I don't see a forum here that looks like just the right one for this question, so perhaps someone can point me to it.

I have a VirginmobileUSA Slice phone. This phone is actually made for VMUSA by UtStarcom.

UTStarcom told me that VMUSA asked UTStarcom to cripple the computer port on this phone (used to connect it to a USB port on a computer, for expl).

I'm trying to get an explanation of why VMUSA would do this. The main reason I can see is to move buyers to a more expensive VMUSA phone.

I'd also like to know if there is some work-around for this.

Tnx.