A very short description:
If you are interested in understand how to unlock and reactivate a mobile phones, you must know what the IMEI number is. IMEI which stands for International Mobile Equipment Identity represents a unique code based on 14(fourteen) digits for every mobile phone based on technology GSM (Global System for Mobile Communication) used by France Telecom with more than 3 billion people around the globe. There are other mobile phone’s technologies that make use of the IMEI number such as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems) used 3G and 4G mobile phones and iDEN technology (Integrated Digital Enhanced Network) developed by Motorola Corporation. These systems are the unique mobile phones around the world using IMEI number beside others special equipments using satellite technology.
How the IMEI Number works:
I don’t want to complicate your life but I would like be as informative as I can. Understand how IMEI number works is not too complicated. Firstly I should tell you that there are two kind of IMEI (14 and 16 digits). The code having 16 digits is named IMEISV. The structure of the IMEI number in a Mobile Phone contains sufficient information to identify the model, serial number and other specific information of each mobile phone on the earth. The sequence of numbers is described in group of letters according to the position of the number. For instance the first 8 positions (AA-BBBBBB) are denominated “Type Allocation Code” (TAC) where the “AA” is the body identifier and the group of “BBBBBB” in the rest of codes that indentify the TAC. Then will appear the group “CCCCCC” that identifies a serial sequence in the model. The next group is the unique “D” Which represents the “Luhn Algorithm” consisting in a simple sum that verifies if the previous numbers are correct. And finally the last group is the “EE” which identify the version of the software used for this Mobile Phone.
You can identify the IMEI number:
In your mobile phone you can identify the IMEI number. Most of the web pages offering unblocking services ask you the IMEI number of your mobile phone in order they can use it for identify and calculate the code that could unblock it. Most every mobile device based on IMEI can accept the following sequence: *#6# but this sequence doesn’t work in all the mobile devices. For instance if you have a Palm Treo 650 and you dial this numerical sequence you won’t get any result but there are several mobile phone which accept this code to determine the IMEI number.
The case of Sony Ericsson:
Whether you own a Sony Ericsson you can type the following combination of keys: [right] + [*] + [left] + [left] + [*] + [left] + [*].
The case of Nokia:
You can retrieve the IMEI number in Nokia Mobile devices through pressing the following combination of Keys: *#92702689# (*#WAR0ANTY#). This combination will open the warranty menu. The first option of this menu is related to the IMEI Number. Selecting this option you will get the IMEI number of your Nokia Mobile Phone.
The case of iPhone:
I know there is a decent option to get the IMEI Number of an iPhone, but when you synchronize your iPhone you can get it in the page that administrate the devices in iTunes.
Other cases:
Apparently there’s no a similar rule to determine the IMEI number between different brands. But most of these mobile phone manufacturers provide IMEI number through menu options.
