Cingular Treo 650 Unlock Hack
Following yesterday’s release of the new ROM updates for the Sprint and Unlocked Treo 650, a clever cookie apparently figured out how to use these to convert the ROM of a locked Cingular Treo 650 GSM to that of an Unlocked Treo 650 GSM (which has DUN enabled and thanks to the new update also better memory management among others).
I was originally pointed to a post at UneasySilence which offered detailed but somewhat confusing and complex steps to follow for the unlocking procedure. However, leaving aside the fact that I couldn’t quite understand the process, I also lacked a Cingular Treo 650 to potentially try it on and so when A. Davis (who is quite a bit more of a techhead than I am) told me via email that he was going to give it a go I asked him to share his story with us if he was successful at unlocking it:
Well, thank goodness it worked. 
My charger was at home, so I had to wait to do the update after I got home this evening. As it turns out, I've been sync'ing via bluetooth for so long that I didn't realize my sync cable was bad, so I was forced to wait for it to work over IR, which was painfully slow... but in the end it worked (more on this later). I followed the instructions from UneasySilence (read these first). Here's a simple run down:
0) A pre-requisite that UneasySilence’s instructions left out: The Unlocked GSM update page at PalmOne mentions upgrading a few applications like DocsToGo and Zap2016 (the only two listed that applied to me) before proceeding with the actual ROM upgrade. On my Treo 650, I upgraded both of these to the latest version.
1) I started with an AT&T (Cingular, but without the Cingular logo on the case) GSM Treo 650 with the 1.0.4.1 firmware. I sync'd over bluetooth and backed up my system. I have a few extra SD cards, so I took one and blanked it out.
2) I downloaded the 1.23 firmware upgrade referenced in the instructions. I unzipped it and had a new "PALM" folder. I copied the folder straight to the SD card. I then set my email clients (GoodLink and Snapper) to not auto-retrieve, turned off my radio, removed my SIM card, and removed my primary SD card, then did a soft reset.
3) The phone booted up and I popped in the SD card with the copied 1.23 update and followed the prompts. At one point, you have to click OK and it appears to do nothing, but just click it once and if you wait 10 to 30 seconds, it proceeds. I saw the progress bar, some scrolling text, then it reset itself prompted for my language, reset again, prompted to setup the digitizer, reset again, etc.
4) After all was done I popped in my SIM card and checked the phone version... it was at 1.23. Perfect so far...
5) Next I downloaded the 1.13 Software Updater (for firmware 1.28) for unlocked GSM phones from the Palm website and unzipped it.
6) Next I went into Palm Desktop and created a new user called UPGRADE.
7) First, I removed the SD card containing the 1.23 upgrade and my SIM card, then from my PC ran the executable that does the update (please follow the instructions that palmOne provided for the Unlocked GSM update). At this point, I found out that my USB sync cable is bad. I'd been sync'ing over BT for so long, but after loading 1.23, I couldn't get a bluetooth connection working properly. Thus, with no BT and no USB cable, IR was my only choice (thank goodness I had choices). I setup hotsync on both ends to use IR and let it run. For me, this process took close to an hour. I'm sure it would have been much faster via the cable (more like 20 or 30 minutes).
8) The upgrade instructions tell you to sync and go through the reset hoops, then return to the installer and click next to go to step 2 of 2. I did this and it prompted to restore my data. At first, I was a little panicked as it said it was ready to "restore data for user UPGRADE", but I clicked next anyway and was presented with the choice to create a new user or use an existing one. I chose my normal sync ID and let it run.
It restored all my data, again over IR, in about 30 minutes. When all was done I was quite disappointed to learn that I had only gained about 1 or 2Mb of extra space (went from 6.1Mb to 7.8Mb free). But then I went into SnapperMail, copied all my mail to the SD card, deleted all of my mail from the phone, then restored it back from the SD card. Afterwards, I had 17.2Mb free... quite an improvement.
The last thing I did was to go back to Palm Desktop and delete the UPGRADE user, then perform a final hotsync. I popped in my SIM card and regular SD card, did a soft reset, then went over to PowerRun and told it to re-create all my shortcuts. One thing I found was that I had to re-run Dataviz-tech (which I normally leave in phone memory) and told it again move everything to the card. It prompted about progs already on the card and asked if I wanted to overwrite. I chose yes and all is working just fine.
I now have Firmware 01.28 and Software: Treo650-1.13-ROW. Also, in my Bluetooth settings, I now have a "Dial-Up Networking" option.
Odds are pretty good that PalmOne will make an update to disable this "update hack" and protect precious Cingular/AT&T from unscrupulous individuals like myself. As such, I'm putting both the 1.23 zip file and 1.28 zip files on my website for future generations to abuse, errr... I mean enjoy 
EDITOR’S NOTE: Please CAREFULLY read ALL instructions posted BOTH here, UneasySilence and palmOne support before proceeding with this unlock hack as we really don’t want anything bad to happen to your beloved Treo…
Finally, if all that you’re interested in doing is to enable DUN on your Cingular Treo 650 then the most straightforward option remains PDANet ($34). However, you won’t benefit from the improved memory management that optimizes memory handling and frees up more memory.
How-to: Upgrade Locked Cingular GSM Treo to an Unlocked GSM version [UneasySilence]
Finally… Treo 650 Sprint and Unlocked ROM Updates [Treonauts]
UPDATE REGARDING CARRIER UNLOCK: I initially thought that this unlock hack would also unlock the Cingular GSM Treo 650 for use with any other carrier’s SIM card but unfortunately A. Davis reports that:
“I just tried SIMs from Verizon (they now have a worldphone that operates in both CDMA and GSM via a Vodaphone partnership) and from a T-Mobile phone. Both came up with the standard "You can't use this SIM in this phone" message and allowed only for 911/SOS calls. So, it is confirmed, the unlock hack only unlocks features and removes branding, but doesn't unlock the carrier aspect of the phone. On the plus side, however, I now have BT DUN and I can get future updates whenever PalmOne releases them which is more often than not a lot more frequently than the carriers themselves do.”
[Many thanks to A. Davis for his clear and very useful instructions and also to ‘signedandsealed’ for pointing me to the UneasySilence post.]
Treonauts don’t like to be locked… 
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Comments
Called Earthlink and got the unlock code for my CDMA Earthlink 650 Treo
i just recieved a verizon based treo 650 but i am currently using and want to remain using tmobile..the treo is still locked how could i get it unlocked and does the sim card just slide into the top part?
I have a Treo 650 from Cingular and need a SIM subsidy unlock. Do I have to get this from Cingular or is there a truly reliable source where I can get this? I am on T-Mobile now and really miss using my Treo - it's an addiction...
Any help with unlocking my CDMA Earthlink Treo 650 to get it to work with Sprint or other CDMA service providers would be greatly appreciated.
I recently bought a Palm Treo 650 cdma....its brand new, but its an Earthlink phone and currently is not able to be used on verizon.....can anyone help me unlock this phone so i can use it with verizon?! please!
I paid to have my phone unlocked for my Palm Treo 650 (GSM Cingular) and it worked!
Unlock Code: *#*#28730922#
I have unlocked my Palm Treo 680 and Palm Treo 750 from gearfortech.com contact [email protected]
Hi,
I have a treo 650 CDMA from Verizon. I tried activating the phone with another carrier overseas and I was told that Verizon has this phone locked to be used only with them. Could someone please show me how to unlock this phone so that I can use it?
Thanks!
Pat.
I know there is a way to unlock CDMA treo 650's. You have to make a special cable and use bitpim software to download the msl #. Verizon does not lock their phones. The msl # should always be 00000 with Verizon. Here are the directions to unlock the treo 650 cdma phones. I'm doing it with mine right now to use it on Cricket. If anyone else gets this to work please post. Thanks.
I am very surprised. I visited this fourm last year in search of unlocking my Treo 650. Very happy to see [email protected] is still on the top to unlock Palm treo 750 and Palm treo 680. Thanks shawn for unlocking my Palm treo 680 locked to rogers. as promise I have left positive feedback for you.
I have a Palm Treo650 I just got off ebay...person told me it was an Alltel phone. Apparently they lied and were mistaken..it seems I can use it on Alltel's System, but it is always in roaming mode and when trying to update PRL, says it cant because it seems to be on Verizon Towers leading me to believe it was originally a Verizon phone..soprogramming is always unsuccesful. Is there a way to fix this issue and rebrand the phone to alltel or not rebrand,maybe thats the wrong term..how the heck do I make it stop roaming since the phone seems to be working on Alltels system just fine, I have all functionality on Alltels system...any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Also when I tried to do the update from 1.04 cdma to 1.05 while updating the rom, the phone froze, whent trying the alternative method same thing happen, so I also cant update phone which is really ticking me off...I am so mad at this ebayer who sold me the phone right now.
I have a Verizon Treo 650. I need a Alltel Treo 650.
I can't get the Verizon to work on Alltel Net. Would any one want to trade?
Is it possible to increase the volumes (ringer, headset, spker phn)without the purchase of a prgrm and bluetooth ringtone transfer from 62k if so how?
I have a Cingular branded Treo 650 obtained via business service with AT&T Wireless. When I left they gave me the phone. When I went to activate service with Cingular it would not work as it had been locked to AT&T. So now they are the same company (were they ever different) again and the one will not help me with the other to unlock the phone to use on Cingular (the markings on the phone by the way) network service. Anyone have some insight they can offer?
Again, Cingular Treo 650, with original AT&T Wireless SIM, attempt to use Cingular SIM fails and they don't want to provide me with the unlock code and I have service with Cingular.. anyone else see something wrong with this?
Thank to anyone that can help or even empathize.
-rpp
OK, 650unlock.com ... works nice and simple.
So.. Cingular said no, fine. Now get this, when I unlocked my 650 and the little green light starts to blink and I put it aside feeling much relieved. I picked up the new phone, a sony/ericsson w810i, powered it on and a nice message "Insert SmartChip" greeted me and wouldn't go away. Nice camera, ok mp3 player, horrid, horrid cingular locked crap you can't delete but I figured the phone would be a good backup.. So I tried the handy old att wireless sim and got this message "Insert *Right* SmartChip", red on black, and this too refused to go away. Hm. So now I have this completely useless 'backup' phone.. but it's very bright you see? It knows that it alone can determine the only 'right' smartchip. Um, no. At least my palm worked. Why are manufacturers letting providers make their creative engineering look like shite? It was a pretty ok device. Off to the cingular store....
"I'd like to return this. Yeah. Because I couldn't delete the ring tones and when I play the mp3 player they cycle through with the .. whatever it is they play.. and.. I was at a meeting and I turned on the player and now everyone thinks I'm weird because I listen to .. whatever that is.. .. I'll take the $30 dollar clamshell. Thanks."
\r
If I unlock my Cingular 650 treo, can I return it to a Cingular "locked" state later. Like if I unlock it, use it with another service, but say in a year need it back on Cingular's service. Can I do this? and how?
Thanks!
RA
Do anyone have any information on how to unlock a sprint treo 700wx? please please please let me know. Thank you
pls tell me is it all possible to unlock my verizon treo700w
Hellow everyone! I have a Verizon Treo 650. It does not have a SIM card slot, only an SD card slot.
1> Any way I can convert this phone from Verizon to TMobil?
2> Is there a SIM card holder that can be used in the SD card slot?
- Am I making any sense to all you guys? (I'm new at this)
Any help is appreciated!
David
You cannot convert a CDMA phone to a GSM provider...
Is it possibel to unlock Cingular PALM-650 and use it for a Verizon service??
Robert I have a Cingular Treo Palm650 so I will trade you with your Verizon Treo 650.
I have service with the Rogers network (in Canada). I recently upgraded from a Treo600 to the Treo650. The Treo650 was originaly used on the Cingular network in the US.
I was able to just put my Rogers SIM card in it and make calls so I believe I am correct in saying it is unlocked?
My question is, what ROM upgrade should I use? The Cingular, Unlocked phone or Rogers one?
Thanks
I have a Sprint 700p Treo and was using it on someones account .I had paid cash for the phone from sprint.To make a long story short me and her split and she will not release my phone so I can get it in my name.How do I unlock this phone or send it to someone to install hardware for a chip.
Thank-you in advance,
A-Rah
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