What does IMEI mean
The acronym IMEI comes from the English "International Mobile Equipment Identity," which, translated to Spanish, means "International Mobile Equipment Identity," and its purpose is to give the cell phone a unique identity worldwide.
This number can easily be seen on the box when we buy a new phone, or in the case of used phones, the IMEI can be found in the battery compartment below the battery.
Technically, an IMEI number consists of 14 digits plus an additional digit for verification purposes. These numbers are divided into four parts:
·TAC (Type Allocation Code): Composed of the first six digits
· Final Assembly Code (FAC): The next two digits and indicate the manufacturer of the equipment.
· Serial number: The next six digits
· Verifier code: The last digit, used to verify that the IMEI is correct.
The purpose of
the implementation of IMEI in cell phone equipment goes beyond
simple identification and can also be used to block access to the communication
networks of equipment whose numbers are found in the so-called "Black
Lists."
How to know the IMEI of my cell phone
Fortunately,
in most cases, finding the IMEI of a cell phone is a
simple task since this number is usually obtained by
pressing * # 06 # on the device's keyboard.
Nowadays, and with the rise of
smartphones, it is also possible to find them in various ways, depending on the
manufacturer of the smartphone. In the case of a phone with Apple's iOS
system, we can find the IMEI in Settings> General> About menu. In
the case of Android, we can find it in the "Settings" menu in
the "About
phone" section.
Unlock by IMEI
When
we talk about repairing or updating a cell phone,
many users confuse "Flashing" with "Unlocking," but
these two actions are very different from each other and have very different
purposes. To clarify the picture a bit and avoid any type of problems with our network
operator, from this point on, we are going to show the
differences that exist between the two procedures.
Flashing a cell phone is a procedure
that involves reinstalling the operating system of a
smartphone for a newer or older version or even for the
same version in order to solve a problem with startup or data corruption. This
procedure is performed on the main operating systems for smartphones, that is,
Android and iOS.