It’s quite a common practice for many carriers across the globe to lock devices they sell to just their networks. The usual victim of this tends to be modems though feature phones and smartphones have also similarly faced such measures, albeit less in the recent past, perhaps due to the proliferation of multi-sim devices.

Carriers can justify this measure on grounds of selling such devices at a discount, on contract or simply, on the basis of competition.

Type the modem’s IMEI (its a 15 digit code usually written under the modem) and click Calculate The app will calculate the modem’s IMEI then display the unlock and flash codes Supply the Unlock code (same as NCK code on some calculators) at the modem’s interface then click Unlock Note that this method only works for Old Algo modems.

1. Unlocking of ZTE modems can be tiring as they mostly don’t get unlocked via unlock codes, I will show you how to unlock ZTE MF190 modem free. wpsmads1 Most network carriers sell out two major internet modems, the Huawei and ZTE modems, if you have the old Huawei modem you can unlock it yourself with ourOnline Huawei Unlocker, if you have the newer type of Huawei with the new algo code (86.
2. Turn on your modem, and find your way back to the homepage. Click Advanced settings, then choose SIM settings and finally click on unlock device. There will be a dialogue box asking for the unlock code. Enter the code you had written down from the unlocker calculator and click apply. READ ALSO: Busy internet MiFi - ultimate user guide.
3. Normally when you buy a new 3G internet modem from a service provider the modem will be locked to the network in order not to support or work on any other network. If you insert another network Sim card on it you would be asked to provide your unlock code all because it has been locked by the service provider.

With such temporal reasons, unlocking network locked devices proves to be inevitable at some point. After all, as consumers our instincts drive us to where the best value for our money is guaranteed.

If the network to which the device is locked to can’t offer that at some point in time by virtue of being an evolving business, it makes little sense why one shouldn’t shift to better offerings. Unlocking your device opens the door to such a possibility.

It’s no wonder that unlocking modems as well as phones has become a most sought after service. As a matter of fact, it’s big business now considering the countless premium online services that charge to have devices, smartphones included, unlocked from a particular carrier.

Ideally, as I’ve read somewhere, carriers may be obliged to unlock your device for a fee (a hefty one usually) or, for free if you are not under any contract with them or if the device warranty has expired.

But as we know, while this may hold true for some few markets (US), generally speaking it’s an unheard of practice in most countries. As such you’re forced to employ either one of those aforementioned premium online services or to just do it yourself.

In this post, I will detail how you can unlock various (not all) Huawei modems on your own at the cheap price of free. However, this might not work for everyone, especially so if you’re using a more recent model.

How Modem Unlocking Works

Before we get to the tools it’s necessary you understand how the unlocking is done. The principle is quite simple:

When you insert a SIM card of a different carrier in a Huawei modem, the dongle software/ dashboard that you connect with will reject it and prompt you to enter an Unlock Code.

The unlock code, sometimes called the NCK Code, is an 8-digit code computed from the modem’s unique International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number. That is to mean, the unlock code for one modem is going to be different from another even if they’re of the same model.

If you key in the correct unlock code, the modem will be unlocked automatically from the original carrier’s network and will accept the inserted SIM card.

Typically, in Huawei modems you get 10 unlock attempts which are more than enough should you insert a wrong code. If you exhaust the 10 attempts, you may be able to reset the counter. More on this later.

Afer unlocking your modem, on some you may be able to unlock the voice feature and make calls using it.

Unlocking Your Huawei Modem

There are some few tools out there that I’ve used in the past to unlock some of my modems. All of them use the same principle as explained above: provide the modem’s IMEI number and they’ll compute the unlock code for you.

How To Crack A Modem Using Dc Unlocker

Some of them will also calculate a Flash Code which you will need should you wish to flash a firmware update onto the modem.

A. Getting Started

1. I’ve uploaded all the tools in my disposal in one ZIP package that you can find here.

• NOTE: I do not own any of these tools. All these are available for free online if you look in the right places.
• Also, these are just for Windows PCs and you may have to install .Net framework for some to work if you’re using Windows XP.

2. Extract the package and you’ll find four tools there:

• Universal MasterCode
• Universal Advance Unlocker
• Huawei Modem Unlocker 5.8.1
• Huawei Tool v2.4.3/2.4.2 (Homepage) [requires .NET Framework v2.0 on Windows XP or older]

All of them are portable with the exception of Universal Advance Unlocker which you’ll have to install first.

Older Huawei Models

B. Calculating the Unlock Code

Universal MasterCode and Universal Advance Unlocker are the only ones that list the Huawei models they support so use those first. The two others also have wide support, it just that they don’t explicitly mention the models.

Some of the models supported by these two include:

Note:

• For E220 use Universal Advance Unlocker or;
• For E153, E173 & E220 use Huawei Tool v2.4.3 (explained later)
• the model number and IMEI are usually printed on the modem

i. Universal MasterCode & Universal Advance Unlocker

1. When you run any of these two, switch first to the Huawei tab then select your Huawei model from the list in Universal Advance Unlocker or check the Huawei Supported in the case of Universal MasterCode.

How To Crack A Modem To Universal

2. Enter the modem’s IMEI code and hit the calculate button to get the 8-digit Unlock code/NCK code.

C. Entering the Unlock Code

After you get the code this is how you use it:

1. Exit the unlocking software and then plug your modem with a SIM card from another operator.

2. Run the Dongle Software/Dashboard that you connect with and when prompted for an unlock code, enter the 8-digit code that you got in the previous section.

If you don’t have the dongle software/dashboard that shipped with the modem or if it doesn’t prompt you for an unlock code, you can use Huawei’s Mobile Partner which you can get here. If not, use the other tools as outlined below.

Unlock Modem

ii. Huawei Modem Unlocker 5.8.1 & Huawei Tool v2.4.3

These two will do both code calculation and the unlocking.

1. Make sure to first exit the dongle software/dashboard before using any of these if it runs automatically after inserting the modem. This because they need to communicate to the modem and this can’t be done simultaneously.

2. Connect to the modem by refreshing and selecting it from the list.

If it doesn’t connect automatically you can do it manually by selecting the COM number (in Huawei Tool v2.4.2) which can be found in the Device Manager. Just look for Huawei Mobile Connect – 3G PC UI Interface (COMx) under Ports (COM &LPT, where x is the number.

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• Note: For Huawei E153, E173 & E220 use Huawei Tool v2.4.3. Click the Help and More button and specify the exact model from there before calculating the code.

3. Once it connects, calculate the unlock code. If it’s similar to what you got in the other tools just proceed to unlock/send unlock code.

If your modem doesn’t unlock with one unlock code don’t try again as you’ll be wasting the unlock attempts.

If you happen to exhaust all your attempts you may be able to reset the counter as explained in the last section of this post.

Newer Huawei Models

If you’re using one of the newer Huawei modems (not listed above), the above tools will simply not work. I’m yet to find a free offline tool that does the unlocking for these modems, but there is this free online calculator which happens to support both old and newer Huawei modem models.

I’ve successfully managed to unlock a Huawei E3131 using this site so it’s definitely worth giving a try. The site has three algrothims (v1 (old) v2 & v3 (newer) to calculate codes for Huawei modems, so make sure to try all of them should one fail.

As of this writing, the calculator claims support for the following Huawei models:

Once you get your code, use as explained above to enter the unlock code.

If this doesn’t work either, you can always try using a premium unlocking service. Be wary of fraudsters though; there are plenty of these premium online unlocking sites claiming to unlock phones and modems at a fee; some are legitimate others are just plain scams.

D. Resetting Unlock Attempts (Older Modems)

If you’ve exhausted your 10 unlock attempts, connect the device to Huawei Unlock Tool 2.4.3 as explained above then click on the reset counter button.

You can also reset the modem using Huawei Modem Unlocker 5.8.1 which will also reset the unlock attempts. Resetting the modem in my case (a Huawei E160) disables the Voice feature but did not re-lock the modem.

Good luck!

In our previous guides on unlocking, we treated: how to unlock a Blackberry phone (see https://blog.hovatek.com/how-to-unlock-a-blackberry-phone-says-activation-required-wont-work-with-other-sim-cards/ ) , how to Unlock an Android phone (see https://blog.hovatek.com/how-to-unlock-an-android-phone/ ) and how to unlock the iPhone . In this guide, we’ll be looking at how to unlock a modem and also putting to rest some myths / questions surrounding the whole modem unlocking of a thing.

What does it mean to unlock a modem?

Unlocking a modem is to lift / remove the restriction which locks the modem to only SIM cards of one carrier / service provider, thereby allowing the modem to support the SIM cards of other carriers / service providers. In simpler English, unlocking a modem allows you to use other networks SIM cards on the modem instead of just one.

What are the advantages / benefits of unlocking a modem?

Unlocking a modem gives you more freedom in choosing what network / service provider ‘s SIM card you wish to use on the modem i.e If one network / service provider gets slower or more expensive, you don’t need to purchase another modem to switch networks, you only need swap the SIM card in the modem to that of the network / service provider you wish to port / migrate to.

Does unlocking a modem cause it to get slower?

Contrary to popular fear, No, it doesn’t . The modem is a hardware powered by software. Unlocking happens at the software end of the modem and doesn’t tamper with the hardware capability. The only scenario where unlocking can be associated with a slower surfing speed is if you unlock a 3.75 G modem and remove the SIM which was receiving 3.75G smoothly then replace it with another service provider’s SIM card which only has only 3.5 G service in your area. So you see that the fault here is from the service provider not being able to maximize the modem’s hardware capability, not the modem itself.

How do I unlock a modem?

There are several methods for unlocking modems. Some methods are even model specific. We’ll however be considering three general methods; Unlock code calculation, DC unlocker and New Algo methods

Unlock Code Calculation method

• Download Universal MasterCode
• Launch Universal MasterCode
• Select the modem manufacturer from the top tab

• Type the modem’s IMEI (its a 15 digit code usually written under the modem) and click Calculate

• The app will calculate the modem’s IMEI then display the unlock and flash codes

• Supply the Unlock code (same as NCK code on some calculators) at the modem’s interface then click Unlock
• Note that this method only works for Old Algo modems

DC Unlocker Method

• Download DC Unlocker
• Launch DC Unlocker

• From the drop down list, set Select Manufacturer to the modem manufacturer and Select Model to Auto detect

• Click the magnifying glass icon and wait for DC unlocker to detect and display the modem’s details

• If your modem is supported and you have more than 0 unlock attempts left, click Unlocking at the top right corner then click Unlock

How To Crack A Modem Pdf

• If unlock was successful, you’ll get a message confirming this
• Note that DC Unlocker requires payment / unlock credits purchase
• DC Unlocker supports both Old and New Algo modems

New Algo method

How To Crack A Modem To Make It Universal

This method is used for New Algo modems like the Airtel huawei modem e173u-2 . Its similar to the first method but a New Algo Calculator is used instead (see https://forum.hovatek.com/thread-1009.html ) .

What happens if I make too may wrong unlock attempts / enter too many wrong unlock codes?

The modem will get hard locked to the branded service provider’s SIM cards and not allow you to enter any more unlock codes. The limit is usually 10 unlock attempts.

How do I unlock a modem with 0 unlock attempts left?

In cases like this, you’ll need a timer reseter to take the unlock attempts left from 0 back to 10. Timer reseters are often manufacturer specific.

Can CDMA modems be unlocked?

How To Crack A Modem To Use Any Network

Yes, but We will not be delving into this (in this guide) due to its numerous model specific methods. You can request the exact method to unlock your CDMA modem at the Hovatek Forum .

Hovatek….just a button away!