Can I turn a Primeco into a Sprintpcs phone??
Toms333
Help
I was wondering whether i can turn my primeco qualcom dual mode phone into a
sprintpcs phone or do i have to buy a new sprint phone?
thanks
Steven C. Den Beste
Toms333 wrote in message <19980921184332...@ng104.aol.com>...
Probably you can't. It's likely that when Primeco sold you that phone, that
they sold it at a discount.
It's not uncommon for carriers to take a loss on phones, to sell them for
less than they cost. They expect to make it back on air time. (It's like the
way Polaroid sells a lot of their cameras at a loss; they expect to make it
back on film.) But if you buy such a phone and then use it with another
carrier, they don't get any air time.
So the phone has what is known as a "subsidy lock" on it, which prevents it
from being used with any other carrier. It's possible for them to remove it
and let you take your phone to Sprint, but there's absolutely no incentive
for them to do so and generally they won't.
Douglas Athas
> I was wondering whether i can turn my primeco qualcom dual mode phone into a
> sprintpcs phone or do i have to buy a new sprint phone?
You only paid about one-third of what PrimeCo paid for that phone. You
have a unique code assigned just to your phone (the subsidy lock
referred to earlier) to discourage anyone from buying the cheapest phone
available (costing the carriers hundreds of dollars) and then switching
service.
Seem unfair. The cellular companies would only give you the phone at the
end of your contract. And to get a decent phone and a decent rate, it
used to take, what, three years?
(Sprint locks their phones, too.)
Geoffrey Wang
I heard that SPCS will only allow handsets with ESNs within those
phones manufactured for SPCS (assuming you get past the subsidy lock
and firmware problems). Personally, I think Sprint would want any new
users it can get, regardless of the phone.
Geoffrey
>
>Help
>I was wondering whether i can turn my primeco qualcom dual mode phone into a
>sprintpcs phone or do i have to buy a new sprint phone?
>thanks
rich...@cd.com
"Steven C. Den Beste" <sden...@qualcomm.com> wrote:
> So the phone has what is known as a "subsidy lock" on it, which prevents it
> from being used with any other carrier. It's possible for them to remove it
> and let you take your phone to Sprint, but there's absolutely no incentive
> for them to do so and generally they won't.
It's in bold print in the very first paragraph of PrimeCo's "Terms &
Conditions" brochures that comes with the phone:
"This phone has been sold to you at a specially subsidized price and is
restricted from accepting the services of any wireless service provider other
than PrimeCo. Upon request and the payment of a fee, your phone may be
reprogrammed to remove the restriction. However[sic], PrimeCo does not
guarantee that the phone will work on any other carriers' networks or that
such carriers will accept your phone for service on their networks."
Richard Masoner
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Mike Fox
>
> It's in bold print in the very first paragraph of PrimeCo's "Terms &
> Conditions" brochures that comes with the phone:
>
> "This phone has been sold to you at a specially subsidized price and is
> restricted from accepting the services of any wireless service provider other
> than PrimeCo. Upon request and the payment of a fee, your phone may be
> reprogrammed to remove the restriction. However[sic], PrimeCo does not
> guarantee that the phone will work on any other carriers' networks or that
> such carriers will accept your phone for service on their networks."
>
I often complain about sneaky subsidy locks. This level and prominence
of disclosure is admirable, and not generally seen in US GSM T&C docs as
far as I have seen. They have tended to bury this information in fine
print and word it so you really have to know what a SIM lock is to
understand what they're disclosing.
Mike