NEWS: Get Ready for a Wireless Carrier War

In article <[email protected]>,
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:

> [POSTED TO alt.cellular.cingular - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]
>
> In <[email protected]> on Sat, 06 Sep 2003
> 18:39:19 GMT, Phillipe <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >The thing is, over in England where portability has been around for a
> >while, the AVERAGE business discount is 50%, because of the willingness
> >of businesses to change carriers.
>
> The big difference is that in England, businesses can change carriers while
> keeping the same phones (just issue new SIMs), whereas here in the USA it
> often takes all-new phones.

I thought the carriers were "locking" phones so simple SIM swaps
wouldn't work?

---

› See More: NEWS: Get Ready for a Wireless Carrier War

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
<[email protected]> said:
>
> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.
>
> - Paul

I thought all carriers had that policy.

On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
<[email protected]> said:
>
> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.
>
> - Paul

I thought all carriers had that policy.

In alt.cellular.verizon norelpref <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> <[email protected]> said:
>>
>> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
>> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.

Verizon will activate any tri-mode phone.

- Paul

In alt.cellular.verizon norelpref <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> <[email protected]> said:
>>
>> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
>> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.

Verizon will activate any tri-mode phone.

- Paul

In alt.cellular.verizon John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> In <[email protected]> on Sat, 06 Sep 2003
> 15:56:00 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Except if you happen to have SBC DSL. SBC won't just sell you
>> DSL service: you MUST have a land-line number. You might be
>> thinking, "Well, of course you need a land-line since DSL runs
>> over the same copper." Except there's a difference between the
>> copper and the *number* assigned to the copper. It's certainly
>> possible to have DSL on a copper pair with no phone number
>> assigned to it (I used to have this with Northpoint before they
>> went bankrupt).
>>
>> And, for me, cable-based broadband isn't an option because they
>> don't offer static IPs (not to mention cable companies'
>> Draconian TOS policies).
>>
>> So, for now, I'm sorta of stuck with my land-line.
>
> Not really. Transfer the DSL to a number you don't care about on the lowest
> possible cost service, and then move your current landline number elsewhere.

Uhm, but the point was to get rid of the land-line entirely,
not to move it elsewhere.

- Paul

In alt.cellular.verizon John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> In <[email protected]> on Sat, 06 Sep 2003
> 15:56:00 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas" <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Except if you happen to have SBC DSL. SBC won't just sell you
>> DSL service: you MUST have a land-line number. You might be
>> thinking, "Well, of course you need a land-line since DSL runs
>> over the same copper." Except there's a difference between the
>> copper and the *number* assigned to the copper. It's certainly
>> possible to have DSL on a copper pair with no phone number
>> assigned to it (I used to have this with Northpoint before they
>> went bankrupt).
>>
>> And, for me, cable-based broadband isn't an option because they
>> don't offer static IPs (not to mention cable companies'
>> Draconian TOS policies).
>>
>> So, for now, I'm sorta of stuck with my land-line.
>
> Not really. Transfer the DSL to a number you don't care about on the lowest
> possible cost service, and then move your current landline number elsewhere.

Uhm, but the point was to get rid of the land-line entirely,
not to move it elsewhere.

- Paul

"norelpref" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> <[email protected]> said:
> > But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> > didn't originally sell for their service on their network.

> I thought all carriers had that policy.

My understanding was that the GSM carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and
Cingular) will indeed activate an arbitrary GSM phone. However, each of these
carriers SIM-locks each phone it sells or gives away itself, in order to help
ensure sufficient service revenue to offset the phone's price subsidy.

Does anyone have contrary information?

"norelpref" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> <[email protected]> said:
> > But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> > didn't originally sell for their service on their network.

> I thought all carriers had that policy.

My understanding was that the GSM carriers (T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and
Cingular) will indeed activate an arbitrary GSM phone. However, each of these
carriers SIM-locks each phone it sells or gives away itself, in order to help
ensure sufficient service revenue to offset the phone's price subsidy.

Does anyone have contrary information?

Not totally true there are TDMA tri-mode phones. Also trying to get
another carriers phone activated can be a ***** as you may need the lock
code and the previous carrier may not release it. Go buy a SPCS trimode
CDMA phone and see how it goes getting it activated on VZW... MB

"Paul J. Lucas" <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> In alt.cellular.verizon norelpref <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> > <[email protected]> said:
> >>
> >> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> >> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.
>
> Verizon will activate any tri-mode phone.
>
> - Paul

[posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]

Not totally true there are TDMA tri-mode phones. Also trying to get
another carriers phone activated can be a ***** as you may need the lock
code and the previous carrier may not release it. Go buy a SPCS trimode
CDMA phone and see how it goes getting it activated on VZW... MB

"Paul J. Lucas" <[email protected]> wrote in article
<[email protected]>:
> In alt.cellular.verizon norelpref <[email protected]> wrote:
> > On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> > <[email protected]> said:
> >>
> >> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> >> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.
>
> Verizon will activate any tri-mode phone.
>
> - Paul

[posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs Male Bomb <[email protected]> wrote:
> Not totally true there are TDMA tri-mode phones. Also trying to get
> another carriers phone activated can be a ***** as you may need the lock
> code and the previous carrier may not release it. Go buy a SPCS trimode
> CDMA phone and see how it goes getting it activated on VZW... MB

Ahhhhh, but I have come up with an easy way to social-engineer the MSL
code from Sprint's customer service reps.

--
JustThe.net Internet & Multimedia Services
22674 Motnocab Road * Apple Valley, CA 92307-1950
Steve Sobol, Proprietor
888.480.4NET (4638) * 248.724.4NET * [email protected]

In alt.cellular.sprintpcs Male Bomb <[email protected]> wrote:
> Not totally true there are TDMA tri-mode phones. Also trying to get
> another carriers phone activated can be a ***** as you may need the lock
> code and the previous carrier may not release it. Go buy a SPCS trimode
> CDMA phone and see how it goes getting it activated on VZW... MB

Ahhhhh, but I have come up with an easy way to social-engineer the MSL
code from Sprint's customer service reps.

--
JustThe.net Internet & Multimedia Services
22674 Motnocab Road * Apple Valley, CA 92307-1950
Steve Sobol, Proprietor
888.480.4NET (4638) * 248.724.4NET * [email protected]

Your entirely correct. For the most part, you cannot take a Sprint or
Verizon phone and switch carriers with them. There are ways to re-burn the
chip to make it work, but no one is going to tell you that - they are all
going to require a new phone.

Sprint wins in this category, my opinion, because you can pretty much find a
Sprint phone on eBay, get it home and hit the Sprint website to change your
phone over to a new model.

Switching between carriers with the same phone, however, isn't going to
work.


"Male Bomb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Not totally true there are TDMA tri-mode phones. Also trying to get
> another carriers phone activated can be a ***** as you may need the lock
> code and the previous carrier may not release it. Go buy a SPCS trimode
> CDMA phone and see how it goes getting it activated on VZW... MB
>
> "Paul J. Lucas" <[email protected]> wrote in article
> <[email protected]>:
> > In alt.cellular.verizon norelpref <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> > > <[email protected]> said:
> > >>
> > >> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> > >> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.
> >
> > Verizon will activate any tri-mode phone.
> >
> > - Paul
>
> [posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]

Your entirely correct. For the most part, you cannot take a Sprint or
Verizon phone and switch carriers with them. There are ways to re-burn the
chip to make it work, but no one is going to tell you that - they are all
going to require a new phone.

Sprint wins in this category, my opinion, because you can pretty much find a
Sprint phone on eBay, get it home and hit the Sprint website to change your
phone over to a new model.

Switching between carriers with the same phone, however, isn't going to
work.


"Male Bomb" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Not totally true there are TDMA tri-mode phones. Also trying to get
> another carriers phone activated can be a ***** as you may need the lock
> code and the previous carrier may not release it. Go buy a SPCS trimode
> CDMA phone and see how it goes getting it activated on VZW... MB
>
> "Paul J. Lucas" <[email protected]> wrote in article
> <[email protected]>:
> > In alt.cellular.verizon norelpref <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Sat, 06 Sep 2003 15:48:35 GMT, "Paul J. Lucas"
> > > <[email protected]> said:
> > >>
> > >> But, at least with Sprint, they won't activate a phone they
> > >> didn't originally sell for their service on their network.
> >
> > Verizon will activate any tri-mode phone.
> >
> > - Paul
>
> [posted via phonescoop.com - free web access to the alt.cellular groups]