Switching Phones

If I want to buy a used Motorola CDMA phone that was originally used by a
network other than Verizon, do I need to do something other than change the
ESN on my account at Verizon's web site? In other words, does the phone
need to be reprogrammed somehow? I read somewhere that the phone must be
"flashed" by a new carrier to make it work. True, or hogwash?

Thanks.

- ESJ
remove both x's from my email address

"E Jones" <earl_jonesx@usax.net> wrote in message
news:LYpvc.17849$DG4.1139@fe2.columbus.rr.com...
> If I want to buy a used Motorola CDMA phone that was originally used by a
> network other than Verizon, do I need to do something other than change
the
> ESN on my account at Verizon's web site? In other words, does the phone
> need to be reprogrammed somehow? I read somewhere that the phone must be
> "flashed" by a new carrier to make it work. True, or hogwash?
>
> Thanks.
>
> - ESJ
> remove both x's from my email address


If you are not sure if it will work on Verizon, best thing to do is don't
bother with it. Alot of carriers lock their phones and can not be
reprogrammed without knowing the subsidy lock code for it. US Cellular and
Alltel are about the only ones I that I know of that are normally unlocked
and can be programmed for use on Verizon. Flashing them is not required but
is sometimes needed for some features to work correctly on the newer phones.



KC

E Jones wrote:
> If I want to buy a used Motorola CDMA phone that was originally used
> by a network other than Verizon, do I need to do something other than
> change the ESN on my account at Verizon's web site? In other words,
> does the phone need to be reprogrammed somehow? I read somewhere that
> the phone must be "flashed" by a new carrier to make it work. True,
> or hogwash?

Could be either...

hogwash: any CDMA phone is capable of working on VZW's network.
The phone must be "programmed/configured" for your account
on VZW -- phone #, SID, etc. That can be done manually or
over the air (OTA). note: they may have been referring to
this
programming/configuration as "flashing the phone".

true: In order to do the above you will need to know the programming
password. In the case of OTA it must be set to "000000". Some
carriers set this password to something other than a default and
keep it a secret to prevent you from using it with another carrier.
In this case, truely flashing the phone will reset the programming
password.

It is true that many phones have firmware versions which are tailored
by the manufacturer for particular service providers. VZW may have
certain features turned on or off, their logo banner displayed, etc. This
has nothing to do with the phone's basic CDMA functioning and VZW
does not care if you activate phones on their network that have been
purchased elsewhere.

So yes, if the programming password is set to "000000", you only
need to change the ESN on the website, dial *228, and select option
#1.

-Quick

The other poster mentioned something about the phones being locked ...
how does this play in?
-
rahat


On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 14:39:21 -0700, "Quick" <dhorwitz@NOSPAMcisco.com>
wrote:

>E Jones wrote:
>> If I want to buy a used Motorola CDMA phone that was originally used
>> by a network other than Verizon, do I need to do something other than
>> change the ESN on my account at Verizon's web site? In other words,
>> does the phone need to be reprogrammed somehow? I read somewhere that
>> the phone must be "flashed" by a new carrier to make it work. True,
>> or hogwash?
>
>Could be either...
>
>hogwash: any CDMA phone is capable of working on VZW's network.
> The phone must be "programmed/configured" for your account
> on VZW -- phone #, SID, etc. That can be done manually or
> over the air (OTA). note: they may have been referring to
>this
> programming/configuration as "flashing the phone".
>
>true: In order to do the above you will need to know the programming
> password. In the case of OTA it must be set to "000000". Some
> carriers set this password to something other than a default and
> keep it a secret to prevent you from using it with another carrier.
> In this case, truely flashing the phone will reset the programming
> password.
>
>It is true that many phones have firmware versions which are tailored
>by the manufacturer for particular service providers. VZW may have
>certain features turned on or off, their logo banner displayed, etc. This
>has nothing to do with the phone's basic CDMA functioning and VZW
>does not care if you activate phones on their network that have been
>purchased elsewhere.
>
>So yes, if the programming password is set to "000000", you only
>need to change the ESN on the website, dial *228, and select option
>#1.
>
>-Quick
>
>