How important is the IMEI?

[djalf]

so here's the deal. I have a friend who has a Samsung phone and he used one of those free unlock codes found on the internet, unlocking it successfully, but apparently wiping the IMEI (resetting it all to zeroes).

I've done a lot of research, as has he, and really this doesn't seem to be much a problem here in Canada, but rather more in the UK, where IMEI tampering is a criminal offense and renders the phone useless.

so the question is, should he be worried about this if he's using the phone in Canada and or any other country that isn't the UK when traveling and just using a pay-as-you-go SIM?

btw, the phone is a G600. all phone functionalities work. the only thing that doesn't work is browsing through WAP, as all the settings have been deleted, but that isn't a problem since he doesn't need data anyway.

[djalf]

no thoughts anyone?

[bcrdukes]

Here's my take on the situation:

The act of tampering the IMEI is illegal - anywhere.

As for the phone itself, this may or may not do harm to him on any network if he is using voice or data. Some networks will scan for IMEIs to determine what phone it is in order to provide you with a particular data package. Nobody is responding simply because we don't know

And you will know when your friend gets arrested. But I doubt that will happen.

[terkan]

^ what bcrdukes said.. tempering the imei is illegal anywhere.. with that said.. it's really hard nearly impossible to prove that YOU tempered the imei.. i mean u can just say you brought it off craigslist ebay etc etc.. i don't think you'll ever get arrested.. and they won't bother wasting time tracking someone using a tampered imei and arresting them.. the worse case scenario is they'll disable that number in the system or block any imei that is 000000000

[djalf]

that's what I thought too. I mean it's not like he did it on purpose or knowing that the IMEI would change to 000000. interesting though. so essentially if the carrier my friend was using it with would find out, the phone would pretty much be useless?

on another note, I know the IMEI can be changed back to the original one, but needs to be done at a shop cause you need some pro equipment or something. does JP do this? I could just have my friend take it to him.

[terkan]

^ you don't really need to worry about it.. they ain't gonna do anything about it.. not in canada anyways

[djalf]

yeah I'm pretty sure nothing will happen lol. I guess it's just a precaution so that I know the phone will work anywhere, not just on Rogers or any local carrier.