SE 990i £99 refurb from Orange Shop

seth

I saw a thread on the grabbit board for a £99 SE 990i seemed ok but I read

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=642779&highlight=p990i

Which talks about the orange firmware being poor.

What are the best options for a professional unlock / debrand in London.

From what I've read this phone is hard to unlock as it cannot be done via the regular clips.

I was after a phone like my Nokia 6822 with a qwerty keyboard for TXTing not too bothered about other features.

About to sign up with Orange on a 12month contract (12 months free via cash back) so thought this might be a good option if unlocking is expensive

diamonds

unlock for £15 via Orange - register payg sim you get with phone get £1 free, top up £15 call 450 request unlock - £15 comes off balance...SORTED !


not sure of debranding but you could always ask a SE repair centre to put generic on there - its unlocked, show them proof of purchase/invoice recieved with phone & they know its not in contract so they are not breaking any obligations with Orange as you own handset outright, I done it with a authorised Nokia service place & after showing them contract was complete they agreed to generic but only when I proved I was no longer contracted to 3 for the account the handset was provided with ( I provided final bill & unlocking letter both from 3 ) - best of all generic firmware flash was free as I still was within handsets 24 month warrenty, they billed Nokia for " servicing "

seth

diamonds wrote: »

..... a SE repair centre to put generic on there - its unlocked, show them proof of purchase/invoice recieved with phone & they know its not in contract so they are not breaking any obligations with Orange as you own handset outright,....

Thanks that is helpful unlock for £15 seems cheap and no shipping!

I wonder if there are service centres in London that would flash the unit.
Is this something I can do via download and USB?

Does this update service do firmware upgrades and or debranding?

http://www.sonyericsson.com/cws/support/products/updateservice/p990i

diamonds

lastest SE firmware was at start Nov, not a SE fan ( T68i then next SE was a K800i, what a let down K800i was ! ) but heres the basics....easy to do

like product codes on Nokia you can change CDA on a SE

download KulanKendi & buy one credit for SE On-Line Server - dunno how much though? within 24 hrs you get a username/password to use KulanKendi server - run KulanKendi, change the CDA and press FLASH
Press/hold ‘C’ and attach the USB cable to the phone wait a minute and you have the new CDA code on mobile

update P990i with new firmware using SE Update Service from your link above

KulanKendi download
http://gsminfo.home.pl/_ftp/guar/KK_Client/KKClient.exe

CDA codes - only have these as done a few in Nov, google might find more but there is 3 generic, cant recall diffreneces though sorry, honestly google will tell you more than me but this is a start for you

162008/91 Vodafone UK
162007/1 Generic World 1
162007/2 Generic World 2
162007/3 Generic World 3

seth

Gosh thanks for the post. It sounds like I need to change some ID value before the unbranded firmware can be installed.

I'll check the prices, can I use the cable that comes with the unit?
If I run the SE Update WITHOUT the code change will it update the firmware but keep the branding. I wanted to make sure I got the latest firmware as there are reports of lots of crashes on the 990i

Based on the cost of the code changes I will also look at the SE service centre options you mensioned: Is there a list of them somewhere there must be one in London?


Any advice on this phone, I've not had a smartphone before.
I'd like a decent case with belt clip again advice welcome, Mobile fun had one for £24 (it was £45 at Expansys)

gaming_guy

seth wrote: »

Gosh thanks for the post. It sounds like I need to change some ID value before the unbranded firmware can be installed.

I'll check the prices, can I use the cable that comes with the unit?
If I run the SE Update WITHOUT the code change will it update the firmware but keep the branding. I wanted to make sure I got the latest firmware as there are reports of lots of crashes on the 990i

Based on the cost of the code changes I will also look at the SE service centre options you mensioned: Is there a list of them somewhere there must be one in London?


Any advice on this phone, I've not had a smartphone before.
I'd like a decent case with belt clip again advice welcome, Mobile fun had one for £24 (it was £45 at Expansys)

you can use the cable which came with the phone.

if you run SEUS on the phone in its current state, it will load the crappy orange firmware on it. to debrand it, you will need to change the CDA string (which SEUS uses to detect what phone you have & what firmware to install)

i will try and fine another location to download xs++ as se-nse is under another DDOS attack by the looks of things

EDIT: download link for xs++ 3.1

seth

Thanks for the link

diamonds

thanks gamingguy got there before me, seth let us know how you get on

GG - you know how much a credit it is ?I used a mates username/password - he is in the mobile game professionally, dare not ask how much I spent on his account lol, only done a couple handsets but it could of been £20 a credit for all I know ! LOL

seth

diamonds wrote: »

thanks gamingguy got there before me, seth let us know how you get on

GG - you know how much a credit it is ?I used a mates username/password - he is in the mobile game professionally, dare not ask how much I spent on his account lol, only done a couple handsets but it could of been £20 a credit for all I know ! LOL

OK ordered the 990i and sat nav for £19.99 extra total £119.98

gaming_guy

diamonds wrote: »

GG - you know how much a credit it is ?I used a mates username/password - he is in the mobile game professionally, dare not ask how much I spent on his account lol, only done a couple handsets but it could of been £20 a credit for all I know ! LOL

not sure, but this should give you an idea

seth

gaming_guy wrote: »

not sure, but this should give you an idea

I read the link and for info there suggested this posting

http://blog.artesea.co.uk/2007/02/debrand-your-p990i-m600i-w950i.html