ZTE KIS - unlocking

[Kawadadi]

I bought a ZTE KIS from Virgin, and paid Virgin £15.32 for an unlock code.  When I paid I was told I would be sent a letter with the code and instructions, but it did not arrive so I called back chasing it.  This time I was given the unlock code verbally and told that the letter with the instructions will not be sent as they "do not have any unlock instructions yet".  Has anyone unlocked a ZTE KIS yet, was it straightforward?  I do not want to mess about and end up bricking the phone. 

Virgin if you are reading this please note you have taken £15.32 from me and promised me a code and instructions which you have not delivered, please reply promptly as you have in fact not delivered what you promised to supply when taking my money.  I have emailed your support team for the instructions. 

[Krystal_E]

Hi Kawadadi,

Currently we don't have the unlock code instructions for this phone on the systems. I have sent an email to ZTE and also feed this back to try and reach a quicker resolution - I know the people that send out these codes and instructions will be trying to resolve this as well.

If anything comes from my investigations you'll be the first to know.

Many thanks.

[Kawadadi]

Krystal, thanks for your quick, clear and honest reply.  Do you have any kind of timescale as to when I might recieve instructions?  If I were to try a unlock the phone (using the code supplied by Virgin) by following prompts on the handset, and the phone "bricked", would Virgin supply another handset free of charge?  

[Krystal_E]

Hi Kawadadi,

I'd only try once and if it doesn't work I would leave it. As there are no clear instructions as yet, and I'm sorry I'm not sure on any timeframe as yet, I wouldn't go beyond this limit. The phone wouldn't be changed but flashed at the repair centre and we couldn't want to cause any other delays.

Many thanks.

[Kawadadi]

Hi, 

Good news and bad.  

Firstly, carrying out the unlocking process was really straighforward. Very simple on-screen instructions which were easy to follow and due to an absense of choices other than the correct ones almost impossible to get wrong. 

But, the handest is only partially unlocked.  With the non-Virgin SIM in place it makes calls and texts but it does not do data.  The browser works on Wi-Fi okay but the SIM data connection does not work.  I can find no way to change the phone settings so that I can manually enter new access points, there are no options on the menus to select fields which would allow me to do this. 

From my point of view at the momoent it looks like Virgin have charged me £15.32 for an unlock code which had not completely unlocked the handset.  Can you advise differently - perhaps tell me how I can enter new access points? 

Thank you. 

[bandit2329]

Hi have a search on ebay there are unlocking codes on there for ZTE but not sure which models.

[Kawadadi]

Hi, 

Just to clarify, the handset is unlocked for calls and texts, but I can't use data on it with anything except a Virgin SIM because there is no place to enter Internet Access Points.  Hence from my point of view it is not fully unlocked. 

[REDIANART · Accepted solution]

I have just unlocked my kis, all you need to do in go into network settings and add your new network APN settings and it will work.

[Kawadadi]

Sounds great, could you please post the choices you took on your handset to get to the fields where you into the APN, also the firmware version of your handset as you may have different variant firmware to me. 

[Kawadadi · Accepted solution]

Got it working, it was total user error (i.e. me being a newbie).  I could not find the fields to enter the APN because when I went to SETTINGS > WIRELESS & NETWORKS > MOBILE NETWORKS, I thought that the words "network settings" were a title for the page and hence did not press them.  When I pressed "network settings" I found the fieilds I needed.  Sorry folks, this is my first experience of using a touchscreen for anything, the whole episode is made all the more humiliating because a few years ago I worked for Nokia on thier tech support line and I though I knew my way around phones pretty well - but that was in the days before touchscreens. 

Now another newbie-to-touchscreens question:  How do you change the keypad so that numbers can be entered?  (so that I can set up MMS, for example enter:  "http://mmsc.mediamessaging.co.uk:8002" How do you enter the digits 8 0 0 2?)