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Can you unlock an old T-Mobile Sidekick?

Phillip Torrone
Updated ·2 min read
unlock me

So we're using the new Sidekick II, but we wanted to know if we could unlock the old SideKick we had lying around. By unlocking it, of course, we could use any SIM card from any carrier to enable the SideKick to call and text message. While the data functions won't work without a SideKick account, we wanted to try and use it as a phone and SMS device. What! Don't scowl, it's not just a mobile communicator, it can make calls too, remember?.

Anyway, it turns out you can easily unlock an SK (with T-Mobile's permission, of course).

So it?s pretty straight forward: you have to call up T-Mobile customer service and ask them to allow you to unlock your phone. Really, this process should work with any SIM-based T-Mobile phone. Now, if you?ve been a customer for longer than a few months (some internal governing policy probably in place to avoid unlocking recently carrier-subsidized phones), then you give your IMEI (the unique ID code of your phone) and in 24 to 48 hours you?ll get an email that will tell you how to unlock your old SideKick and use it for other things.

So what are we going to do? Take our unlocked SideKick apart, of course, and use it for a weird-ass robot we?re building. Duh.


T-Mobile Sim Unlock Request
Sim Unlock Reference: 0XXXXXX
IMEI: 0XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Unlock Code: XXXXXXXX

Thank you for taking the time to contact T-Mobile. Below you will see the Instructions for unlocking your Sidekick device.

NOTE: If you receive an error message while performing the instructions below, stop. Please be aware that if an excessive amount of incorrect attempts are made, the phone will be permanently locked. Verify the IMEI by pressing *#06# and submit a new request.

1. Insert the foreign SIM card
2. Power the phone on and the display should read ?Special Code Required?
3. Enter the unlock code and the phone will reboot and try to reconnect to the network

Please be aware that the Danger Sidekick?s GPRS-data software will only work on the T-Mobile USA network. The Sidekick?s voice and text messaging functions should continue to function correctly with another carriers SIM card after the phone is unlocked.

Thank You,

Sim Unlock Department
T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Hold [center button + menu button]. It resets. Then hold [center button + reverse button].

Bonus! We?re totally into the fact that apparently T-Mobile has a SIM Unlock Department. We also hereby nominate ourselves as the new acting VPs of that division.