How to Unlock Huawei Modem and Pocket WiFi Devices?
Huawei is a leading manufacturer of modems and pocket WiFi devices. In fact, your carrier-branded pocket wifi is most likely a Huawei device with your carrier’s logo on it, and it’s locked to your carrier’s SIM cards. If you prefer, you could directly purchase an open-line Huawei modem from Huawei.
However, if you’ve already bought a carrier-locked modem and you want to go against the constraints imposed by corporations, then continue reading.
In this guide, we will show you how to unlock your carrier-locked Huawei modem so it can accept SIMs from other carriers.
How do I unlock Huawei modems / pocket WiFi devices?
To begin, navigate to your modem’s homepage by entering an IP address (such as 192.168.8.1) into your web browser’s address bar. Then go into Advanced Settings > Device Information. Write down your IMEI number. As an alternative, you can find this number inside your device, underneath the battery.
Depending on your device’s IMEI, you’ll need to use one of the calculators listed below:
- For IMEI numbers starting with 35, use Huawei Unlock Code Calculator v1.
- For IMEI numbers starting with 86, use Huawei Unlock Code Calculator v2.
- For Huawei routers, use Huawei Unlock Code Calculator v3.
Enter your IMEI code into the appropriate calculator, press Calculate, and take note of the code you receive.
Next, turn off your Huawei modem and insert a SIM card from a different carrier (an “invalid” SIM). Turn the modem on and return to the device homepage. Navigate to Advanced Settings > SIM Settings > Unlock Device.
Enter the unlock code you received from the calculator into the box that asks for it, then click Apply.
How to Flash Upgrade Huawei Modem Firmware and Dashboard?
If you have exceeded the allowed number of unlock attempts and locked yourself out of your Huawei modem, you’ll first need to reset the unlock counter. Download the Huawei Modem Unlocker and extract it to your desktop.
Open the ‘.exe’ file from the Huawei Modem Unlocker and connect your Huawei modem to your PC via USB. Click the Refresh button and your device should be recognized automatically.
Check the boxes for Auto-Calc Code and Auto-Unlock Modem. Click READ MDM DATA, then press UNLOCK. Next, click Calculate and write down the flash code you receive.
Note: If this software does not work for your device, consider using the Huawei Flash Code Generator, which also requires your device’s IMEI.
Now, you need the official firmware for your specific Huawei device. Usually, you can locate these on the Huawei Firmwares website. Make sure to download both the firmware update and the dashboard update.
Unpack the firmware to your desktop, and with your Huawei device connected to your PC, run the .exe file from the firmware folder. Follow the on-screen instructions. When prompted, enter the flash code that you previously noted. Some devices may also ask for a hash code, which you can obtain here.
Lastly, and most importantly, even after unlocking and flashing your Huawei device, it’s likely that the carrier’s dashboard will still prevent the use of SIMs from other carriers. Therefore, you’ll need to flash the dashboard with the generic Huawei dashboard software instead of your carrier’s customized version.
Decompress the dashboard update file you downloaded earlier to your desktop, then follow the same steps you used for flashing the firmware update.
That’s it! Your Huawei device should now be able to accept SIM cards from any carrier.
Note: Additionally, you can try to use a third-party Huawei Unlock Code Generator if necessary.
