Unlocking a CDMA Phone...

CDMA phones technically can be unlocked but not in the same sense that people think about GSM and iDEN unlocking. Since CDMA phones do not use a SIM card, they are sort of "hardwired" to the provider that sells them. Therefore, they can only be unlocked by the provider with a special code that they absolutely will not give out over the phone. This contrasts how you might call Cingular and have them give you an unlock code so you can travel overseas and use your GSM phone with a foreign SIM card. GSM phones can usually be unlocked remotely, but CDMA phones require a bit of 'reprogramming' to unlock, and it's not as simple as calling your provider and getting a code over the phone.

Generally, CDMA phones are NOT considered unlockable because it is usually impractical to do so. Sprint, my provider, will not under any circumstances activate a non-Sprint phone, so an unlocked CDMA phone would be useless to you if you use Sprint. Even if you get an unlocked CDMA phone and by some chance are able to have it activated with your provider, many of the features will not work correctly unless someone with quite a bit of technical knowledge reprograms the phone to your provider's specifications.

So, you can see where this is a very confusing subject. Even if you can unlock your CDMA phone, who is going to activate it for you? I suggest you call your CDMA provider, whether it's Sprint, Verizon, or whoever, and ask them if they will activate an unlocked Treo. Don't be surprised if they either act like they don't know what you're talking about, or even laugh at you for asking. You may have to ask for a level-2 tech person before you even get an acknowledgement that CDMA unlocking is possible. Your best chance is with a prepaid service, as they generally do not care where the phone comes from as long as you are buying their minutes, but I would still suggest calling them and asking before you spend the money on a phone.

Oops. I should have read this before I posted my question entitled "LG 535 Question" Is it possible to delete a thread?

Actually, I created this thread because you asked . It was part of a discussion I had in the For Sale/Wanted forum. Thanks for asking, or I might have not created the thread.

Oh, okay. Thank You!

I'm not quite sure I understand. I have a phone purchased from Cingular and I bought out/cancelled my contract with them. I want to use this same phone and open an account with Cricket. Will I be able to do this or will I need to do something to unlock the phone so they can turn it on under their service?

Thanx...

Your Cingular phone is GSM and will not work with Cricket, who uses CDMA technology. In fact, your Cingular phone is only good for Cingular right now, but if you can have it unlocked, then it could be used on other GSM providers like T-Mobile.

Here in Canada (Winnipeg) we have a provider named MTS and they will activate any Unlocked CDMA phone. Which is super cool. They will even charge you a specific amount if the phone is Not Unlocked to get it on their network.

Telus and Bell WILL NOT activate a foreign ESN. It is not that they will not let you do it its that their network is not set up to accept foreign ESN's. Your phone may not register in some areas.

I had this issue with my provider.

My old phone was stolen and I was looking at buying an unlocked phone, but they will not touch any phone unless you buy it from them. They are a CDMA provider.

I did not understand why untill I read this post.

my provider NTELOS tok a Verizon Wireless Razr and reporgrammed it with my NTELOS number. Is this not the norm?

Nope, that is not the norm at all. The bigger CDMA providers like Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel won't reprogram another carrier's phone for their network. They often give excuses like, "It wouldn't work correctly on our network" or "that phone will roam all the time and give you poor reception". These statements are debatable but generally considered true, since each network operates on slightly different parameters and they might not have the correct programming for a model of phone they don't actually sell.

This is really a pretty simple concept, and I think Brad has summed it up nicely. But for another visual, consider this.

You own a Canadian car, which is in kilometers. Then you move to the US, where no one uses km.

When you trade your car in, many places will not touch it or dock you value because your mileage is 'incompatible' with their customer base. Sure, the conversion for the guages can be done, but that dealer may not have the technology to do it, or they may decide it's not worth their time to perform that service.

My advice to all CDMA users is to forget the unlocking, unless you are a genius with programming and network formatting. But, I'd bet that anyone asking about unlocking one is not.

If you're looking for easily switched phones, go GSM.

So, I'm just learning about all of this (CDMA vs. GSM) and it's not something I would normally be even remotely interested in, except that my boyfriend has an extra Treo (Cingular) that he has given me. I really like all the features and would like to activate it, but I'm with Verizon. The Verizon guy I talked to said there was no way I could use it on the Verizon network. Is that true?

-dazed and confused

That's true. Cingular uses GSM and Verizon uses CDMA. Completely and utterly incompatible.