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View Full Version : Message: New IMEI found... what's this?



EdgeCrusher
23-04-2004, 07:22 AM
I recently unlocked my nokia 1100, and i get the message "phone restriction off" (or something like that)... But, i had never tried another SIM.. until yesterday.

A friend of mine recently bought a siemens A56 from another provider, and i decided to try her sim on my phone...

My surprise came when my phone gave me the following message

"New IMEI found", and then "Searching for network"... what did this mean? I couldn't get network, because we were on a basement of an important building, so no network there.

But, i'm a little afraid about the "New IMEI found" message. What does it mean? The IMEI of the phone is on the SIMcard, and it registrates the phone by the IMEI on the network?

When i put the SIM back on her phone, it worked with no problems...

Can anybody tell me what does this message means please?

Thanks in advance gentleman

Edge

Yotamz
23-04-2004, 02:23 PM
that's strange... the imei is stored on the phone, not on the sim..

are you sure it is "new imei found" and not "new imsi found"?
imsi (international mobile subscriber identity) is a number stored on the sim for identification to the network. if you have replaced your simcard with a new one, your phone might display "new imsi found"..

i haven't seen such message on any other phone, but i've also never seen a nokia 1100..

EdgeCrusher
24-04-2004, 02:30 AM
that's why i was worried. The message said "New IMEI" found", I'm sure about that.

And the IMEI is the identification of the phone, not the SIM goddamn it...

I don't really know what is this. I was worried about damaging the SIM. I would have let the SIM more time on the phone, but i was really afraid about the SIM, because it was not of my property, and it the owner was by my side hehe... good luck she didn't knew what the fuck was happening..

Well, let's see. Is there any way i can damage the SIM? i know that i can write on certain parts of the sim (phone numbers, messages...).. and i can guess that i can't write or damage the system sector of the SIM... but, are we sure about that?

It'll be interesting to find out a little more about this nice new message... but, hell, my friend will be pretty anger with me if i let her without phone for one week...

so, Yotamz, any idea about this? As long as I know, the IMEI is on the phone, but... i thought... is there a way to match the SIM to a certain phone via IMEI?

Waiting for your opinion
Edge

Yotamz
24-04-2004, 05:14 AM
well... that sure is weird..

1100 is a dct4 phone. the way to change it's imei is so hard even if you want to, so i don't believe it will just change itself..

about the sim, you have already used it in the phone (when you got the message for the first time) and it was ok so it will be ok next time.


is there a way to match the SIM to a certain phone via IMEI?
no.. there is no way to do that..


you can either ask your operator about it, look in the manual (it might be there somewhere) or wait for dct4 decoding to be easier and then someone who can read the flash files may be able to tell you what it is..

EdgeCrusher
24-04-2004, 06:00 AM
Can't ask my carrier, because they say that is illegal to unlock a phone, so they can't know i've unlocked mine... fuck'em.. and hell, it's not illegal, but i loose my warranty.

And the manual doesn't say anything about this.

This is pretty strange, don't you think so?

I mean... new IMEI??

and please confirm me.. is there a way that i can damage the sim? because, well... maybe this time i've been lucky. Remember that i couldn't get network. But, maybe, if i get network, something can happen with the SIM. And I'd be fucked up...

Edge

Yotamz
24-04-2004, 12:49 PM
normally a phone can't get to the "sensitive" parts of the simcard and can only write to the phonebook, sms, pin codes etc..

i don't want to promise anything, as it is also the first time i see a message like this, but there is a chance of less than one to a million that something happens to the sim..

EdgeCrusher
25-04-2004, 05:48 AM
Ok, it's confirmed, that's the message: "New IMEI found".

Today a friend of mine (another one hehe) bought a 1100, and the guy at the store activated it in front of us. When he put in the SIM, the message appeared: "New IMEI found". It's good to remark that he bought the phone from the same provider than my other friend... interesting i think.

Now that i have another 1100, i'm gonna switch SIMs. Tomorrow I'll test my own SIM on his new phone, so I'll see what happens, and what we can discover.

I guess that what could happen is this: if the other phone gives the same message, it's something particular to the 1100 i guess. If it doesn't returns the same message, it's something particular to the SIMs of that certain provider... what can we do to find out what is happening?

Tomorrow I'll post the news if you're interested in Yotamz.

Edge

Yotamz
25-04-2004, 04:16 PM
Tomorrow I'll post the news if you're interested in Yotamz.

i am.. :)

and i also think this is the interest of the forum.



what can we do to find out what is happening?

as i said before, i've never seen this message and never seen a 1100..
but, then you can ask your provider, you will not have to tell them you unlocked your phone, you only used your simcard in another 1100.. which is ok..

pacificfones
25-04-2004, 04:24 PM
Might be that the new sim card generates this message, since as mentioned the IMEI is on the phone, maybe the sim you tried was sim locked in it's old phone, and noticed a new phone was in use, hence the message.

EdgeCrusher
26-04-2004, 01:28 AM
We have three GSM providers here in argentina: Personal, from Telecom France; Unifon, from Telefonica de España, and CTI, a local provider (CTI equals Compañía Telefónica del Interior).

Today I unlocked my friend's 1100 (The Ultimate calc works perfect). After unlocking it, i tried my own SIM, from Personal, on his phone (previosly locked to CTI). It worked perfectly. I don't know why, but, like 30 seconds after registering on the network, it sent a message, i don't know to which number, and don't know the content of the message. But, it worked perfectly. I made a pair of calls, and called to my phone. This means that the new phone was succesfully unlocked, and there's no problem with the SIMs from Personal... which, i think, agrees with their commercial politics. They indeed activate phones from other providers, something which CTI doesn't do.

Then, I tried his CTI SIM on my phone. The SIM was still not activated, since it has to be activated today. I put the SIM and then came the message: "New IMEI found"... the it tried to register on the network, but, since the number wasn't still activated, gave an error.

So, i can deduct that the message is propietary for the SIMs from CTI, because my sim, on his phone, did not give that message.

What is this? a new way to lock a SIM to a certain phone?

Now both phones are unlocked, and the CTI SIM keeps giving that message. Repeat the question: Is this a way to lock a SIM to a phone? Can the provider know if the SIM is beeing used on the same phone it was sold? Please, keep in account that CTI doesn't sell SIMs separated from their phones. If you have an unlocked phone, and wants to activate under their network, you can't... you can only do it buying a phone from them.

This is the info. What rests is proving the CTI SIM fully on my phone. But, like i said, can the provider know if I'm using the SIM on another phone?

Edge

EdgeCrusher
26-04-2004, 01:32 AM
Might be that the new sim card generates this message, since as mentioned the IMEI is on the phone, maybe the sim you tried was sim locked in it's old phone, and noticed a new phone was in use, hence the message.

As I know, the SIM can't be locked to a phone. The phone can be locked to a certain provider, that's true, but as far as i know, not viceversa. It's not that the SIM recognizes the phone, it's that the phone recognizes an allowed or not SIM.

But, as you said it, it would be a logical explanation to what's happening.

Anyways, doesn't this fuck's everything up? If you have a backup phone, you just can't use it because the SIM is locked to the other phone?!?!?!?

Edge

Yotamz
26-04-2004, 12:45 PM
something i tought of... even though it is most likely not the case..

the network has a list of imei numbers of their costumers. when you used the cti sim in your phone, you logged in to the network with their sim, but with an unregistered imei. normally, this shall not be a problem, maybe just a message from the network to notify you that you are using an unregistered phone. this shall not prevent you from making calls etc.


as i said, this is probably not the explanation. just a thought.

EdgeCrusher
27-04-2004, 02:36 AM
But i got the message even without getting network. The first time I tried a CTI sim, me and my friend, from both phones, could not get network, since we were on a basement. No signal on her phone (siemens a56), and no signal on mine. But the message was there

The second cti sim was still unactivated for the network, and i still get the message. So, i think that the messages come from the sims, not from the network, and i'm sure that not from the 1100s because my Personal sim worked fine (I could make and receive calls) on the 1100 from my friend. This is comething specific to the cti sims, at least in the little experiences that i've done.

The only explanation that i can do is that the cti has someway registered the imei of the phone on the sim, and hence matched it to a specific phone.

Does anybody of you know something on this kind of locking?

and btw Yotamz, what I replied to @pacificfones, was ok or not?

Edge

EdgeCrusher
06-05-2004, 09:29 AM
no one has ever seen this message??

is there a way we can find out something more about this?

thanks in advance
Edge

Yotamz
06-05-2004, 02:05 PM
i still think the sim can't generate messages to be displayed on the phone, but maybe.

another explanation might be that the phone you have is flashed (by your provider) with a customised firmware, (like t-mobile usa phones have gprs settings locked).


about the reply to pacificfones - it was ok.

deviat0r
06-05-2004, 04:05 PM
First things first, confirm the IMEI....

Check the IMEI number *#06# with no sim in, then with yours in, then with ya mates in and check that IMEI hasn't changed.

As for sims being locked to phones, yes it is possible, and yes it has been done. Certainly in the UK anyway, I have a phone like that to prove it! Although having said that I haven't seen such a thing done in years!

Dave!

EdgeCrusher
11-05-2004, 09:35 AM
The IMEIs have not changed, they remain the same (well, it was a pretty difficult option, having in account that to change the imei you have to work on the pcb of the phone and change an ic).

But, the SIM is locked to the phone. It won't work on another phone. Double checked that, it only works on that specific 1100, no in other one, and not on a siemens a56 locked to the same network.

So, now the question is: can the sim be unlocked, so it can be used in any phone?

Thanks in advance gentlemen
Edge

deviat0r
11-05-2004, 09:47 AM
The IMEIs have not changed, they remain the same (well, it was a pretty difficult option, having in account that to change the imei you have to work on the pcb of the phone and change an ic).

But, the SIM is locked to the phone. It won't work on another phone. Double checked that, it only works on that specific 1100, no in other one, and not on a siemens a56 locked to the same network.

So, now the question is: can the sim be unlocked, so it can be used in any phone?

Thanks in advance gentlemen
Edge

Right, the problem is same one as I have had in the UK. The SIM is paired with the IMEI. As such the only ways to change your phone, is through the network upgrades or by cloning the paired IMEI out to a different phone. However if this is the case, (and I must say that certainly in the UK changing IMEI's is illegal) then there is a good chance that not all the feature will work on the new phone as the network will only see it as a 1100.

Hope that helps.


Dave!

EdgeCrusher
11-05-2004, 10:48 AM
Here, changing an imei is also illegal, and i'm not going into the complexity of cloning a sim, too much load for my poor brain intoxicated with social theories hehe...

so, those sims are kinda useless?? you can't use them in another phone.. you can't have the advantage of gsm of having a back up phone.. so... where's the difference?

Edge

Yotamz
11-05-2004, 02:50 PM
the sim being locked to the phone is a logical explanation, but if it is correct - it is the stupidest thing the networks have ever done.

one of a gsm network's interest, is to let their customers switch phones easily - by inserting their simcard. if they lock the sim to the phone, they are not only taking this ability from customers, but also losing money, as the customer will just buy a sim from another network.


another possible explanation:
a mobile phone has an imei for identification.
a simcard has an imsi for identification.

now, the network have a list, where your imsi is associated with an imei number, so if someone steals your sim - he will not be able to use it with his phone.
when you try to use your sim with another phone, the network blocks you from connecting, and giving you the "new imei found" message.

i can't think of an experiment on how to check this.. but it might be the explanation.
if that's the case, the network shall give you the option to remove this "protection" for free.



we may have discovered something here.. ;)

EdgeCrusher
12-05-2004, 07:42 AM
Here is the strange thing. I thought that the SIMs were not able to display messages on the screen.

But, this sims give the message "new imei found" even without network!! i made the test in a place were we had absolutely no signal, from any provider. No cdma, tdma or gsm signal. I was in a second level basement (i'm not sure if you understand, don't know how to say that in english, sorry!!), i mean, two floors underground. No signal for any phone. There, i tested the sim, and ups... the message "new IMEI found".

So, what's up to this? now the sims can display messages?

and i also think that's the stupidest thing they've ever done.

Edge