Recently there has been a great hype about all-unlocking "Turbo SIM" solutions, which can unlock the mobile phone without modifying hardware or software settings in it. The key to this is a thin foil and a tiny microcontroller on it, which can make the handset believe that the network used by it is the one it is locked to. The popularity of this solution is growing rapidly, and many alternatives are being made, like PIG you can see below, which of course cannot only unlock iPhone, WM, HTC, Nokia, Sony Ericsson and BlackBerry handsets. Using such unlockers don't void the warranty, as no hardware or software changes are being made. Still, the use of these solutions can be shown, as operators can identify models (by their IMEI numbers) that are locked to other networks, so they can be blocked, but they can even announce the rival network about their customer breaking the contract. This solutions - in lack of a proper common database - exists only in theory, but the sharing of operators' databases has already been a topic (in order to track stolen handsets), and the fact that the use of PIG or Turbo SIM interfere with the operators' interests, might be another reason why the databases could be shared.
Translated by Szaszati
