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Cellular Phone Forum / General / General Topics / August 2004Used Verizon phone on Cingular?
A friend gave me a used Samsung SCH A650 phone they pciked up somewhere (don't ask; I don't know). Phone is marked "verizon", and at the moment powers up but you can't make calls on it. Is there any way to use this phone on Verizon or some other system? Where can I get details on this? Dan > A friend gave me a used Samsung SCH A650 phone they pciked up somewhere > (don't ask; I don't know). Phone is marked "verizon", and at the moment > powers up but you can't make calls on it. Is there any way to use this > phone on Verizon or some other system? Where can I get details on this? It's a CDMA phone and is technology-compatible with Sprint, Alltel, Verizon, US Cellular, and the CellularONE networks operated by Western Wireless; all of those companies run CDMA. May be technology-compatible with some smaller carriers too. Note that this does NOT mean that those carriers will necessarily activate the phone. Where do you live? Which carriers serve your area?  SignatureJustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. Steve-Thanks for the reply. I was hoping my wife could use the phone, she's living in L.A. at the moment (we're in the process of moving, I'm still in OH). She uses Cingular now, but this is a much nicer phone then the one she currently has. And what the hell, it was given to me. I've read a bit about changing sim cards in phones to switch carriers, reactivate them, etc. Do you happen to know of a good site for more specific info on this? Dan >> A friend gave me a used Samsung SCH A650 phone they pciked up >> somewhere (don't ask; I don't know). Phone is marked "verizon", and [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Note that this does NOT mean that those carriers will necessarily > activate the phone. Where do you live? Which carriers serve your area? in case steve wasn't entirely clear, no you cannot use this phone with cingular, it is absolutely impossible regardless of what hacking tools or sim cards you have available. verizon uses CDMA, cingular used TDMA, the two are not compatible. your wife would have to change carriers to one of the ones steve listed to even have a possibility of using the phone (as he pointed out, even if the tech is compatible, the carriers may choose not to activate it). > Steve-Thanks for the reply. I was hoping my wife could use the phone, > she's living in L.A. at the moment (we're in the process of moving, I'm [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] >> Note that this does NOT mean that those carriers will necessarily >> activate the phone. Where do you live? Which carriers serve your area? >in case steve wasn't entirely clear, no you cannot use this phone with >cingular, it is absolutely impossible regardless of what hacking tools or >sim cards you have available. verizon uses CDMA, cingular used TDMA, the >two are not compatible. In California, Cingular is GSM only. They are in the process of merging with AT&T Wireless, which is TDMA+GSM. > >in case steve wasn't entirely clear, no you cannot use this phone with > >cingular, it is absolutely impossible regardless of what hacking tools or [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > In California, Cingular is GSM only. They are in the process of merging > with AT&T Wireless, which is TDMA+GSM. Not strictly true. They are plan for a merger that should take place in 8 t 10 weeks. Thanks again for all the info on this. I gather than the upshot is Verizon would likely activate the phone for me to use on a contract with them, the fine technically COULD be used on other CDMA systems, which may or may not activate it, but probably not, and the only way to use it in a prepaid fashion would also be through Verizon? One more somewhat touchy point. No kidding, I don't know where my friend got this phone. My guess is he found it on the bus (I have reason to believe... ) If I took the phone into Verizon, would they be able to tell who the original owner was & attempt to return the phone? The fact that it lacks something called a Subscriber Identity Module makes me think perhaps not, a correct assumption? Dan >>>in case steve wasn't entirely clear, no you cannot use this phone with >>>cingular, it is absolutely impossible regardless of what hacking tools or [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Not strictly true. They are plan for a merger that should take place in > 8 t 10 weeks. Even without the SIM they can identify the rightful owner by the ESN which every phone has. The right thing to do would be to return it to the owner anyway especially since it appears you really don't have any immediate need for it. > Thanks again for all the info on this. I gather than the upshot is > Verizon would likely activate the phone for me to use on a contract with [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] >> Not strictly true. They are plan for a merger that should take place in 8 >> t 10 weeks. > Thanks again for all the info on this. I gather than the upshot is > Verizon would likely activate the phone for me to use on a contract with > them, the fine technically COULD be used on other CDMA systems, which > may or may not activate it, but probably not, and the only way to use it > in a prepaid fashion would also be through Verizon? Yes. Verizon requires contracts on new activations whether or not you already have a phone. Only way to avoid that is prepaid. > One more somewhat touchy point. No kidding, I don't know where my > friend got this phone. My guess is he found it on the bus (I have > reason to believe... ) If I took the phone into Verizon, would they be > able to tell who the original owner was & attempt to return the phone? Maybe. > The fact that it lacks something called a Subscriber Identity Module > makes me think perhaps not, a correct assumption? They could look up the ESN (Electronic Serial Number). If it was owned by someone in a different marketing area it might be in a different billing system (they use one system east of the Mississippi and another west of the Mississippi) but it's worth a try. You won't be able to activate it if it's been reported lost or stolen. SignatureJustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. >One more somewhat touchy point. No kidding, I don't know where my >friend got this phone. My guess is he found it on the bus (I have >reason to believe... ) If I took the phone into Verizon, would they be >able to tell who the original owner was & attempt to return the phone? >The fact that it lacks something called a Subscriber Identity Module >makes me think perhaps not, a correct assumption? Don't get hung up on Subscriber Identity Modules. Lots of cell phones don't have 'em :) A couple of possibilities. Look in the phone's address book for hints of where you could find the information such as entries such as Mom, dad, etc. Verizon would no doubt have the unit's ESN (serial number) on file. They could see from the ESN who the phone was registered to last. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> >in case steve wasn't entirely clear, no you cannot use this phone with >> >cingular, it is absolutely impossible regardless of what hacking tools or [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Not strictly true. They are plan for a merger that should take place in >8 t 10 weeks. And what is not "strictly true?" You're saying the same thing as the previous poster. What are you quibbling about? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >> In California, Cingular is GSM only. They are in the process of merging >> with AT&T Wireless, which is TDMA+GSM. > >Not strictly true. They are plan for a merger that should take place in >8 t 10 weeks. At this time, they are still separate companies. Cingular in California has always been GSM-only. After the merger, Cingular will hand its infrastructure over to T-Mobile (who currently uses the Cingular infrastructure), and the combined company will use the current AT&T network, which is being migrated from TDMA (IS-136) to GSM, with the agreement that Cingular users will be able to use the former Cingular network for some period of time. Thanks for all the info on this. I do understand the differences now, I guess I'll hold onto the phone until I get out west & see if Verizon will activate it. This situation with the various companies & their phones (not the technical differences, but how they seem to force you to obtain a phone from THEM) reminds me of how "regular" phone service once was; you couldn't buy a phone yourself, you had to lease from Ma Bell, they charged you monthly for each jack in your house & god forbid you wired one in yourself. Odd thing is With Bell at the time they had a monopoly, now there's competition & the consumer still gets jerked around. Anyway very helpful group. IMHO it's a rarity these days to have a thread of any length on a NG without at least one smart a.s chiming in with some personal attack etc. Dan >>>In California, Cingular is GSM only. They are in the process of merging >>>with AT&T Wireless, which is TDMA+GSM. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > agreement that Cingular users will be able to use the former Cingular > network for some period of time. >Thanks for all the info on this. I do understand the differences now, I >guess I'll hold onto the phone until I get out west & see if Verizon [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >monopoly, now there's competition & the consumer still gets jerked >around. Verizon will definitely activate a non-stolen/lost, unlocked phone of a model they support, regardless of where it was purchased. And if it is technically compatible but they have never sold that model (and thus they don't support it), you can often still get it activated with some effort (like doing an ESN swap on your account specifying that phone). One reason they prefer models they have sold is that they can flash the phone with their version of the software; for example, SprintPCS uses Java applications with their Vision product, but Verizon uses BREW applications for GetItNow, even though both use the same CDMA protocol over the air. Other providers, like SprintPCS and AT&T Wireless, will only activate the specific phones, not just the models, they have sold. >Steve-Thanks for the reply. I was hoping my wife could use the phone, >she's living in L.A. at the moment (we're in the process of moving, I'm [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >reactivate them, etc. Do you happen to know of a good site for more >specific info on this? If it was on Verizon it can be used with Verizon with no problems. It may also work with other CDMA carriers but as has been said earlier they may not activate it on their network. CDMA phones do not have SIM cards only GSM phones (in the US that would be T-Mobile, cingular or AT&T Wireless.) What site would you be looking for and what specific information? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thanks for the helpful replies, I didn't know about the difference between CDMA/GSM/TDMA. I guess I'm wondering if this phone can be used or if it's pretty much a pretty paper weight at this point. So when I read about switching sims, not only to switch companies, but also (apparently) to allow you so many minutes of use (I'm assuming this is also a sim issue, can this be done with a CDMA phone?), I thought I'd look into it. If anyone does know of a good all around info site describing all the various aspects/less obvious options of cell phone use beyond just "going to the phone store & doing as you're told" so to speak, please pass it on. Dan >>Steve-Thanks for the reply. I was hoping my wife could use the phone, >>she's living in L.A. at the moment (we're in the process of moving, I'm [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > What site would you be looking for and what specific information? > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Thanks for the helpful replies, I didn't know about the difference > between CDMA/GSM/TDMA. I guess I'm wondering if this phone can be used > or if it's pretty much a pretty paper weight at this point. So when I > read about switching sims, not only to switch companies, but also > (apparently) to allow you so many minutes of use (I'm assuming this is > also a sim issue, can this be done with a CDMA phone?) Subscriber Identity Modules are only used with GSM phones. Most of Cingular was TDMA and is now GSM. Cingular and its predecessor, Pacific Bell Wireless, have *always* been GSM in California. The SIM issue wouldn't apply to a CDMA phone, like one from Verizon. In Cleveland and throughout eastern Ohio, Alltel would have been a good bet to activate an old Verizon phone if you didn't want to use Verizon, but Alltel doesn't get any closer to Los Angeles than Arizona. (they cover the Grand Canyon area and may cover other parts of AZ) I live in Apple Valley, CA. My Verizon phone ran on VZW's Los Angeles network, and my Sprint phone runs on Sprint's Los Angeles network. LA is my "home" area. The only CDMA carriers in this area are Sprint and Verizon, and *perhaps* prepaid provider MetroPCS or Cricket in Los Angeles. Sprint won't activate a phone they didn't originally sell, and the flat-rate $40/month prepaid providers like Metro and Cricket typically don't either, so your only choice in the Los Angeles area is to activate it as either a Verizon postpaid phone or a Verizon prepaid phone. SignatureJustThe.net Internet & New Media Services, http://JustThe.net/ Steven J. Sobol, Geek In Charge / 888.480.4NET (4638) / sjsobol@JustThe.net PGP Key available from your friendly local key server (0xE3AE35ED) Apple Valley, California Nothing scares me anymore. I have three kids. >read about switching sims, not only to switch companies, but also >(apparently) to allow you so many minutes of use (I'm assuming this is [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >use beyond just "going to the phone store & doing as you're told" so to >speak, please pass it on. Please read and comprehend *everything*! You said it had verizon on it. This would indicate that it was on the Verizon network. You should be able to have it activated on the Verizon network. Verizon is a CDMA carrier. CDMA carriers do **not** use SIMs. SIMs absolutely positively do not apply for CDMA phones at all or at least those that say Verizon on them. http://www.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone1.htm gives a good overview of cell phones and cell phone technology. It's 20 pages and may be more information than you wish to digest. It's there if you really want to know about the nuts and bolts of how cell phones work and the differences between the different technologies that cell phones use. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >A friend gave me a used Samsung SCH A650 phone they pciked up somewhere >(don't ask; I don't know). Phone is marked "verizon", and at the moment >powers up but you can't make calls on it. Is there any way to use this >phone on Verizon or some other system? Where can I get details on this? If it was on Verizon you could have it activated to use on Verizon. Call Verizon Wireless. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
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