Failed to unlock, again? Sometimes more than just an IMEI is necessary to unlock a cell phone. It could be that the country/network required setting is set for an unlock service. What does that mean?
Sometimes, it’s necessary to identify the country of origin for the network. Otherwise, you may not receive the unlock code for the device. This is especially important when unlocking cell phones to work on another carrier’s network,
How many cell phones networks are there? In the United States there are four major networks: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon.
Worldwide, major cell phone networks number around thirty. These Mobile network operators are known as MNOs.
What is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator?
MNOs allow other smaller network operators to use their networks by selling rights to them. These smaller network operators are called Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs). Wikipedia has a list of MVNOs.
For example, AT&T will sell the rights to StraightTalk to use their network – one reason why there’s no need to carrier unlock an AT&T iPhone if you’re planning to use it on the StraightTalk network.
The total number of worldwide mobile network operators do not include the number of mobile virtual network operators. So, how does the StockUnlocks plugin for WordPress allow you to identify the required country and mobile network? Afterwards, presenting the choices to your customer when submitting a cell phone unlock order?
Setting up the Country/Network Required
In the first place, the ability to specify the country/network required is only available if you’ve upgraded to StockUnlocks Pro.
Here’s how you can confirm whether or not you have the StockUnlocks Basic or Pro versions of the WordPress plugin:
StockUnlocks Options:
1: Access your WordPress Dashboard and Click on StockUnlocks > Plugin Options
2: View the details found next to “License > Status”
Here you will find the following displayed:
- “StockUnlocks Basic” or “StockUnlocks Pro”
- The version number
- The StockUnlocks Pro expiration date
WooCommerce Product Details:
1: Access your WordPress Dashboard and Click on Products > All Products
2: Click “Edit” on a product that you know requires a country and cell phone network selection
3: Scroll down to the “Product data” section and click the “StockUnlocks” tab
4: Scroll down further until you see the “Is network” drop-down list selection
For StockUnlocks Basic:
“Requires Pro Access” appears
For StockUnlocks Pro:
You should be able to choose “No” or “Required”
“Required” is automatically set when a service is imported from your Dhru Fusion source provider. This setting is not usually manually set by you.
However, only set it if you are 100% sure that a country and cell phone network is required. Here’s an explanation:
Your Dhru Fusion provider knows which cell phone unlock services require a country and cell phone network. Therefore, enable the required items to avoid API orders rejection.
The StockUnlocks plugin uses the unique API id for this unlock service to extract all of the country/network required names and identifiers related to that service from your Dhru Fusion supplier.
Storing the Country/Network Required Values
Your Dhru Fusion provider stores all of the country/network required values. Your website imports them. You set the WooCommerce Product category to “Remote Service”. Thereafter, the product is a cell phone unlock service.
A WooCommerce product must have the selection in the drop-down list for “Is network” set to “Required” for this to work.
When your customers view the WooCommerce Product on your website, there will be two drop-down lists:
- One labeled “Country:”
- The other “Network Provider:”
Select the Country or Network Provider to submit an unlock order. Otherwise, your website will return an error. “Please choose a network” will display. Make a proper selection and it will go away.
Combining the country and network id along with the IMEI number of the cell phone, your Dhru Fusion supplier will be able to obtain and deliver the correct unlock code for the device.
The entire process for configuring a WooCommerce Product as an unlock service that requires a country and network selection is automatic when importing unlock service(s) from your Dhru Fusion direct source supplier.
In Summary
The only time you will have to manually configure Country and Network settings on a WooCommerce Product is if you are converting an existing WooCommerce Product or creating an unlock service from scratch. In this case, here are some posts that will help you accomplish this:
- Manually Create a Mobile Unlock Service with WooCommerce
- How to Unlock Cell Phones with WordPress [Get Codes]
We realize that verifying which unlock services are brand/model required is not convenient. What do you think? Maybe an extra column in the products display can identify them. Or, perhaps, an enhanced StockUnlocks dashboard presentation.
Let us know what might be helpful!
