Unlock services

[richjdavies]

Hi all,

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S21 2nd hand and annoyingly it is locked to Vodacom.

This brings me to 2 questions:
1. How do you remove the SIM unlock on a phone?
-- Having just been scammed by a SIM unlock service (said cost is £25, but turns out there's a little box that says it's not really £24, but actually £90 total cost) I would be interested if there are ANY legit services out there!
-- Vodacom say they do it, after 24 months prepaid etc... but how do you find out as a 2nd hand buyer? Anyone had any experience with this? I don't have a Vodacom SIM, so can't really do it easily...
-- if someone says "take it to a local [insert racial slur here] - then please let me know who that might be - I'm in Southern suburbs CPT

2. For the S21 specifically - it has eSIM as hardware, but believe the Vodacom CSC turns it off... is there any way to turn it back on (I presume ODIN, plus new firmware...)

I'm pretty much decided to return this phone - as it wasn't advertised as being locked, but I sorta wanna know how to do it, because I imagine lots of 2nd hand phones have this issue and would be good to know if not for now, for next time!

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

loads of blacklisted or network locked phones still on contract out there,
especially S21's,

if you don't mind the warranty dissapearing , Id go down the route of Flashing, TWRP, rooting and replacing the vendor image
to one without all the locks enabled,

not sure if thats what you want to try next?

 

[Zurg]

Hi all,

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S21 2nd hand and annoyingly it is locked to Vodacom.

This brings me to 2 questions:
1. How do you remove the SIM unlock on a phone?
-- Having just been scammed by a SIM unlock service (said cost is £25, but turns out there's a little box that says it's not really £24, but actually £90 total cost) I would be interested if there are ANY legit services out there!
-- Vodacom say they do it, after 24 months prepaid etc... but how do you find out as a 2nd hand buyer? Anyone had any experience with this? I don't have a Vodacom SIM, so can't really do it easily...
-- if someone says "take it to a local [insert racial slur here] - then please let me know who that might be - I'm in Southern suburbs CPT

2. For the S21 specifically - it has eSIM as hardware, but believe the Vodacom CSC turns it off... is there any way to turn it back on (I presume ODIN, plus new firmware...)

I'm pretty much decided to return this phone - as it wasn't advertised as being locked, but I sorta wanna know how to do it, because I imagine lots of 2nd hand phones have this issue and would be good to know if not for now, for next time!

I purchased an S21+ from a fella who had it on contract with Vodacom, I flashed it the day I got it and Knox is still in tact, I can't speak for the unlocking stuff but I do have a telkom simcard in the device for phone calls which works without any issues.

 

[ThabsJ]

loads of blacklisted or network locked phones still on contract out there,
especially S21's,

if you don't mind the warranty dissapearing , Id go down the route of Flashing, TWRP, rooting and replacing the vendor image
to one without all the locks enabled,

not sure if thats what you want to try next?

Hey, I'm a victim to a second hand S21 that got blacklisted. How does one go about flashing it? And will knox remain?

 

[richjdavies]

Thanks for the advice all.

I'm not so worried about warranty, but do still want to be able to do things like using banking apps, Google wallet etc which can become difficult if rooted

Just to reiterate, I'm talking about a phone that appears to be locked to one network (Vodacom) and so doesn't recognise any other Sims in either slot.

I am NOT talking about stolen/blacklist locks...(I think )

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Thanks for the advice all.

I'm not so worried about warranty, but do still want to be able to do things like using banking apps, Google wallet etc which can become difficult if rooted

Just to reiterate, I'm talking about a phone that appears to be locked to one network (Vodacom) and so doesn't recognise any other Sims in either slot.

I am NOT talking about stolen/blacklist locks...(I think )

I manage with Banking apps and google wallet, just needs to be hidden properly in Magisk.
quite a few apps pick up rooting and start acting weird.

there are solutions, one just needs to do a bit of fiddling and adjustments.

 

[EL'Diablo]

Hi all,

I bought a Samsung Galaxy S21 2nd hand and annoyingly it is locked to Vodacom.

This brings me to 2 questions:
1. How do you remove the SIM unlock on a phone?
-- Having just been scammed by a SIM unlock service (said cost is £25, but turns out there's a little box that says it's not really £24, but actually £90 total cost) I would be interested if there are ANY legit services out there!
-- Vodacom say they do it, after 24 months prepaid etc... but how do you find out as a 2nd hand buyer? Anyone had any experience with this? I don't have a Vodacom SIM, so can't really do it easily...
-- if someone says "take it to a local [insert racial slur here] - then please let me know who that might be - I'm in Southern suburbs CPT

2. For the S21 specifically - it has eSIM as hardware, but believe the Vodacom CSC turns it off... is there any way to turn it back on (I presume ODIN, plus new firmware...)

I'm pretty much decided to return this phone - as it wasn't advertised as being locked, but I sorta wanna know how to do it, because I imagine lots of 2nd hand phones have this issue and would be good to know if not for now, for next time!

Cell shop close to Fruit and Veg in access park, next to sound match i think, if i remember correct i had a friend with a similar issue but cant remember EXACTLY what phone etc it was, try those guys