Don't wanna ruin anyone's argument, but mobile phone theft is rising and it's got nothing to do with the fact wether you can change your IMEI or not. It's due to the rise in gadget prices and the fact that more people got them. Most stolen phones from the UK will end up in East Europe or Africa where even blocked phones gain new life without any IMEI tricks(which could be and being done as we speak/write) Most thiefs/muggers don't have time reading these forums as they are busy doing drugs. And most of them are not very educated to understand the technical details anyway. So why is it a taboo topic?

Why would anybody want to change their IMEI if they are not criminals? I'm sure ppl heard of the case of some chineese folks having their gmail account hacked... Or people living in Zimbabwe etc.

Ps: I'm very happy with my IMEI and have no intention of changing it or anyone elses and the last time I stole something I was 7 and my Mum beat me very much and I never done it again

from what i remember NSS options with usb cable is pretty limited, hence changing imei without the real dongle is as such not possible.. but J.A.F might be helpful in this process tho.

if it was easy to change IMEI criminal rings in UK would do it when they get stolen devices what have blocked from UK networks instead of sending them over seas where they are worth less

Yeah it is the product code checked to update the firmwares, not only symbian but all nokia phone I think, at least with my N900. Mine is coded for Hongkong N900 version. Been thinking if I should change the code to EU or US though. Can anyone tell the difference between HongKong N900 PR1.3 and EU N900 one beside chiness input support (which I don't use)?

I reflashed the phone to PR1.3 with the global image because I could not get the OTA update, but infact the global image is a little bit different from the Hongkong firmware (no chinese input). After reflashing the global image, I have to run Nokia Software Updater to flash to the HongKong PR1.3. I don't know if I should do that or it is just a waste of time.

My N900 is not operator locked, so I do not have to worry about changing IMEI though. I don't think my carrier will help me lock the IMEI even if the phone is lost. They will laugh at my stupidity for not buying a properly protected local phone, maybe.

Hi,

There is typically more than one CPU on the phone, one for PDA stuff, the other provides the 3G/2G/GSM etc. stack, and is often connected together via serial lines.

It would not be running Linux, more likely a real time operating system like Nucleus, etc.

The IMSI is stored on the SIM card, but the IMEI is hard coded number used like the phone's MAC address.

I would be impressed if you could somehow figure out how to do it, maybe trying with:
- sending a "special" SMS, like the unlockers do
- fuzzing the 3G stack
- JTAG pads
- use the ARM chip to fuzz the serial line or syscalls.
- etc


Ciao!

Justina B.

Yes, changing the IMEI on a cellular device is illegal in most countries, however wanting to know how to do it does not mean a person is trying to do anything illegal.

In my case, I am running an android appliance in a virtual machine on my laptop. I have no idea how, but it keeps assigning an IMEI to a NON-cellular device (most tablets do not have this, they should only be assigned an Android Device ID). Thus I cannot play any games on my vm as the IMEI it keeps assigning is actually in use by someone. Thereby causing me to involuntarily spoof someone else's IMEI. I want to change that seeing as how it's not illegal to change if the device does not reside on a cellular network, and I would love to have proper usability on my virtual machine.

Also, it is most certainly not illegal to install an android device in a virtual machine as it is a freeware OS. Thus my interest in learning to change my IMEI.

For example, bluestacks (a well done but INCREDIBLY slow android emulator does not provide cellular IMEI), can be used to create many accounts for any Mobage game (a company that uses IMEI validation), however it is FAR to slow on most netbooks. Creating a VM works amazing, but how to I either remove the IMEI on my non-cellular device or is there another way I can go about this?

Dunno if anyone can help or point me in the right direction? For all I know this could even be the wrong forum to discuss this?

I think it’s illegal to change the IMEI of a phone and can lead to legal
action....

Depends on the country where you do it I belive

Last time I looked there are no laws in the world that are universally enforced, in some 3rd world countries it is even legal to kill a fellow human being as a (claimed) self defence!

In Turkey, u can not buy phone from outside world.
if you buy u have to register it. if u get out the country within 2 months, u may register if not, u have change its imei!

so i need this because of i bought phone from another country.

any solution for Jolla!!!!!

changing IMEI is not possible. except changing the phone board itself (correct me if im wrong)