If you, like me, have an o2 broadband (midband, really) modem, made by Huawei, that you want to unlock to use with other services, you can get quite the run around if you Google how to do this. There are many options (and most Huawei models seem to be easily unlocked), that charge from €5 to €15 for a code to unlock, with the most common one appearing to be dc-unlocker.com (deliberately not linked!).
Well, there are a few free options that are easy to use (and phone unlocking software isn’t always easy to use!). I came across Ruchira Sahan‘s blog which details the process, and provides the required software. Basically, you need to generate an unlock code which is based on your IMEI number (a unique code for your modem/SIM card). Software gets that for you, and will unlock the modem for you as well. He details it much better, but a summary of what I did to unlock my Huawei E1752 (an older o2 broadband USB modem) is:
- Close the o2 connection software
- Download the software he links to in this post, run it (there was only 1 COM port to select in my case, and it had an obvious HUAWEI label), and let it retrieve the IMEI
- Using that IMEI, I used the calculator he links to from this post to generate an unlock code
- Using the same software, I then enter the unlock code from the previous step, and it unlocks the modem for me, with no errors or delay
- Finally, because the o2 connection software is still crippled (and wouldn’t work with my Three SIM), I downloaded the generic Huawei connection software for that model, and many other models, from dc-files.com. I did check for the presence of a virus, but still be careful when downloading any of this software. I created a new profile in that software, but that’s all I did (nothing with dial in numbers, networking, APNs or anything like that).
I rarely use my o2 Broadband Modem, now that I have tethering with my iPhone4 (and a plan that includes 2GB of data), but it is handy to have in the laptop bag. It’s much handier to have with a SIM from another network on standby too!
