Service Provider Code Locks

Lets Get Started

Most new Dual-Band/Dual Mode phones, including my newer StarTAC 7868 from Telus Mobility does not allow me to use the 55xx# commands in test mode, nor can I toggle the PRL on and off. You will be presented with an 'Enter Prog Lock Code', a six digit number, before you can go any further.

There are some reasons that more and more providers are beginning to do this.

1. Dual Band CDMA phones will work on 800Mhz or 1900Mhz bands, that means that you can quite likely reprogram them to be used on another providers network. They will place a lock on the phone so that you can only use it on their network, or at least have to get them to reveal it before it can be programmed for another network. Providers are getting pressure from competition to release handsets at lower prices, so they protect themselves by placing the lock on the phone.
2. A handset quite often costs the provider quite a bit more than the provider sells it to you at, they must have some way of guaranteeing some kind of revenue to make back the money that they lost selling you the phone at a discount.
3. It prevents the phones internal configuration from being modified, to protect it from people like me :)

If you have previously owned a StarTAC 7760, or 7860, which SP Locks were rare on, you may have taken a look at the more detailed Call Status and Battery Status screens you can access with some of the 55xx# commands while in testmode. The SP Lock prevents you from using this feature, and it simply displays 'error' if you try. At least I think that is what is causing this, it may just be that StarTACs with 1900Mhz functionality do not have this capability. I have received emails from people with 7867's that it does not work for them either.

Acquiring the Code

You may or may not find a dealer that will reveal this code to you. I have received e-mail from one person that took his phone into a dealer to get his firmware updated, and to upgrade the firmware they needed to enter the lock code, when another person looked it up on the computer and read it out, he wrote it down quick.

I managed to get the code, just by talking with the knowledgeable fellow at the dealer I went to, and during quite an interesting conversation about technology, wireless, etc., he said he had no problem giving me the code, warning me to be careful :) He just logged on to Telus's private dealer web page, and entered the ESN of my phone.

Unlocking the SPC Lock

Accessing any of the common programming menus including PRL (775 FCN FCN), NAM Programming (74663#nam FCN FCN), and phone programming (FCN 0 securecode securecode RCL), will all present you with the 'Enter Prog Lock Code' prompt.

Enter the six digit code, and you will get to the appropriate menu. You can then also access the 55xx# options in testmode. Once you have entered the code once, it will remain unlocked and will not ask it again until the phone is powered off and on again.

Changing the SPC Lock

This is a VERY dangerous thing to do, but you can do it once you know the existing lock code.

Enter phone programming (FCN 0 securecode securecode RCL) and go through the screens (skipping by pressing STO) . At the end of NAM1, you will see the options 'Secure Code,' 'Lock Code,' and 'SPC Code.'

• Secure code - The code that is entered twice to get into phone programming. It is usually 000000 or 123456.
• Lock Code - Used for the keypad lock feature (FCN 5) and is usually 123 by default, but easily changed by the user, as long as they don't forget it. It's dangerous to forget this number on an SPC locked phone. You can only view the number from phone programming, but you need the SPC code to access that part of the phone, so you must get a dealer to do it, unless they give you your SPC Lock (unlikely). If it is not SPC Locked, just go through the phone programming menus until you see 'Lock Code' and the number will show.
• SPC Code - This is the number that the network provider has listed in their databases, and you will be lucky to find out for yourself. However, if you do manage to acquire it, you have the ability to change it here, which is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS because if you don't know this code, and the code in the provider's database doesn't work, your phone is effectively unprogrammable. Changing the code to 000000 disables the SPC Lock menus. You can enable the feature on non-SP Locked phones in the same manner, by changing 000000 to some other number, but I doubt any dealer will be able to get around such a lock, except possibly Motorola themselves.

The SPC Lock is not as foreboding as it had once seemed, it is just a challenge to acquire it.

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Ryan Goolevitch - ryang@trideja.com
Last Modified August 21, 2001