unlock network blocked dongles to use any sim card from any operator using linux

Do you have any dongle bought from any operator who blocked the dongle to the particular operator/network?

sinhala translation is available at ලිනක්ස් මගින් ඩොංගල් අන්ලොක් කරමු.

if you are in a hurry and don't like to read the whole article, simply go to the bottom of the article to know how the dongle could be unlocked.

Reasons to network/operator block the dongle from using the SIM cards from other operators.

• To stop using a sim card from another operator who is a competitor of the operator
• to keep the customer with one operator. it will help to earn more money while keeping the customer with the particular operator. 
• customer can't switch to another operator with the network blocked dongle because the dongle doesn't accept the sim card from any new operator than the network blocked operator.

Reasons to unlock the dongle

• to switch to a new operator because the new operator would provide more efficient and economical packages to the customer
• coverage/signal problems to some places of the country. 
• customer service of the operator is unsatisfactory

Be careful

• most of the dongles comes with a warranty for some period of time. that warranty would be avoid if the dongle is unlocked.
• if the dongle is provided at low cost or on an agreement with the operator, it would be violating the agreement with the operator. sometimes some operators provide the dongles with the packages with the agreements. so, unlocking or using another sim card or package form another operator could be illegal. 
• user will have to pay for the dongle if canceling the agreement.

After all you would need to switch to another operator due to any reason and if you had to buy another dongle to be used with the new operator, never buy an another dongle, try to use the old dongle while buying a suitable broadband or 3g plan from the new operator. don't throw out the old network blocked dongle because it would cost your hard earn money and would pollute the environment.

I'm using a linux (openSuse) operating system in my Laptop and I encourage other to use Linux on their computers. My dongle had cost me a sum of LKR 7829.99 on December 2009 (with one year warranty) without any plan or agreement but it has blocked to a mobile network operator from using another sim from other operators. Still I'm satisfied with the network but I needed to unlock the dongle for a fun because I needed to know is it could be done by my own.



Now I would explain how to unlock the network blocked dongle to be used with another operator.

First of all you need to know the IMEI number of your dongle. then you could find the unlock code using a web site in the internet. I used a web site on this url to get the unlock code for my dongle. ( http://www.mapmyplace.com/calc/ )

then I installed "minicom" to unlock the dongle using my laptop.
simply the linux package manager helps to install the "minicom" using the graphical way. but there's the text mode as well.

on ubuntu or debian based systems open the terminal and type
sudo apt-get install minicom

on redhat or fedora based systems (yum installer) open the terminal and type
su yum install minicom

on redhat or fedora based systems (yum installer) open the terminal and type
su zypper install minicom

then we need to find the place which the dongle is mounted. most of the cases ttyUSB0 will be the place which identifies the dongle.
use 

• "tail -f /var/log/syslog" on debian based systems or 
• "tail -f /var/log/messages" on rpm based systems 

as superuser/su to check whether the ttyUSB0 is the port which dongle attached. unplug and plug the dongle after running the command to find the port easily.

open the "terminal"
log in as root/super user using "sudo" (debian/ubuntu) or "su" (rpm) in terminal

type
minicom -s

will open a window like

then select "serial port setup"

type "A" in front of the "Change which setting?" to change the port attached the dongle
change /dev/ttyS1 to the port which your dongle is attached. /dev/ttyUSB0 is for mine

type "E" in front of the "Change which setting?" to change the Bps/Par/Bits

type "C" in front of "Choice, or <enter> to exit. it will select 9600 for current speed.

press "enter" to exit from the menu

then it will show a window like

Press "esc" to go to previous/main menu

select "modem and dialing"

it will initialize the modem. don't worry any message didn't come. then select exit from main menu

then the window will go off and will show command line to unlock the dongle

then type the command to unlock the dongle.



AT^CARDLOCK="12345678"

command should be in capital/uppercase letters and the 12345678 should be replaced with the code you got for the IMEI  of your dongle. unlock code should be within double quotes " and ". then press enter to continue.
it should show a message like "OK" or something if you done properly.

AT^CARDLOCK="12345678"     
OK                                              


you've done.

then insert SIM card (from previously blocked operator) in to the dongle and use it.

thank you Girobiro's blog for the article about "Unlock 3G USB Dongles in Linux" helping me to get an idea how to unlock my dongle.

recover the boot loader and start the computer - Super Grub Disk

Threre are several operating systems in the world and most of them are far differ from the other. It's useful if we have different operating systems. But, how could we buy two computers to install that operating systmes. It's no need to own two computers anymore. 

try to install both operating systems on one computer as dual boot. If you need to use the operating system , you need to boot the system using the desired operating system. Using VMWARE or VIRTUAL-BOX helps to use one operating system inside the another operating system, but we can't feel the real power of the operating system when we run one opearting system inside another.

If you have installed two operating systems in to one computer (may be on laptop or desktop) you need to ensure that the boot loader is installed properly. so, you need to install the latest operating system just after installing the previous version. If you installed windows xp after installing windows 7 or windows 7 after windows 8, it will overwrite the boot loader and will hide the operating system previously installed.

Anotherthing is when you installed any linux distro and if you installed windows operating system on to a partition in the computer, it will simply hide the linux operating system and boots in to windows. but this will not effect to dual boot systems if the both operating systems are linux because linux identifies other linux operating systems well.

if you lost any of the operating system after installing the second operating system, you could use "Super Grub Disk" to recover the boot loader. it could be use to boot the computer using a Live USB or CD.  no need to install anything, just select the desired menu to find the boot loader list and boot in to the latest operating system and then repair the boot loader. it will ensure the boot loader is installed properly.

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

count the balance after you pay

we entered in to a hotel nearby mathale town at the evening for a refreshment last month when travelling via that town. After we having our refreshment the bill was 680 rupees. I handed over 1000 rupee note to the waiter and I needed to get the balance quickly because we are getting too late there. So I went to the counter and got my balance. I got 220 rupees of balance instead of 320 rupees and the waiter asked "is that balance is okay".

I was shocked and tried to figure out the balance when deducting 680 from 1000. I'm sure I should get 320 rupees instead of 220 rupees and I complained it to that waiter. He went to the counter and gave me another 100 rupee note as the balance. but the waiter and the cashier didn't talked to each other. So I thought they have done the thing by planning. so, I shouted at the waiter because they given me some wrong amount of balance and trying to rob some money.

I think they do that thing to other people as wel. so, please be patient and count on your balance when you buy or pay for something at  any outlet. Some of my friends told me most of the time the cashiers do such mistakes at "bentota bake house- outlets". that robbed money goes to their pocket, not to the company drawer.

Bank of Ceylon launches another “first” in Sri Lanka- 3G Savings. First Sri Lankan Bank to provide a facility for saving as you shop and spend.

In celebration of its 74^th Anniversary, the Bank of Ceylon, in August 2013, launched “3G Savings”- A novel experience and another “first” in the Sri Lankan market.

This unique product “BOC 3 G Savings” allows a customer to link three generations of a customer’s family (the “3G’ concept) -customer’s parents, children and him/herself and to save when the customer shops and spends. This allows a customer to save and set aside money to care for a customer’s loved ones.

 

This specific feature could be activated to a customer’s account through any BOC branch and customers could make a deposit from their current or savings accounts to any BOC Ran Kekulu Children’s savings account, BOC Senior Citizens account or any other BOC savings account. Any customer who maintains a savings or current account with BOC and possesses a BOC Debit Card is eligible to register for this unique facility. This unique product gives the opportunity to care their parents and as well as their kids as they shop with BOC Debit Card. This is a concept of “savings while spending” and facilitates the customer to make a savings build up for their children or to make some money available for parents, without much effort and burden to their pocket and as well as with their busy schedule finding time to visit a branch to make a deposit.

This novel concept has been introduced by Bank of Ceylon, Asia’s Best Brand and Sri Lanka’s No 1 Bank to care your loved ones as you shop with BOC Debit Card. Brand Finance Lanka ranked Bank of Ceylon as the No.1 brand for the last five consecutive years and the bank is also ranked among the top 1000 banks in the world above all other Sri Lankan banks (country ranking is No.1) by “The Banker” magazine UK in 2013. BOC has penetrated half of the population in the country with 10 million account holders with over 1,000 customer touch points covering all parts of the country. Bank of Ceylon is the only bank in Sri Lanka with an asset base of over Rs.1 trillion and is the market leader in the banking and financial services sector in Sri Lanka.