How to Unblock a Cingular Cell Phone

Cingular wireless, like many other wireless providers, locks the cell phones they distribute with their wireless plans in an effort to keep their customer's loyal to the company. The electronic lock that is placed on the cell phone keeps customer's from using the phone that they purchased from Cingular with another wireless provider. There are a variety of ways of having the phone unblocked, whether it be paying for an unlock code or visiting a Cingular store to see if you can convince a Cingular employee to unlock it for free.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Visit Download.com and type "Unlock phone" in the search bar. Scroll through the program results and click on "Smart DCT-4 Code Calculator." Follow the on screen instructions to download the program file and then locate the file on your desktop and double click it. Follow the on screen instructions to install the program.

2. Double click on the "DCT-4 Code Calculator" icon to start the program. Turn your phone off and take out the battery. Under the battery there is a 15-digit number known as the "IMEI serial number." Enter the IMEI number into the search field labeled "IMEI" in the DCT Code Calculator program. Choose the "Country and Service Provider" that you are in and then click "Calculate Unlock Codes."

3. Take the SIM card out of the back slot of your phone and then (having already reinserted the battery) turn the phone one. Type in the first code in the list. If that code works, you will see "Code Restriction Off," if not, you will need to try the other codes to see if they work. Once one works, you can reinsert the old SIM card or a new one and continue using your phone as before.

Tips & Warnings

• It is best to leave the code type selected as "V2 Codes" when first going through the code calculator.
• You only have five attempts to get the unlock code right. After they you will need to visit a Cingular store to get the phone unlocked by a phone tech.

Resources

• Download the calculator here.