Unlocking and upgrading the Huawei E5830 MIFI

DISCLAIMER: The techniques described in this post demand technical competence. DO NOT attempt to unlock or flash GSM devices without technical competence and a LOT of research. The worst case scenario is that you end up with a dead device.

About a month ago my laptop slid off of a chair, my Huawei E160G bore the brunt and died instantly. It was a year old and had given good service but I had previously had problems with sharing the internet with devices such as my Sony PS3, Microsoft XBOX 360, Apple IPOD or Sony PSP. My old solution was to plug a wireless router into my laptop and share the internet connection with the router. It was a bit fiddly but it did the trick. Now I had a new solution and it came in the form of the all-in-one Huawei E5830 MIFI; a wireless router and GSM based broadband modem.

I live in Dublin, Ireland ... as such I battle everyday with obscene profiteering from Irish retailers over UK counterparts. With that in mind it wasn't a difficult decision over purchasing the device from 3 Ireland in Dublin at €109 (approximately £98) or from 3 UK in Belfast, UK at £49.99. Twice the price. I had previously written to 3 Ireland about their pricing strategy and was told the following by 3 Ireland's customer service department:

"It is unfortunate to know that you are not happy with the difference in the cost of the modems offered in UK and Ireland. 3 Ireland and 3 UK are run as completely separate companies as they are based in two different countries. We purchase our modems separately for each market. As the Irish market is a smaller market, we buy a smaller amount of modems and therefore the cost we pay per modems would be higher as compared to the UK."

... I have discussed this with a number of colleagues and the first response from all of them was "Bullsh*t".

So I took a trip up North and spent £49.99. As with mobile phones, network operators lock their devices to protect against people profiteering from competitor pricing strategies. 3 UK and 3 Ireland are no different. In order to use my device my first challenge was unlocking the device to all networks.

There appears to be several methods, one method employs purchasing an unlock code and unlocking using an application called CardLock_Unlock.exe created by Huawei. More information can be found on this method here. The other method is the one I used:

1) Download the DC Unlocker Client from DC Unlocker, the actual link to the download I used is here. (The version I used is 1.00.0436)

2) Once I installed the application I elected to run it in administrator mode. This helps prevent security/hardware issues. Right-click on the shortcut and select "Run As Administrator".

3) When the application has executed you will need to purchase 15 credits for the unlock. This costs 15 euro. I paid by PayPal. You also need to register in order to purchase the credits, just click on the big blue "Buy Credits" button.

4) With your modem turned off place it into maintenance mode. Press and hold “Mobile Dial Key”, and then press “Power Switch” button for 5 seconds until the red signal LED and yellow battery LED are shown.

5) Plug your device into your computer using the USB cable provided. Wait for any drivers to be installed before proceeding.

6) When the device is plugged in and installed select "Huawei datacards" from the "Select manufacturer" drop down.

7) Under "Select model" choose "_Auto Detect (recommended)_".

8) Now press the search button. This should detect your modem.

9) Click on the "Unlocking" drop-down and hit "Unlock".

If that sounds all very easy, believe me when I say it was not. I used three laptops, only one of which was able to detect the modem using the DC-unlocking software. In addition it took several attempts to unlock, rest assured that despite the failed attempts the credits were only used upon the successful unlock. No wasted credits.

So after successfully unlocking the device I was then able to plug my 3 Ireland SIM card into the device and receive 3 Ireland network coverage ... no more red network icon! Hurrah!

Of course now we have a new problem; the APN (Access Point Name) is set to the original network provider, in my case 3 UK. Using the interface software provided you are able to set up a new network profile and make that the default. This will ensure that when you dial the connection using the device button OR the software you are dialing the correct network.

So now you are thinking; "Are we done now?" ... not exactly. The Huawei E583x series devices come with a built in admin interface served over HTTP. Unfortunately 3 have decided in their infinite (read: non-existent) wisdom, that customers don't need this so they disabled it. The web admin interface provides a number of useful features including device information including traffic, battery, network, etc. The only way of getting this back is to flash the device with a newer firmware.

I found two firmwares that re-enabled the admin interface:
Version 676
Version 716

As with the unlock you need to ensure you are in maintenance mode and that the Huawei interface application is closed. It might also help to ensure that the device is charged fully as it will take 15 minutes to flash fully before the device is rebooted.

I now own an unlocked, full-loaded MIFI. You can too. In your face 3 Ireland with your profiteering pricing strategies. In your face 3 UK for not understanding your customer's needs.

Useful resources:
How to update three huawei E5830 Mi-Fi firmware
Huawei E5 (E5830 / E5832 / iMo) firmware update available
Unlocking the Huawei E5830 with DC Unlocker Client