If I buy a new, unlocked Sprint branded CDMA phone, can I activate it
on the Verizon CDMA network?

Hi bigjosh,

I'm sorry to report the answer is No.  :( 

I called my local Radio Shack which sells both Sprint and Verizon, and
my friend the manager told me - no.

He also suggested I call Verizon Wireless Customer Service at:
1-800-256-4646 to double check.  I did, and the representative told me
the answer is no.

Then I phoned Sprint Customer Service at 1-888-211-4727 and again, the
answer is no.


Search:

Called Radio Shack, then called Verizon and Sprint Customer Service


Best regards,
tlspiegel

Too bad, Sprint has such nice phones. Thanks for well-checked the answer, though!

Hi bigjosh,

Yes, I agree it is too bad.  Thank you for the nice rating and generous tip!  :)

Best regards,
tlspiegel

Sorry guys. You can use a SprintPCS Phone on VZW Network. One catch
though, SprintPCS phones have their own SPL unlock codes, VZW lock
codes are 000000. When we use our OTA (Over the Air Programming) it
enters the lock code of 000000, if it's anything else it will fail. We
have the ability to enter any valid CDMA ESN, it's just a matter of
getting the SPL lock code from SprintPCS.
Good Luck, Mark S Russell VZW Customer Service

Thanks Mark!

I hope you don't mind if I ask a couple of quick questions since it is
very hard to find people who know this stuff.

1) If I activate a Sprint branded phone (i.e. Treo 600) on the Verizon
netowrk, will I be able to access data services, or only voice?

2) Will Sprint and Verizon phones roam onto each others' networks? If
I have Sprint service and I am in an area with only Verizon coverage,
will my phone roam onto the Verizon network?

Thanks again!
-josh

1) Not 100% sure, we both use 1XTTR as the data layer, interesting
question. I would think so but nothing to prove it, although we are
coming out with a new camera phone, which is currently offered by
Samsung under the same model. If these are the same phones are they
are both able to access Data services then one would think it would be
the same for all phones. Something I would be willing to try.
2) No :)

If you are in the Northeast I would be willing to add a Sprint PCS
phone to a VZW account. If not you can just call and request an ESN
change, we don't usually check the equipment. It's really a matter of
programming the MIN/MDN & the SIDs.

Mark,

I just ordered an unlocked Sprint Treo 600 and will try activate it on
my Verizon account. If it works, it will definately be worth the work
to rewrite some of the software to have the perfect phone - Treo
hardware+Verizon coverage.

Interestingly, when ordering on the Handspring website, I saw...
----
The following major mobile phone service providers are NOT compatible with Treo : 
Nextel 
Verizon
----

Hopefully they are just warning people that the integration features
won't work right. I'll post back with results and any questions that
come up.

Thanks for knowing and posting. This seems to be black-art stuff that
is very hard to get acurate info on.

Just for the record, Verizon deserves all the credit they get. Besides
having the best network by far, just the fact that you saw this post
and took the time to respond speaks loads about the level of customer
support provided.

Thanks again!

-josh

So, I got my Sprint Treo 600 and used the MSL to set the correct
MIN/MDN for my Verizon account and now I can make a recieve calls.

The only problem is that there is no way to edit the SIDs or PRL on
the Treo 600 that I can find.

So, the question is: Can I tell Verizon what the MSL on my phone is
and then have Verizon use that MSL to set up my SID/PRL for me (using
OTA or *288xx maybe)? Right now I think it does not work becuase
Verizon incorrectly assumes my phone's MSL is 000000. Or, is Verizon's
system only set up to allow an MSL of 000000?

thanks!

Don't worry about getting the PRL. Sometimes it's better not to have
one. I really don't think there is any way to get it to download, what
happens when you do the OTA?
You should be able to program the SID, again though it isen't
paramount as long as you have an americas choice price plan.
I'll look into these issues and get back to you.

Wihtout the correct SID/PRL, when I am in a place with both Sprint and
Verizon coverage, I end up on the Sprint network.

This sucks becuase...

(1) the Sprint network is crappy and so I might be stuck with terrible
Sprint signal quality in a place where Verizon has excelent signal
quality.

(2) Verizon features like SMS only work if I am in an area with *only*
Verizon coverage. If there is any Sprint signal at all, I'm out of
luck.

(3) In my heart it irks me that everytime I make a call, Verizon has
to pay roaming fees to Sprint.

When I try to download a Verizon PRI by calling *288xx, I get a
"network does not support this request". I'm guessing that is becuase
the OTA failed becuase of a MSL mismatch. I think if there was some
way to enter my MSL in the Verizon database so it could send it with
the OTA (rather than 000000), then the program would take.

Other option is to reset my MSL to 000000. I have a an open Google
Answers for this here...

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=289379

I think this problem is very worth solving becuase the Treo 600 really
is a nice phone and if it worked well on the Verizon network it would
be a compeling platform. Right now, the only other comparible offering
from Verizon is the Blackberry 6750, which is very nice also, but
requires a $10,000 Blackberry sever to be really usefull.

Thanks again for all your help on this.