Tutorial: What To Do When You Water Damage Your Phone!

Many customers have been asking what to do when their phone is water damaged, so we are posting a quick tutorial on how to react when your device gets damaged by liquid, and what services can be offered.

To start, as soon as your device gets damaged by liquid, or you think liquid is still in the device, turn it off as soon as possible, and if the battery can be taken out, take it out now. The phone needs to dry out as soon as possible. There is a much greater chance of the phone being further damaged if the phone is on and has water in it.

Now that the device is shut off, it can be inserted and fully submerged into a bowl of rice and/or Silica Gel packs. You can keep the phone in the rice/silica until you're confident the phone is dry, sometimes this can take a day or two, so be careful when trying to turn the phone on. Sometimes this is all it takes to get your phone back to normal working condition. If this was not successful, we offer a water damage treatment to the majority of smart phones. There is about a 50% success rate with this treatment depending on how bad the corrosion on the board. The treatment takes up to 3 hours, but sometimes when it is not fully successful, we like to let the device sit overnight and try a second treatment the following day. The standard pricing for this is 10$ if we can’t get it fixed, and 50$ if we can get it fixed. No appointment necessary! We are open 10-8 during the week and 12-4 on the weekend, our address is 299 northfield drive east, unit 16.

Thank you, feel free to call us at 519-729-1372 if you have any questions at all.

WE CAN HELP

Thanks

We-Lectronics Cell Phone Repair

Tutorial: Unlocking your Blackberry/Android (Non iPhone)

Whether you're traveling to a different country for a week, or wanting to change to a carrier that is offering a better priced plan, there are several reasons you may want to unlock your device. This guide is just a little "how to" go about getting your device unlocked and finalizing the unlock.

Attention: These rules do not apply to iPhone. Apple devices have a different method of unlocking and finalizing the unlock.

Pricing:

First things first, there are different prices for the unlocking of devices, please call in for the exact amount as sometimes the prices can fluctuate. Generally, Androids are around 25$, older Blackberry(Pre-BB10) are around 10$, and newer blackberry(BB10+) are around 30$. Again, these amounts are just approximates and are subject to change.

In order to start the unlock process, we will need information for the device. We will need the imei number, carrier and model of the phone. Once we have this information, we can submit the unlock for processing. The unlock process takes between 1 and 24 hours.

Once the Unlock Code has been processed, we will need to type the unlock code into the phone to finalize the unlock. To finalize the unlock, start by shutting the device down. You will need a sim card from a carrier in which the device is not supported. Example, if your phone is locked to Rogers, you will need a non Rogers sim card, Bell, Koodo, Telus etc. Proceed to put the non supported sim card into the device, as soon as the sim card is inserted, turn on the phone. Once the phone is booted up, you should receive a message saying that it is an unsupported Sim card, and it will ask whether you want to unlock the device. Hit yes, and it will bring you to a screen prompting the unlock code. Simply type in the unlock code provided by We-Lectronics, and hit enter. The box in which you typed the code will either disappear, or it will display a message saying the unlock code was successful.

Congratulations, your device is now Unlocked.

Short Version (Android+Pre-BB10):

Once you receive the unlock code from us do the following:

1.       Turn off the phone and put a non-supported sim card in

2.       Restart the phone

3.       You will be prompted to enter the unlock code, after which you should receive a successful message

Short Version (BB10+):

1.       Turn off the phone and put a non-supported sim card in

2.       Restart the phone

3.       Navigate to Settings>Sim Card and press “unlock network”

4.       Enter code, after which you should receive a successful message

If you have any questions at all, feel free to call us at 519-729-1372, "WE" can help.

Unlocking Guide and FAQ: A quick guide of the obvious and not so obvious unlocking in's and out's

What is Unlocking?

When a phone is purchased from a carrier(Rogers, Bell, Telus etc) that phone is going to be "Locked" to the carrier it was purchased from. What that means is, that a phone purchased from Rogers, is going to be "Locked" to Rogers, you will only be able to use it with Rogers, and it will not work with any other carrier(Bell, Telus etc) unless you "Unlock" it from Rogers. An unlocked phone will work with any carrier, including carriers from different countries(Tmobile, Sprint, At&T etc)

What are the Benefits of Unlocking my Device?

There are several benefits to unlocking a device, including but not limited to:

1-Switching Carriers-For example, your contract is finished with Telus, and Virgin is offering you a better plan, you can unlock your phone so you can change from Telus to Virgin.

Also, there are a few carrier combinations that do not require you to unlock your device, this rule applies to majority of the phones on the market.

-Rogers phones will work on the Fido network and vice versa

-Bell Phones will work on the Virgin network and vice versa

-Telus phones will work on the Koodo network and vice versa

2-You can use Unlocked phones in different countries-Planning a vacation to another country but you don't want to pay Roaming or buy an expensive travel plan? Simply Unlock your device, and purchase a plan right from the country you're traveling to, it will be a lot more cost effective.

3-Resale Value-Unlocking a phone makes it much more attractive to buyers, it also opens up the sale to more potential customers. For example, if you were trying to sell a phone that was locked to Rogers, you will only attract people that are with Rogers and/or are planning to go with Rogers. If you were selling a phone that was unlocked, you are not limited to a certain carrier, so it will attract anyone who is interested in the model of phone regardless of carrier.

Are there any Exceptions to these Rules?

Yes, there are a few exceptions to the rules stated above, including:

Phone Exceptions-Certain phone models come stock Unlocked. The Google Nexus 4 and Google Nexus 5 are both Stock Factory Unlocked, which means they will work with all carriers, no matter what carrier they are purchased from.

Carrier Exceptions-There are certain carriers that will only work with their carrier designated devices, regardless if the device is unlocked. For example, WIND works on a different network, it requires the phone to be compatible with their frequencies, what this means is that the has to be compatible with WIND in order to pick up service. You can find out if your device is WIND compatible by bringing it into any WIND store.

I hope this guide has shed some light onto the subject of unlocking, at We-Lectronics, we unlock all phones from all Canadian carriers. If you have any questions, or if you need your device unlocked, we can help, please call us at 519-729-1372, thank you.