Unlocking US CDMA phones

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Unlocking US CDMA phones

m00sie

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#15958 18-Sep-2007 07:42

Can CDMA phones be unlocked? looking at buying from an american provider eg verizon.

freitasm

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#86962 18-Sep-2007 08:03

No.

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freitasm

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#86963 18-Sep-2007 08:04

This is the link with more information on why.

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tonyhughes

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#86964 18-Sep-2007 08:09

Many threads here in the Geekzone forums explain further why its not possible too - Telepermit is just one of the hurdles.

m00sie

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#86971 18-Sep-2007 09:12

Figured as much, thanks for the info. I wish telecom would hurry up and introduce some better phones lol im getting sick of my 6275.

old3eyes

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#87494 21-Sep-2007 08:30

tonyhughes: Many threads here in the Geekzone forums explain further why its not possible too - Telepermit is just one of the hurdles.

Telepermit has very little to do with it. It's because Telecom wants to keep their monopoly as a handset provider. The Voice and SMS side will work fine. The data side maybe not so good. If it were a technical issue then users from the US could not roam to NZ and visa versa..

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#87501 21-Sep-2007 08:48

old3eyes: Telepermit has very little to do with it. It's because Telecom wants to keep their monopoly as a handset provider. The Voice and SMS side will work fine. The data side maybe not so good. If it were a technical issue then users from the US could not roam to NZ and visa versa..

Telepermit has a lot to do with it considering that without a Telepermit, you are blocked by this statement from the Telepermit link Mauricio posted:

Unfortunately, this means that we have to decline to convert or connect handsets brought into New Zealand

So basically, its just not going to happen, regardless of the motives behind it.

When I read the Vodafone forums, and see the trouble people have with import handsets, and the grief that VFNZ customer services reps seem to get over them, I think its a very valid things for Telecom to be steering clear of.

Hardly monopolistic when you can buy a basic phone for $79, or get a $500 phone for free with a contract. Monopolistic would be making an outright outrageous profit on a handset, which honestly, I dont see either provider doing.

Roaming with voice/sms is apparently a very easy thing to have happen, its other things like WAP, data connections, music store, streaming video, P2T etc that would just cost acres of money in support costs to deal with, and cause customers with import handsets to moan about how the stupid carrier can't get photo messaging working on their phone, with probably very little chance that a customer would be willing to pay the full cost of supporting that handset that the carrier didnt sell.

So in a way, I suppose it could be seen as monopolistic, but perhaps not for such dark, corporate-greed reasons, as the word monopoly portrays.

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#87567 21-Sep-2007 15:57

the final crunch would come when you go to get it connected. Telecom validate the ESN against a master list of all the Oficially supplied handset models and ESNs. Even if your phone is identical in all ways your ESN wont be in the list and they wont connect it.cheers George