Unlock Dongle

While I was updating the Tz Phone tricks page, it occurred to me that I ought to add information on dongles. Since that’s not immediately related to phones though, here’s a post about unlocking dongles instead. I get quite a few questions on this topic, and on average unlock at least a couple dongles per month for HCNs at site.

Disclaimers: This information is probably more useful for PCTs and current volunteers than anyone else. I’m not responsible if you break your dongle, don’t bother suing me because I have no money. You can probably find more indepth guides online if you google for “unlock dongle.”

Dongles, or USB mobile broadband modems, are becoming cheaper and cheaper. Cool. That means they’re more affordable to us volunteers. Currently all of the carriers in Tz sell them, although when you first buy a dongle, it will be locked to the carrier you bought it from. In other words, if you were to purchase a Zain dongle, you wouldn’t be able to access the internet with a Voda sim card. The friendly store rep will inform you that you’ll need to purchase a Voda dongle. Well, maybe it’s just me, but 1) having two devices that perform the exact same task is plain silly and 2) I’d rather spend that other 60,000/= on something else, like a ferry to Zanzibar or something.

Another disclaimer: As far as I know, Voda and Zain are currently both using Huawei brand dongles. I don’t know for zantel/tigo if this is also true. The following steps will work for Voda an Zain dongles, but may not work for Zantel/Tigo.

Luckily, it’s pretty easy to unlock the dongle: You only need 3 things, and about as many steps. First, you need something called a IMEI number. It should be printed on the outside of the box that came with the dongle. If you’ve destroyed/lost that box, the IMEI is also printed somewhere inside the dongle itself, most likely under the cover near where you insert the sim card. Write this number down.
The second thing you need is the unlock code. This code can be gotten several ways. One way is to use a downloadable program that will generate the number for you (or ask an ICT volunteer if he/she has the program already and wants to visit your site?) or a website such as this one to obtain it. Either way, you’ll need to put in the IMEI number you just wrote down. You’ll be given yet another string of numbers and letters. This is the unlock code. Write it down.
The third thing you need (and the 3rd step) is to find a non-native sim card that has the internet enabled. To enable internet, see the Tz phone tricks page. In other words, if you have a voda modem, you’ll need a zain sim. Simply put that non-native sim card into your modem and connect it. Oh yeah, this’ll be easiest if you’re running on a windows machine… Start up the dongle software, and it’ll tell you that you’re using a strange sim card (well, something more technical sounding, but along those lines). It’ll ask you for an unlock code if you decide to continue, and tell you that you have only ten tries before rendering your dongle inoperable (aka you get to go back to the shop and tell them it “suddenly” stopped working and then they’ll screw around with it and fix/give you another). Put in the unlock code, make sure you typed it correctly, and click OK. Disregard the “profile” the software tells you you’re using, since the settings to connect are identical for Zain and Voda; connect as usual.

Congratulations, you’ve unlocked your dongle.

This is especially useful if you travel in country to an area (cough-parts of ruvuma/mbeya) where Zain service sucks or where Voda reception is spotty. I suppose this is also useful if you travel Africa or Europe or wherever they have sim cards and you have a laptop.