Owning UTStarcom F1000
by ZiLg0 (Zilg0@trashmail.net)
The UTStarcom F1000 (User Manual) is a nice "cheep" ($119.99 - VoIP Supply) Wi-Fi VoIP device.
The pros are small candy bar form factor, decent battery life, and if you hack it open you'll find a lovely Mini PCI Wi-Fi style antenna connector ready for all your TX/RX ideas.
It's not that the built in antenna does a bad job holding your signal but you could use a Yagi to lock onto a distant AP and look cool talking on your phone while everyone assumes you are a terrorist. The only qualms I have with the device is the lack of any ability to import/export phone book entries, but if you have no friends then you have nothing to worry about.
Second and foremost, you are only allowed one SIP account configured on the phone.
I originally purchased my UTStarcom from BoredVoice back when the handset first came out and was twice the price as what you can get it for today. I used the device for three months to drunk dial my dorm a bunch and check in with family while in Japan. When I got home I canceled my service and forgot about the phone.
A few months later I started looking into Asterisk to deploy on my campus. That is when I discovered the locked state of my phone. I had never had the unpleasantness of a locked phone. I've never owned a cell phone thankfully. (I got all my minutes racked in the dumpsters of RatShack!)
I spent much time feeding queries into Google but that went nowhere. A few months ago I was clued into a link off of the UTStarcom forums, a nice place to get technical advice direct from the developers. The link pointed to www.betateilchen.de.
This resource is what saved me and should help you! Providing downloads as well as TFTP service for the latest UTStarcom firmware. Here is how you can break the lock on your phone: Download the correct firmware and uncompress the ZIP file to your desktop.
- You will now need to enter the hidden ATE menu to proceed.
- Turn off the phone.
- Holding the 1 and 9 keys press and hold power (End key) for a few seconds. Wait for Func No: to appear.
- Enter 37 and press Send key, look for success, press End key.
- Enter 38 and press Send key, look for success, press End key.
- Enter 41 and press send key, look for success, press End key.
- Now hold End key to power down the phone.
Congratulations!
You have now wiped the phone clear of all data including the TFTP server that the phone calls home to provision itself.
Now run FWUPGRADE.EXE from the desktop. The phone and computer must talk to each other using the same Access Point. Let the upgrade application time out and ask you to make sure the phone is on.
It is crucial that you power up the phone immediately, get to Menu -> Misc -> RemoteTFTP, and update as quickly as you can.
As soon as you confirm that you want the phone to update click "Yes" on the update tool to have another go at finding your phone.
With much luck the computer will fertilize the phone with new firmware. You're not out of the woods yet. It took me a total of four times following these steps to break the phone of the lock.
The first time I found the phone called out to BoredVoice and reverted back to a locked state in a matter of seconds. The other three times I guess were just for good measure.
It's been four months now running V4.50st and all is good with the added bonus of a web interface to take care of all configurations.
It has been said that this will not work on newer hardware, but hope for the best and give it a try!
An extremely useful recourse is: web.quick.cz/lake/f1000_faq.htm
$upport Open Source! Shouts to your mother!