Might buy, but...

Hi everyone,
I've been craving a new cell phone lately and the Z610 caught my eye. I have the money and means to buy this phone, but I have a problem and I thought I would ask first before buying.

My problem - my carrier is Amp'd Mobile, and I have a Kyocera KX18 "Jet", which does not have a SIM card. If I bought a Z610 off of eBay or any other online cell phone retailer, what would I have to do to make this compatible with my network, if that's even possible? The customer service section of Ampd.com is offline now for some reason, so I can't call or email them to check anything.

I'd rather find a way to get this to work, even manually programming it, than having to pay cancellation fees for amp'd then activation fees, phone fees and all that lovely stuff for a new service that could support this.
Thanks for the help!

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First, Amp'd operates its service through Verizon's network, which is CDMA. The Z610i uses GSM. CDMA and GSM are both digital wireless technologies, but incompatible with each other. The Z610i will not work on Amp'd. The only way for you to use the Z610i is on a GSM service. You didn't specify which Amp'd service you are on - US or Canada - but if you're in the US, get an account with either T-Mobile or Cingular since they are the two main GSM providers. If you can use a smaller/regional GSM provider like SunCom, then go ahead. If you're in Canada, Rogers/Fido will do.

Second, I don't really keep up with the current news specically with Amp'd Mobile. But it seems that it's going through a bit of a mess right now, considering it's going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Probably the reason why you can't get in touch with a rep is because CS and all kinds of customer care have been cut. Amp'd offers a few good deals when compared to Verizon. But I've read about how sometimes the network would just fail, leaving some consumers with no service at extended times.

So, basically you have three choices.

1) Stay with Amp'd Mobile and just use the phones that it offers
2) Terminate your account with Amp'd and sign on with a GSM provider if you want to use the Z610i.
3) Keep your Amp'd account & get a new account with a GSM provider, whether it be pre paid or post paid.

The choice is yours.

Thanks for the help, I understand now. I'll get a new service in due time (I really want that phone!).

No problem. And always remember to remember to research which provider you're going to look into, as well as the coverage in your area.