Month: April 2012

How to get the HTC Inspire 4g AT&T to work with Straight Talk

Paul5 Replies

It really wasn’t hard!

I have been doing a lot of stuff with this HTC Inspire that I got from a family member.  Here are some of my observations about this phone that I wanted to share with you before we get into making it work with Straight Talk.   Afterall I want to be fair to you my readers.

 

The HTC Inspire in whole, isn’t really that bad of a phone.   There will be some caviates of the phone though.  The battery that was in the phone has been charged and discharged so many times that I can’t reliably say that the battery is bad. So with that in mind, I plan on making a trip to Batteries Plus to buy me a new battery.  The Screen on the Inspire gives you so much more than you get on most other smart phones.   The Resolution of the screen is crisp and you can do a lot with the Apps from the Marketplace.

How I did it!

If you’ve been reading my blog the last week or so, you would of noticed that I showed you how to unlock the HTC Inspire 4g AT&T Phone yourself for free.   I did unlock it successfully, because when I got the new sim it had to be set to be used it but didn’t say it couldn’t use that SIM.  If your really unsure of it yourself you might just got buy an unlocked HTC Inspire 4g AT&T Phone .  I really don’t want you to brick you phone but you can also try to get AT&T to unlock it  or you could buy the Unlock Code.   I really don’t know if they will or not but it is always a possiblity.

Getting the Right Sim Card from Straight Talk!

I’ve found in the past that if your are going to use a phone from a carrier unlocked it sometimes the best results can be continueing to use the same carrier in one aspect or another.  So choose the right Sim for the phone you have and you won’t be disappointed.  This will be a short tutorial for the AT&T HTC Inspire that I just got done unlocking.   You will need to unlock your HTC Inspire to do this successfully, but if your are successfull, you will be able to use their service for much less than you normally would.

Make sure you pick the AT&T Compatible Sim!Once you unlocked the cell phone and gotten the AT&T Compatible Straight talk SIM card, you will need to set up some Access Point Names(APNS) for the HTC Inspire 4g Unlocked Cell phone.

On the Inspire itself hit:

MENU > Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile Networks > Access Point Names

There you will see two APN’s already set by AT&T.  They are MEdia Net and MMS (Wap.cingular).   Mine were locked but I left them alone on my phone   In order to get both internet and mobile calls on you phone you will need to create two APNS:  (This would be a good time to bookmark my site in case you need to come back to it!)

Only fill in the ones I tell you, Leave all the rest blank or <Not set> and it all CASE Sensitive:

MENU > Add APN

Name : straight talk

APN: ATT.mvno

MMS protocol: WAP 2.0

MCC:  310

MNC:  410

MENU > SAVE

MENU > Add APN

Name: mmsc

APN: ATT.mvno

MMSC:  http://mmsc.cingular.com

MMS Proxy:  80

MMS protocol:  WAP 2.0

MCC:  310

MNC: 410

APN type: mms

MENU > SAVE

So if you have done this right, it is now time to reboot your HTC Inspire 4G unlocked Cell phone.  Hold the power button down for 3 seconds and hit RESTART once you have done this you should be able to use both internet and make calls on the Straight Talk Network with your SIM.  Remember you will need to register the sim with Straight Talk before you can use it but if you haven’t now would be a good time to Activate the SIM and associate that SIM with your Account.

I hope this helps you figure out how to use your new found freedom with yoru android device and thus you should be all set to make calls and surf the web with your HTC Inspire 4G.   If you have any questionns please feel free to contact me or leave a comment.  

Paul Sylvester

 

5 Steps to unlock your HTC Inspire 4g (AT&T) Phone!

Paul

It isn’t hard really!

If your like me, you really don’t want to pay to unlock your used AT&T Phone but yet your not one to do it yourself. This is going to be a simple way to unlock it and be able to use any SIM you might want to use with that phone. I’ve recently done it and it really wasn’t as hard as I thought. You will need a few things and thus these steps are ESSENTIAL!  If you don’t feel comfortable doing this, you can always either pay to have unlocked or go buy an Unlocked HTC Inspire 4g phone [Amazon Affiliate] or Buying the Unlock Code [Affiliate Link] for it!!  I have done this and it works just fine as long as you follow the Effen Manual.  Yes I know it sounds like a cuss word, not my idea.

The Five Steps: 

  • Either Find a USB to Micro B Cable or buy it [Amazon Affiliate]!
  • Read the Manual — You can check it out and get the idea of what you will need to do but it is a MUST!
  • Download the File — You can find that right after the Manual.   Make sure to figure out which system you will use to do this with though.
  • Windows USERS — If your using Windows you will need to remove all possible interferences.  So you will need to stop Antivirus Software, and other such software.   I recommend creating a Boot LINUX with Ubuntu on it to do this.  Just make sure you have the file that you just downloaded on to the USB Drive. [The instructions for this in the manual!]
  • Plug in you phone and Run the Program — After you have verified that you can access the SD card, you should be able to run the program.   Let it run for a while, it will reboot several times.   It only took me like 20 mins if I remember correctly.

 

Nothing in the Manual is hard!

If you follow the manuals instructionns like I did, you will probably have no problems.   I can’t say that you are going to be successful.   You may brick your phone but if you are patient and keep trying you are more likely to succeed than fail.   If your looking to save money by switching to another provider you can always try Straight Talk, which still go through AT&T but only pay 45$ a month for Unlimited everything plan!  They even sell you sim card to use with you Unlocked Cell phone.   I don’t know if you can use a Locked AT&T Phone with them but you can always call them to verify it.   

Paul Sylvester