GSM Palm Pre SIM unlock now available, unofficially
By Ross Miller 
posted April 18th 2010 12:24PM
posted April 18th 2010 12:24PM
If you're itching to put a webOS device on your AT&T account and don't mind having half the now-standard RAM, the developers at jictechnology have released what they're claiming is an official, permanent SIM unlock for the original Palm Pre. A few bugs to get through, but it's apparently legitimate enough (we haven't tried, but the happy customers in the forums seem to suggest success) for the group to charge around £25. Great news all around, but if you're the sort whose fixation on Palm hasn't been so grand that you resisted switching to Sprint or Verizon, you can probably wait for the AT&T's Plus-sized model.
On the engadget app, why is there no source links?
I think I will just wait for the Pre officially.
This is tight!
@Minelbp
Click the picture for the source.
I can't wait for the Pre to reach AT&T.
thats what I was waiting for on my AT&T after using iPhone for 2 years
If this hack had come along shortly after GSM phones were available (from Europe, Mexico, elsewhere), I'd have considered it. But now that we're within "months" of a real AT&T Pre Plus, no hacking involved, what's the point?
Having said that, if AT&T totally castrates the Pre Plus (a la the Backflip), then I may look into doing this.
@Smart People Play Tuba - Let's just hope Palm can make it long enough to get the Pre & Pixi launched on AT&T.
@ashu2411
I am trying this. Like an idiot, I paid £25 and received 1 credit. Attempted to unlock my pre, the software sent me a blank network unlock code and my credit was used up. I am demanding a refund.
This is all bullcrap
*yawns* i ll be more interested abt Pre plus getting unlocked whenever it becomes available. Though, i have to admit that the WebOS hype has completely drained out off my system
@Bjay
no doubt, people seem to have moved on. webOS seems to have taken a back seat to iphone OS4 and Windows Series 7 Series Windows Phone Series 7 Phones. Ugh, thank god they cut it down to WP7 =P
@Bjay Pre Plus GSM uses the same modem as the regular Pre GSM on O2 and Telcel, as seen on FCC:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1259979&native_or_pdf=pdf
Just like the Pre Plus on Verizon, the difference is only the RAM, button and storage. I would assume this unlock works for it as well.
No one is this desperate for a Palm Pre, surely?
Would this SIM unlock work on T-Mo? Or does the original Pre not have the right radio frequencies?
@andthemaniam
For T-Mobile, you have much better options then Pre
@andthemaniam
It should.
And although the pre's hardware is subpar, the OS can't be beat.
@ashu2411
Not for webOS :D
@zeroinfinity2
exactly, I have a G1 and dig Android a lot, but I'd love to try out webOS without switching carriers. I'll probably grab an original Pre on ebay on the cheap and give it a shot :D
@ashu2411
really? What other phones run webos on T-mobile? Maybe he doesn't android. I'm on Verizon and chose the Pre Plus over the Droid.
@andthemaniam it would need to be the GSM Pre - not the original CDMA Pre that Sprint had.
@gpaaron
Oh right right! So I'd have to get one that's already unlocked from overseas (since I believe the original Pre is CDMA only in the US)? This may be more money than it's worth unfortunately :/
@andthemaniam
You could probably get an unlocked AT&T Pre Plus (one that was originally locked to AT&T and was then unlocked) for about the same price.
@andthemaniam
I hope you enjoy your pre plus when you get it, my friends seemed to like the pre quite a bit. Just curious, but what's your picture of? I can't really tell.
@dez
That's why I'm thinking of getting one, my friend has a pre and loves it. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a pre plus unlocked, but maybe if I find one for a good price!
My picture is of me! I messed with it a bit for funsies :D
@andthemaniam AT&T uses the 850 MHz band for 3G, so the phone's radio is 850/1900 (and possibly 2100). T-Mo uses the AWS 3G bands 1700 and 2100. From what I've seen, AT&T tri-band 3G phones do not work on T-Mo 3G.
I have a suggestion. Why is it that these Palm phones can't be released unto all carriers? Why have they handicapped themselves like this? They want to compete with Apple and Android yet only release on Sprint/Verizon. Like seriously, I would buy one of these slick lil devices if the hardware was a wee bit better and if it were on at&t or tmobile. My mom would LOVE one of these.
@Mike Vick
Signing exclusivity contracts to try and get them to actually carry the phone most likely. I doubt Sprint would have carried the phone had Palm not made that deal.
@Mike Vick I'm sorry but do you see the iPhone on any other carriers???
@BigJayDogg3
Sprint is in no position to negotiate exclusives with cell phone makers, at least as far as I know.
Palm launched on Sprint first because Sprint has been the most supportive of the 4 carriers in the US by far when it comes to Palm phones. As for the 6 month exclusive window, that was a matter of having Sprint market the phone as a Sprint exclusive and take some of the costs associated with advertizing the phone.
Palm's the final straw
Too little, too late.
@Kwame Nkrumah
agreed, everyone is very over the Pre. Give us new hardware, or enjoy irrelevance palm!
I'm so confused...what does this mean?
I can buy a Pre on Sprint or Verizon and using this unloock it will work with AT&T?
How is that possible if those versions don't have a sim card slot (or am I mistake and they do have that slot).
Lastly but most importantly would they work with AT&T's 3G network?
Sorry for all the questions but I'm curious as to what if any benefits this results in.
And I agree with Kwame that it's too little too late.
@TheLondonExchange - No, no, no - you need a GSM Pre from overseas for it to work on AT&T or T-Mobile. You wouldn't get AT&T 3G either, although you might get T-Mo 3G.
@MRCUR
The German Pres have the same 3G bands as AT&T.
@TheLondonExchange Get the Telcel one + unlock and it'll work on AT&T.
There's a PreCentral user with Telcel units working on Fido 3G (i.e. Rogers, uses same band as AT&T).
@BigJayDogg3 - Ah, excellent. Didn't know that, thanks!
@BigJayDogg3 Wrong. O2/Movistar is 900/2100, Telcel is 850/1900.
You need the Telcel one to work with AT&T or you're stuck with 2G GSM.
I actually feel kind of sorry for PALM. I just don't understand why PALM don't release a new phone. Like what they thinking. Relelase a phone 3.5-4.2 inch full touchscreen n that WebOS would look perfect
@Flacofromny23 - New phones cost $$$ to R&D, manufacture, and release. You also need carrier partners to sell the phone.
Palm has about ~12 months of cash left and isn't getting any new investors. It'd be pretty hard for them to do everything I listed to get a new phone out the door right now.
Not to mention the 6 months worth of Pres and Pixis they have in inventory right now.
^^THIS^^
Yeah, go ahead everyone buy a phone from a company that will not exist and be able to service your phone soon.
@Let1me1in
Worst case scenario Palm gets bought by HTC or Lenovo, they have too many resources for the industry to simply let them die.
WebOS will live on.
btw The Pre hardware is really not that bad, the slider may be a little chintzy, but so is the Droid's. The internals are certainly capable.
Who cares? I think everyone's waiting for the Pre 2.
Getting locked into a two year contract for an original Pre today would be absolute madness.
@Johnny Rockets If you're going with this unlock you're not locked into a 2 year. You pay full price (or dev price on Palm Store) for a locked GSM + unlocking fees.
Unlocking now isn't so much the issue, it's getting Apps Catalog working properly for "grey market" devices. People are having trouble getting apps since Palm apparently go by wherever the phone was first activated.
"official". Is this like using "literally" to mean "figuratively"?
@spin cycle
http://xkcd.com/725/
WebOS still blows Android, iPhoneOS and WP7 beyond the ionosphere in terms of design and functionality (and I really had high hopes for WP7). It's the dated hardware and the lack of apps that's getting to it, although exclusivity with Sprint didn't help much either (in contrast - Android would have gotten nowhere if the G1 remained to be the only device of it's kind available on a single carrier for as long as the Pre was). HTC doesn't need to buy Palm, Palm needs to partner with a respectable hardware manufacturer (preferrably HTC) to build a decent looking phone with a faster processor, a bigger screen and a better camera than the existing Pre. In the mean time, making the Pre and the Pixi available on more carriers with decent prices is a good and healthy step for Palm and I applaud it since losing WebOS would suck pretty badly for the whole industry.
@bureX - I agree completely, although I still think HTC should buy Palm. Maybe continue to operate Palm as a subsidiary, but have the HTC folks design the hardware and the Palm folks continue to design the OS.
@hated one - "Layoffs of CEOs" - Uh, what? Palm has ONE, yes ONE CEO. Not multiple "CEOs" as you suggest. And Jon is sticking around, along with the other top peeps who just got handed a lot of stock and $250k in cash to stick around.
"the group to charge around £25"
See Palm, you're giving money away. Imagine if you sell them unlocked in the first place yourself for a bit of extra money, thus keeping the money yourself.
@pika2000
apparently you fail to understand how things work, so let me give you a simple explanation. The network and cell phone manifacturer come
to an agreement on locking the phone to the network for several reasons. Both the network and manufacturer of the phone know that a phone locked to a network is worth more to that network in terms of profit potential than one unlocked because even after a contract is up the consumer has invested a lot of money into the phone, so has a decent chance of continuing to use it, and if they can only use it on that network they will. If they wre to sell them unlocked, they would be inevitably more expensive than locked because the network doesn't have that potential to continue to profit from that phone. So instead of getting the phone for $100 on a two year plan, the network would have to increase the initial cost of the phone substantially. Palm isn't giving anything away by allowing networks to lock the phones to themselves, they are making the purchase of the new phone more affordable for the consumer. For many, the initial cost of a phone is enough for a consumer to choose a different phone. (the exception seems to be the iphone, which people will buy for $200 on a three year data plan)