Awhile back I asked about unlocking the LG Fathom from Verizon. I got no answers on it because I guess most have not bothered to buy this phone or to unlock it.
I went ahead and tried it because I got one for free from a relative who bought a Android phone so I had nothing to lose. I tried all the good unlock places and none could get it. My use of a hypersim worked for 3 seconds until some coding in the phone adapted and locked it out.
I finally gave it to a friend to put it in her verizon account and they gave her the unlock coding for it. Once I unlocked it it worked perfect on AT&T. Unlike the Blackberry Storm/Tour/Bold 9650/ Imagio/Samung Renown and the Verizon Escapade which have full quad band GSM and 3G 2100mhz. the Fathom has at least one of the USA 3G bands. According to GSMarena it should have both 3G USA bands (850/1900)
So I am not 100% sure if it has both or just one of the needed 3G bands in the USA.
But it does have at least one as it will ether show 3G, 3G+ or H depending location when I have the phone selected on GSM/UMTS settings. Data is also fast so it is running off AT&T 3G(it shows AT&T in the menu and in the dialing screen)
I don't have Verizon service.
The phone seems fast despite it having a soon to be dead OS and it does have a 1Ghz processor. The screen and its late 1990's and early 2000's resistive screen are trying some times. The phone has a stylus in the rear. The slide out keyboard is great. Unlike the keyboard on the original droid which was cramped and hard to type with this phone is very nice to use.
This is awesome! Thanks for posting about it. This phone truly is great. Super fast speed that Windows Mobile should have always had. I've yet to see a loading screen on any program I click on with this device.
So all I have to do is call Verizon, ask for an unlock code, and put an AT&T SIM card in there? That's it? Amazing.
I am considering buying a pre-paid AT&T SIM card to leave in my bookbag for emergencies in the rare event AT&T has service and Verizon doesn't. Can I just buy a SIM card and use up the minutes? Or do they expire after time?
Everything is good in this phone except it comes network locked!!!
Regarding Unlocking part,, if foreign device Electronic Serial Numbers (ESNs) is not accepted by your country CDMA providers, then again unlocking and reprograming ESN is required.
As this phone also has 3G GSM SLOT for global roaming but again sad part is that too needs unlocking, which seems nothing but a big pain in ***!!!
I am going to dredge up this old thread in case there are any Fathom owners who might be trying to run on TMobile. After unlocking and inserting a SIM card that is open to TMo voice and unlimited data, the best I am able to do is Edge speed.
As far as i am aware T-Mobile uses a radio frequency band (1700 MHz) for 3G and LG fathom supports HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 for 3G Network
but still may try switching 2nd option " UMTS only" in-case its GSM only or GSM /UMTS Dual Under frequency band settings > GSM / UMTS Settings and see if that makes any difference
But a more important question...we'd like to take this phone to the UK and Germany this summer. How could I find out if we could get at least 3G service there? I guess I need to find out what the European data frequencies are?
Yep,, entire UK, Europe, south america and Asia mostly listens on 2100 MHz as 3G frequency, so it will do just great,, that too at blazing speed as high as 7.2 Mbps!
Only US has this odd and strange 1700 MHz frequency band for 3G,, as far as i know its mostly due to internal security reason as US military uses 2100 Mhz range.
all a bit technical for me but I just received this phone from a relative and it is locked to verizon. I think i have unlocking it figured out but not sure that will even help if the phone is not GSM. How do I find out if it is and are these unlock codes you buy on the internet really going to work?
@honeyjones, Phone works on Verizon CDMA or any GSM worldwide
if phone GSM is locked then when you insert any GSM sim it will say INVALID SIM phone switching to Global or CDMA mode.
Unlock codes on the internet doesn't guarantee if going to work, as they generated on phone IMEI number,, but if it doesn't then you should get full refund.
alternative is trying out some hardware unlocking store where u will get exact 8 digit sim unlock code
you will need to enter the 8 digit code by tapping sim lock radio button
Yea, IIRC, the phone has to be activated on a Verizon account for them to give you the time of day. If you're a customer, they'll generally bend over backwards for you. If not, not so much. Maybe you know a Verizon customer who could put the phone on his/her account temporarily, get it unlocked, then remove it?
so after you receive the unlock code, where do you go to enter it? Also, do you enter code when you have a verizon sim card in it, with no sim card in it, or a tmobile/att sim card in it?
Thanks
I called Verizon Wireless, they transferred me to the International Tech Support and they walked me through the steps to unlock the phone. You enter the code right on the keypad, just like any other GSM phone. IIRC, the Verizon/Vodaphone SIM was in it at the time, but I'm not completely sure about that. Once I had the phone unlocked it, of course, still went to Verizon only. But when I turned the CDMA section off in the menu, it went to GSM only and came right up on TMobile. No info about AT&T as I don't do THAT company.
Overall, big thanks to Verizon tech support on this one. BUT you do have to make sure they understand you are traveling overseas in non-CDMA areas, such as the UK or mainland Europe. I don't think they'll unlock a phone just so you can run it on TMo here in the U.S. At any rate, only the International Tech Support folks were able to issue the code anyway.
Reply With Quote
.
At any rate, only the International Tech Support folks were able to issue the code anyway.
Bookmarks