How to unlock your Huawei 3G USB Modem

I've never thought it would come to the point I’d be unlocking my 3G USB modem… but it happened. I was on vacation last December at my hometown of Iba, Zambales. I brought along my Sun Broadband USB modem believing I’d get a 3G signal since our house is located at the heart of our town and for the fact that they have been advertising their nationwide coverage plus my hometown is considered Digitel territory. And boy I was devastated to see my modem signal indicator turned “green,” meaning it is only able to detect a 2G signal. Still, I tried to connect to the net using SUN’s EDGE network and it totally sucked! Knowing I have to unlock my USB modem first I tried to insert my Globe Tattoo SIM thinking maybe those guys from SUN forgot to lock it! But they didn’t. As soon as the Mobile Partner app appeared, a dialog box appeared prompting me to enter the “unlock code!” With that… “Light Bulb!” (borrowed from “Despicable Me” hehehe) I had an idea that I don’t have to go to some cellphone repair guy and have them unlock it for me… I can do it on my own!

Luckily, my sister who is also home for the holidays brought along her Globe Tattoo USB modem which I’ve used before and quite satisfied with it. Most Globe Tattoo users in Manila have shelved their modems for other providers but in my hometown, Globe Tattoo is king! It provides a decent service better than what I get with SUN Broadband in Manila in terms of 3G signal strength! So I borrowed my sisters modem fired my browser and Googled “how to unlock your 3G USB modem.” I wasn’t happy about the search result because most of the sites listed required me to download some software for unlocking my modem. Aside from the fee, I feared that I might download some kind of malware. I rephrased my query and with a little bit of patience, stumbled upon a not so eye catching site that turned out to be “the way!” that lead me to “the site!”

the way!

the site... eureka!

So… How to unlock your USB modem?

All you need is your modem’s IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity). I thought I’d have a “Metal Gear” moment in finding my modem’s IMEI where I would exhaust all my energy just to find it when all of the time it was under my nose (play Metal Gear on the Sony PS1 so you’ll know what I mean). My modem’s 15-digit IMEI was printed on the backside of my modem. Entered it on the “unlock code calculator” of the site then BOOM!... returned a 10-digit unlock code! It’s that easy!

The only problem now is that the sites I’ve mentioned are sometimes down so just be patient :) The unlock code calculator might not cover all Huawei modems so be sure to check your modem model number with the modems covered by the calculator first.

Below are the pictures of my Mobile App with SUN Broadband SIM and Globe Tattoo SIM. And… Let me know whether you’ve unlocked yours :)