your device, helping you register it with a certain motorola website. Hope it helps.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
Hello,
I bought a used phone in Canada (almost brand new). It is blue 6/128GB variant. In the blue backplate, and in the One UI about phone it says SM-N960U and in both areas it has the same IMEI number. The back glass looks original.
But when I do a IMEI lookup online it says SM-N960W (used more than one site) and the phone is not blocked.
Is this normal?
Install the app "phone info samsung" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.vndnguyen.phoneinfo
It should give you all the answers
tippytaps said:
Hello,
I bought a used phone in Canada (almost brand new). It is blue 6/128GB variant. In the blue backplate, and in the One UI about phone it says SM-N960U and in both areas it has the same IMEI number. The back glass looks original.
But when I do a IMEI lookup online it says SM-N960W (used more than one site) and the phone is not blocked.
Is this normal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the user probably flashed U or u1 firmware using patched Odin. which you can revert if the need be. general discussion and guides section has the how to.
but from what i gather you are in the states? so actualy keeping it as U might be beneficial for you...
anyways W and U (or u1) are all the same phone hardware wise. if ure happy with it and its working good then that shouldn't be an issue. unless its not payed off and once it comes to term and balance is not payed, it will get black listed and carriers will stop it from operating in their network.( so check esn state.)
---------- Post added at 05:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:54 PM ----------
Snowby123 said:
Install the app "phone info samsung" https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.vndnguyen.phoneinfo
It should give you all the answers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
acctualy it will just read what's flashed. so...
eg: if its a true W and someone flashed U firmware with patched Odin, then that app will report it as a n960u because it just reads what firmware resides on it.
IMEI can't be changed by firmware, it can only be permanently change by changing QCN & CERT, which will not work on you Note 9, so far.
I remember there were Xposed modules changing IMEI, but not permanently, just as an overlay.
Factory reset, upgrading to newer versions, debloating your phone.
Of course your real IMEI will show up simply.
You don't have to worry about your IMEI locationg another varian, I had similar experience, sadly their info about my variant was wrong.
Check your bootloader, it can not be faked.
Mohamedkam000 said:
IMEI can't be changed by firmware, it can only be permanently change by changing QCN & CERT, which will not work on you Note 9, so far.
I remember there were Xposed modules changing IMEI, but not permanently, just as an overlay.
Factory reset, upgrading to newer versions, debloating your phone.
Of course your real IMEI will show up simply.
You don't have to worry about your IMEI locationg another varian, I had similar experience, sadly their info about my variant was wrong.
Check your bootloader, it can not be faked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
none of what you mention is the subject at hand. he is wondering that MODEL he has.
moreover talking or suggesting about changing imei is not aloud on xda.
he did say that during a imei check online it was linked to apparently a different model than he thinks he has.
bober10113 said:
none of what you mention is the subject at hand. he is wondering that MODEL he has.
moreover talking or suggesting about changing imei is not aloud on xda.
he did say that during a imei check online it was linked to apparently a different model than he thinks he has.
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Click to collapse
What's the sexiest IMEI number on a device you have ever owned? I had one back in the UK once and the last 4 or 6 digits were all 1s.
In regards to op phone being blacklisted, do Canadian carriers share IMEI list with USA carriers? I was under the impression that only the originating carrier could blacklist the device only on their Network.
I only a couple more years ago , there was news that USA carriers shared their IMEI blacklisted numbers. But wasn't aware that for example, a T-Mobile blacklisted device could still work on att .
Sent from my EVR-L29 using Tapatalk
Limeybastard said:
What's the sexiest IMEI number on a device you have ever owned? I had one back in the UK once and the last 4 or 6 digits were all 1s.
In regards to op phone being blacklisted, do Canadian carriers share IMEI list with USA carriers? I was under the impression that only the originating carrier could blacklist the device only on their Network.
I only a couple more years ago , there was news that USA carriers shared their IMEI blacklisted numbers. But wasn't aware that for example, a T-Mobile blacklisted device could still work on att .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
zeroes..
many holes.
my thoughs are that blacklisted imeis are like bad credit...