Gizmodo
Richard Baguley, chief cellular ninja over at WirelessInfo.com, just published a number that, when called, turns your iPhone into a mobile field testing station. Suddenly, up pops a new menu (as you can see on our own iPhone at left) that provides detailed reporting on strengths and characteristics of the cell towers in your area, plus a load of other nerdy networky factoids. In other words, you can see things that AT&T might not want you to see.
What's cool is that you can even enter field test mode during a call just by tapping the iPhone's "Add Call" icon, then the field test number. But before I give you this magic number, it is my duty to share Richard's warning.
NOTE: Although it seems that most of the information is read-only (so you can't change anything), field modes like this have the potential to damage your phone and possibly interfere with the phone network. We are providing this information as-is; we cannot be held responsible if anything you do in this field mode damages your phone or the phone network.
There, now that the warning is out of the way, here you go:
*3001#12345#*
Dial that, and have fun fiddling. If you do discover anything freaky, please report back to us, and, of course, to Richard. If you whack out your iPhone in the process, don't come crying to me. [WirelessInfo.com]
Comments
Nice
one hack is found and then look what we come up with. His child was probably playing with numbers and called it and thats what he got o.O
iPhone only, or any AT&T phone?
Don't do it on YOUR iPhone - that's what the iPhones in the Apple and AT&T stores are for...
"Operation Failed" on my Treo
Interesting...that number is only one character off from Nokia's secret menu code on some of their phones (mostly older i think?) The only difference is the star at the end being added.
Correction (but still not exciting): when I dialed the number correctly on my Treo, I get; "The network could not complete your call."
Also interesting...there is a TYPO in the secret menu. Under versions there is "Firware" instead of Firmware. How funny. However, not a big deal because the average joe isn't supposed to be meddling around in there anyway. Kinda fun though.
I know it says iPhone, but i had to try it on my htc wizard (cingular 8125) anyway. I get a message that says "Command not supported".
@drbles2010: maybe it's talking about a pine tree?
@Geisrud: Tested this via my MDA/T-Mobile and was told the call cannot be completed as dialed. Oh well. ;)
The key here is you are not actually "making a call" its just a key trip for access to a secret menu actually residing on the phone. Every phone has them and they are usually manufacturer specific. With CDMA providers such as Alltel, these menus are used to program the phone before activation. (ie. The CDMA Treo 650 access was something like *#000000 then the call.)
@Geisrud: HAHA how funny. I had to read that comment twice before I understood...Oh well. Clever.
Cingular 8525 gives
"Sorry your call cannot be completed as dialed.
Please check the number and try again.
Message # 20H01MN
"
when you try it.
Hey, I found a cool variation. If you change the last 5 digits in the code to #56789#, your iPhone will show you the last chapter of the final Harry Potter book.
Failed on my BlackBerry Pearl
On the Blackjack dialing *#9999*0# does the same thing.
I tried this on my iPhone. The funny thing I found was when I pressed the "PDP Information" button - the "PDP Information" disappeared. Even the "refresh" button wouldn't bring it back...I had to go to another link and go back to the main field test screen to get it back.
@bandit: haha...ur funny...
btw...I just checked the dev wiki site and there are a whole slew of codes listed for the iphone secret menus. Check it out...
that's like the old Nokia field test code!!
I think the code is just for the iPhone. you can surf the web and find the code for your phone.
Cingular 8125 and 8525 users, try this number: *#*#364#*#*
I found it on www.htcwizardweb.net
and i bet a software update will take care of this in about a week.
That same code brings up NAM and field test menu on my Nokia 6265i
whats with every one screaming about software updates killing little things on the iPhone. All of these numbers have been in most Smart phones for a long time. No shocker here that the iPhone has one.
You can do this on every cell phone. Why is this being reported like it's some amazing discovery? Gizmodo is over there having iPhonegasms over nothing.
Blackjack users simply push:
*#1546792*#
As a side-note this isn't a number you are dialing - it's just a series of button pushes to get the phone into diagnostic/programming mode.
As a Blackjack user I use this code to force my phone in WCDMA network mode (in cities that have 3G) - so it doesn't waste precious battery life dropping/looking for/into EDGE coverage all the time.
@c_prano:
I also think that code works for most all HTC smartphones.
My
My n
My Nokia 51xx series did this about 5 years ago.
Exact same code which makes me think Nokia had some influence on the iPhone programming. Very interesting.
he said post anything cool that you find out, not to try it on your phone and tell us when it doesnt work. the nerve of some people.
oh, and it doesnt do anything on my nokia either! what are the odds?
@mwalker05: So we should all be good little sheep and do exactly what someone tells us? How would we learn anything new.
BTW, don't you DARE try entering code: *3001#12346#* just to see what happens.
wow killerpm
i think thats the first time ive ever seen someone stutter...online...
Doesn't work on my 6682 which is cingular(AT&T) locked
So what exactly happens on a Blackjack?
I don't want to bork my phone.
@Kricket: Best post evar.
That was a cool trick. PDP info didn't do squat. I wish I knew what all the info & numbers meant, does anyone know?
Most manufacturers have a code they use but some change for some phones for whatever reason. List of field test codes: [wilsonelectronics.com]
hmm. My actual iphone says:
Error Performing request
No Network Service
@Narual: Oops. Missed that last *
"the LCD panel ID. This last one is interesting; it seems to be unique to each iPhone, and presumably identifies the individual touch panel. Why apple would do this isn't clear, but they may want to track this information for quality control purposes."
They're not unique... mine is the same as the one in the article screenshot
I did this a long time ago on the AT&T network with the ancient Nokia 5100 and 6100 series phones. You dialed #3004#12345# and it put you into a special menu that allowed you to diagnose your phone, change your banner, change the emergency number your phone dialed when you hit the 9 button, and also enabled the field test mode.
It's all network quality/data status stuff. Those numbers show the strength of the received signal, the quality of that signal (a signal can be high strength but low quality), the status of the GPRS/EDGE connection, what CODEC the phone is using (HINT: If the call sounds like ass, go into test mode and look. $5 says the CODEC in use is AMR half rate. Cingular uses that codec to get 'free' capacity at the expense of voice quality.)
If you enter a special code into most phones, you get "field test information" that wireless carrier service reps can use to diagnose network and phone problems. On the iPhone, that display is especially big and readable -- provided you know what the codes mean.
Just wanted to post my results of this iPhone hack.
The PDP menu also shows the phone's IP address (at least I assume that's what IP address it is). I tried port scanning it to see if anything interesting came up, but got no response. Of course I'm doing this at school, so port scanning might be blocked.
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