Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Find the IMEI Number on a Mobile Phone

The IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) number is on all GSM and UMTS mobile phones, commonly found in Europe, Asia, Africa and increasingly in America. Cingular & T-Mobile are the major US carriers but there are growing numbers of regional carriers who are switching to GSM like Centennial Wireless, Highland Cellular, Dobson Cellular to name a few. Mobile phone companies can use the number to identify valid subscribers and the type of equipment used. The carrier could thus use the number to remotely disable the phone in the event it is stolen or reported lost and customize data content to be compatible with the type of equipment used, among other things.

1. Ensure your phone is powered on.
2. Unless currently on a call, in which case you would clear out any numbers on the screen that were pressed while on the call, use the same process as dialing a number to be called.
3. Press the following keys one by one: * # 0 6 # and press go or send
4. As you press on the last #, a number will appear with the title, IMEI number, or similar. Read the screen.


Motorola iDen Units

1. With the handset on, press the following key sequence in rapid succession (without pause): # * [menu] [right arrow].
2. On units with SIM cards, scroll down until you see IMEI/SIM ID. Select Enter, and view your IMEI, SIM, and on some units, your MSN. The first fourteen digits are displayed; the fifteenth is always a 0.
3. On older units without SIM cards, continue to hit the [right arrow] key until you see IMEI [0] on the display. The first seven digits are displayed. Hit the menu key, then the "soft key" under next, and the next seven digits are displayed. The final, fifteenth, digit is most often a 0, however, this can be changed by altering the NAM.


Alternate Methods

1. Ensure the phone is powered off.
2. Remove the battery.
3. Look on the phone for a white sticker/label, which would be now exposed after removing the battery, for the IMEI. It would be 15 or 17 digits not including a few forward slashes included and without any letters. Only the first 15-digits are needed.
4. If the phone is not available or if the label is unreadable then have a look at the phone manufacturer's packaging for a white sticker/label. Near one bar code or another the IMEI would also be printed.


[edit] Tips

0 comments: