"Rooting' an Android Motorla phone with Barnacle

[DarthTom]

I have a Motorola phone with T-Mobile and my IT person looked at my phone and said I could 'root,' the phone and install Barnacle on it and make the phone a wifi hotspot even though the phone wasn't originally designed that way.

This website shows how to do with with the cautionary note you could crash your phone.

I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this - what the hazards are and is it worth trying or not and the risk?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Dude, what you do with your electronic devices in the privacy of your bedroom is your business.

Anyway, if you fuck up rooting your phone, you can wind up with a useless brick and a voided warranty. I suggest you consider it very carefully and follow the instructions to the letter. Do not skip steps and pay attention to everything it says. Also make sure you are working from the right version of the phone--sometimes things change between revisions and what worked on an old revision will fuck up the current one beyond repair.

Just be very, very careful.

 

[DonIago]

I would strongly recommend you direct any Droid questions/concerns, especially regarding rooting, to one of the many forums out there that deal with this sort of thing in depth.

Off the top of my head (because I use them)-
droidforums.net
phandroid.com
talkandroid.com

I think you're more likely to get more focused and knowledgable assistance there. Actually, I'd also recommend you search those forums first, as IMO the majority of questions regarding rooting have already been asked, and I believe (most of) those forums already have sub-forums to specifically address rooting-related concerns.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

DonIago is wise.

 

[DarthTom]

I would strongly recommend you direct any Droid questions/concerns, especially regarding rooting, to one of the many forums out there that deal with this sort of thing in depth.

Off the top of my head (because I use them)-
droidforums.net
phandroid.com
talkandroid.com

I think you're more likely to get more focused and knowledgable assistance there. Actually, I'd also recommend you search those forums first, as IMO the majority of questions regarding rooting have already been asked, and I believe (most of) those forums already have sub-forums to specifically address rooting-related concerns.

+

Between your warnings and Robert's and as someone who's often 'technically challenged,' doing this kind of shit, I think what I'm going to do is take the phone to a T-Mobile store to technical support, open Barnacle which is giving me an error message that says the phone needs 'root access,' and see if Tech support can resolve the problem in person.

Because if they crash the phone they replace it.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I would strongly recommend you direct any Droid questions/concerns, especially regarding rooting, to one of the many forums out there that deal with this sort of thing in depth.

Off the top of my head (because I use them)-
droidforums.net
phandroid.com
talkandroid.com

I think you're more likely to get more focused and knowledgable assistance there. Actually, I'd also recommend you search those forums first, as IMO the majority of questions regarding rooting have already been asked, and I believe (most of) those forums already have sub-forums to specifically address rooting-related concerns.

+

Between your warnings and Robert's and as someone who's often 'technically challenged,' doing this kind of shit, I think what I'm going to do is take the phone to a T-Mobile store to technical support, open Barnacle which is giving me an error message that says the phone needs 'root access,' and see if Tech support can resolve the problem in person.

Because if they crash the phone they replace it.

Odds are T-Mobile staff will not help you with this if this is a feature you'd normally have to pay for. You are not "supposed" to root your phone but as long as your carrier doesn't find out about it you can usually get away with it.

 

[Arrqh]

Between your warnings and Robert's and as someone who's often 'technically challenged,' doing this kind of shit, I think what I'm going to do is take the phone to a T-Mobile store to technical support, open Barnacle which is giving me an error message that says the phone needs 'root access,' and see if Tech support can resolve the problem in person.

Because if they crash the phone they replace it.

T-Mobile will not root your phone. They will do nothing beyond telling you that you can't use the app.

 

[DarthTom]

T-Mobile will not root your phone. They will do nothing beyond telling you that you can't use the app.

I hear ya. I'm going to stop by my local T-Mobile store on the way home and maybe I'll get lucky and the tech guy behind the counter will be a geek and will try to connect the phone to Barancle regardless. Sometimes ya get lucky with these people but you're right most of the time the are 'by the book, ' and won't alter equipment beyond it's original intent.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

T-Mobile will not root your phone. They will do nothing beyond telling you that you can't use the app.

I hear ya. I'm going to stop by my local T-Mobile store on the way home and maybe I'll get lucky and the tech guy behind the counter will be a geek and will try to connect the phone to Barancle regardless. Sometimes ya get lucky with these people but you're right most of the time the are 'by the book, ' and won't alter equipment beyond it's original intent.

I don't think you understand. Rooting a phone is against the policy of every major cell carrier. T-Mobile staff would be fired for assisting you with this, and what's most likely to happen is that they'll tell you to get lost and put a note on your account that if you ever come in with a bricked phone, you voided your warranty by rooting it.

 

[DarthTom]

I don't think you understand. Rooting a phone is against the policy of every major cell carrier. T-Mobile staff would be fired for assisting you with this, and what's most likely to happen is that they'll tell you to get lost and put a note on your account that if you ever come in with a bricked phone, you voided your warranty by rooting it.

I didn't understand. I see - well my onsite tech person at work didn't want to chance my personal phone even though she says she could do it. She would do it with a company phone but not someone's personal one.

Not worth the risk. I have approx. 1 year to an upgrade at which point I'll upgrade to a phone with a hot spot.

I'm getting a IPad Robert and wanted a way to connect to it when free wifi wasn't available [not getting the 4g connection] and I had heard of people doing this but I"m not confident enough in my own abilities to do it or even try without potentially fucking up the phone.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't think you understand. Rooting a phone is against the policy of every major cell carrier. T-Mobile staff would be fired for assisting you with this, and what's most likely to happen is that they'll tell you to get lost and put a note on your account that if you ever come in with a bricked phone, you voided your warranty by rooting it.

I didn't understand. I see - well my onsite tech person at work didn't want to chance my personal phone even though she says she could do it. She would do it with a company phone but not someone's personal one.

Not worth the risk. I have approx. 1 year to an upgrade at which point I'll upgrade to a phone with a hot spot.

I'm getting a IPad Robert and wanted a way to connect to it when free wifi wasn't available [not getting the 4g connection] and I had heard of people doing this but I"m not confident enough in my own abilities to do it or even try without potentially fucking up the phone.

Yeah, I suggest you just wait for the upgrade, lest you wreck your phone.

 

[DarthTom]

Yeah, I suggest you just wait for the upgrade, lest you wreck your phone.

Thank you. Speaking of Ipad Robert is there a spearate thread on the new iPad that is releasing allegedly next month. I'm holding my tax return $$ for that special gift to myself.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

No thread on the new iPad, feel free to start one.

 

[DonIago]

Provided you don't do anything stupid -afterwards-, rooting is (or should be) a harmless process.

That being said, yeah, the retailer isn't going to help you. Phones essentially come with user-level access to them. Root gives you admin-level access, and the retailers aren't going to do anything to encourage customers to gain that access, especially because they would open themselves up to liability concerns if you did something crazy with the access they'd enabled for you.

It's much like how if you provide a gun to someone who then goes on a killing spree you may face a great deal of scrutiny yourself...and quite possibly more if it turns out you shouldn't have given them the gun to begin with.