Fuck you, Virgin Mobile.
Feb. 5th, 2007 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theweaselkingFuck you, with a chainsaw. I'm smarter than you, and now I have proof of it.
My phone. My hardware. MINE. It works the way *I* want it to, not you.
(Yes, that IS Metallica coming out of the speakers of my phone when it rings, now. It's even Metallica that I've altered, and no, I didn't pay you $4 for 15 seconds of Enter Sandman. Funny how that works, hmm?[1])
For the record, if any of you ever get a Nokia CDMA phone locked with idiotware, such as those provided by Bell Mobility and Virgin Mobile, intended to make you pay them $4 per use for the privilege of using a feature that's supposed to be built into the phone, the fix is simple:
#1: Buy a USB cable for the phone on eBay. Yes, this costs about $10, but it's cheap AND having a USB cable for your phone is good for other reasons.[2]
#2: Download Nokia Diego, the software Nokia uses to program the phone in the first place. No, you can't get it directly from Nokia, but that really shouldn't slow you down. You need version 3.08+ for a 6275i, but the exact minimum version depends on your model. Google it.
#3: Uninstall all Nokia software from your PC
#4: Install Diego
#5: Plug in your phone, set it to Data Enhancement mode if it's got that. If not, select Data Storage mode.
#6: Start Diego. Tell it to stop looking at COM1. If you're in DE mode, go to step 7 now. If you're in USB FT mode, hit "exit" to leave it.
#7: Click "Settings", click "Load All From Phone". Wait for them to load.
#8: Here's where you back up all your phone settings as much as you can, with "save to file" and "export to XML" and all that stuff.
#9: Examine the settings, marvel at the piles and piles of data that's in there, and then get to the point: User -> Ringtone Settings. Change from where it is (a number from 1-5, with descriptors) to "0 - Allow All Ringtones".
#10: Click "Save All To Phone", have a brief fucking heart attack because you're playing with a production system with no guarantee that the backups worked, wait for the phone to beep, and set your ringtones however you want.
You can also, presumably, unlock the Java settings so you can get your Tetris on without paying separately for it, too. That's left as an exercise for the annoyed geeky person, because I don't use java applets on my phone. I should also see if I can edit the main menu easily, to get rid of the stupid "Hey, why not come spend more money at Virgin's Website!" thing.
Of course, if this had been a GSM phone, the solution would have been "pull the SIM card, put the battery in, google the 10 digit code, enter the code, pull the battery, put the SIM card back" - but I wasn't given a GSM phone, I was given a CDMA one. CDMA ones are more complicated.
[1]: I don't think I'm going to keep Enter Sandman as a ringtone. While Canada doesn't have the insipid "ringtones are a public performance" interpretation of copyright law, I only picked it because, hey, it's a DRM and copying problem. I've gotta break it with Metallica. It's a tradition.
[2]: If you're local to me, I know you, and you get the same phone I did, or a similar one, you don't even need to buy a cable. You just need to come over to my house and say "Hey, John, can you unlock my phone? I'm tired of idiots locking out features on MY PROPERTY so that they can sell me shit."
My phone. My hardware. MINE. It works the way *I* want it to, not you.
(Yes, that IS Metallica coming out of the speakers of my phone when it rings, now. It's even Metallica that I've altered, and no, I didn't pay you $4 for 15 seconds of Enter Sandman. Funny how that works, hmm?[1])
For the record, if any of you ever get a Nokia CDMA phone locked with idiotware, such as those provided by Bell Mobility and Virgin Mobile, intended to make you pay them $4 per use for the privilege of using a feature that's supposed to be built into the phone, the fix is simple:
#1: Buy a USB cable for the phone on eBay. Yes, this costs about $10, but it's cheap AND having a USB cable for your phone is good for other reasons.[2]
#2: Download Nokia Diego, the software Nokia uses to program the phone in the first place. No, you can't get it directly from Nokia, but that really shouldn't slow you down. You need version 3.08+ for a 6275i, but the exact minimum version depends on your model. Google it.
#3: Uninstall all Nokia software from your PC
#4: Install Diego
#5: Plug in your phone, set it to Data Enhancement mode if it's got that. If not, select Data Storage mode.
#6: Start Diego. Tell it to stop looking at COM1. If you're in DE mode, go to step 7 now. If you're in USB FT mode, hit "exit" to leave it.
#7: Click "Settings", click "Load All From Phone". Wait for them to load.
#8: Here's where you back up all your phone settings as much as you can, with "save to file" and "export to XML" and all that stuff.
#9: Examine the settings, marvel at the piles and piles of data that's in there, and then get to the point: User -> Ringtone Settings. Change from where it is (a number from 1-5, with descriptors) to "0 - Allow All Ringtones".
#10: Click "Save All To Phone", have a brief fucking heart attack because you're playing with a production system with no guarantee that the backups worked, wait for the phone to beep, and set your ringtones however you want.
You can also, presumably, unlock the Java settings so you can get your Tetris on without paying separately for it, too. That's left as an exercise for the annoyed geeky person, because I don't use java applets on my phone. I should also see if I can edit the main menu easily, to get rid of the stupid "Hey, why not come spend more money at Virgin's Website!" thing.
Of course, if this had been a GSM phone, the solution would have been "pull the SIM card, put the battery in, google the 10 digit code, enter the code, pull the battery, put the SIM card back" - but I wasn't given a GSM phone, I was given a CDMA one. CDMA ones are more complicated.
[1]: I don't think I'm going to keep Enter Sandman as a ringtone. While Canada doesn't have the insipid "ringtones are a public performance" interpretation of copyright law, I only picked it because, hey, it's a DRM and copying problem. I've gotta break it with Metallica. It's a tradition.
[2]: If you're local to me, I know you, and you get the same phone I did, or a similar one, you don't even need to buy a cable. You just need to come over to my house and say "Hey, John, can you unlock my phone? I'm tired of idiots locking out features on MY PROPERTY so that they can sell me shit."
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:13 am (UTC)now work your cellphonely magic to get me out of my fucking Alltel contract.
I'm in roam, at my new home address. Their website .. says they don't offer service in this zipcode. Yet ... I am still in their contract. Because they're too lazy to let go and I'm too poor for a lawyer.
Fahk.
*end bitching on other's journals*
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:20 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:30 am (UTC)#2: Make and model of phone?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:42 am (UTC)Thanks for the tip.
But you really shouldn't hold back on how you feel.
Go ahead, let 'em have it with both barrels!
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:21 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:36 am (UTC)Just so you know.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:41 am (UTC)Worse, though, the Fusic is an FOTA phone - "Firmware over the air", meaning Sprint can and has (http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/01/sprint-fumbles-fries-fusics-with-faulty-firmware/) updated the phones automatically.
So you might wind up having to unlock the phone repeatedly, unless you manage to disable FOTA when you do it the first time.
That being said, I didn't find an easy tutorial on unlocking the Fusic in the last 10 minutes of searching. That doesn't mean there isn't one - http://www.howardforums.com/ is a brilliant place for cellphone information, if you want to look further.
But, really, you're going to be in the same boat I was: Get the right cable, download the right software, modify, and hope.
I'll take another look to see what I can find, though.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 03:01 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 12:25 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 02:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 03:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-06 03:23 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-07 04:16 pm (UTC)As in, could/would you set it up so "RE: Your Brains" is a ringtone for my work phone number?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-07 04:24 pm (UTC)In fact, I may set that up as the default ringtone for every number in the "work" category, starting at the chorus. "Alll we wanna do is eat your brains..."
Unlocking
Date: 2007-02-09 06:20 am (UTC)Re: Unlocking
Date: 2007-02-09 01:05 pm (UTC)Try this: Attach the phone, put it in USB File Transfer Mode. Wait for Windows to detect it.
*THEN* start Diego. When Diego opens, tell it to stop looking for the phone.
After Diego is open and has stopped doing stuff, hit "exit" on the phone to leave file transfer mode. It should stop and say "data enhancement mode on the phone.
Then, and only then, select "USB" in Diego and tell it to search. It should find the phone, at which point you should be able to read the settings file.
I found that Diego wouldn't start unless the phone was mounted in Windows as a "USB drive", but couldn't detect the phone until it was *no longer* mounted in Windows as a USB drive.
If that fails... did you get the extra DLL files for Diego to make it work without being attached to a Nokia PC? If not, they're available to download here:
http://www.mobile-files.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38392
So is Diego 3.09, but I used 3.08, and if you've got that, it should work.
Still
Date: 2007-02-09 10:40 pm (UTC)Re: Still
Date: 2007-02-09 10:54 pm (UTC)Re: Still
Date: 2007-02-09 11:02 pm (UTC)