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nexus 5 4g flash to cricket?

keonamia

keonamia

Newbie
I do not know the ins and outs of computers, software, or cell phones, I have a basic knowledge. I do however, know that I'm a Very quick learner, and I really don't want to shell out $50 for flashing my Sprint Nexus 5 4g phone so that it works for Cricket. Can and will, anyone be able to help me with this? Even just point me in the right direction? I have been trying to figure this out myself for a week now, and am just getting more confused!






Any help at all would be most appreciated!
Frugal & Frustrated,


Keonamia
 
I'd suggest contacting Cricket, as they would have the best information on this. Is the phone unlocked, or still on Sprint?
 
hi
i really can not advise you whether it is worth to you to flash or not. but here is my perspective. i just visited cricket website and noticed that they are a CDMA service provider which will stop CDMA on or after march 2015. it will be GSM after that.
even the sprint nexus 5 has built in GSM radio in it that is in working order. now you can just stick a micro sim from any company and make it work as GSM. but what happens after you flash the CDMA part, how it is going to be affecting the GSM part i can not say.
you can just wait out another year and move to cricket. in the mean time use other GSM carriers or stick with sprint.
 
I believe cricket was just recently purchased by ATT, so as the companies merge you'll also start to see a switch-over on the wireless technology that cricket uses.

Sprint and Verizon use CDMA based technologies, while ATT and T-mobile use GSM based technology.

The nexus 5 has both CDMA and GSM radio in it that support Sprint, ATT, and T-mobile frequencies. On the prepaid front, that means you can use any of the prepaid networks that run on those carriers.

Honestly, thats about as much as I can help on that front :o. With the merger going on I'd really suggest talking to an ATT/ cricket representative, because they're going to let you know whether or not its better to wait for the switch to GSM and/or instead use an ATT prepaid carrier like AIO wireless.
 
Cricket Mobile devices can work on Ting Mobile, which is a virtual Sprint carrier. I simply provisioned my Sprint UICC/LTE card with Ting mobile and all works fine with my Nexus 5. Maybe you could do the same somehow, whether a CDMA Sprint card or a Cricket GSM SIM? I'm unsure of who owns them now or how much longer they will be a CDMA carrier...

@ akmsr: That's something I never thought about :D

My phone ran through a couple of provision cycles registering with Ting. Now I'm curious as to what would happen if I decommission my Ting acct and insert a GSM chip. Anybody else know how this dual mode crap works? :D:D

EDIT---- I guess inserting a GSM into a provisioned CDMA Nexus 5 works right away, but a factory reset is needed for re-inserting your old UICC after removing a GSM SIM, according to this post:

http://forums.androidcentral.com/google-nexus-5/334652-swapping-nexus-5-sim-sprint-t-mobile.html#post3250414
 
Spec2nirvash said:
Cricket Mobile devices can work on Ting Mobile, which is a virtual Sprint carrier. I simply provisioned my Sprint UICC/LTE card with Ting mobile and all works fine with my Nexus 5. Maybe you could do the same somehow, whether a CDMA Sprint card or a Cricket GSM SIM? I'm unsure of who owns them now or how much longer they will be a CDMA carrier...

@ akmsr: That's something I never thought about :D

My phone ran through a couple of provision cycles registering with Ting. Now I'm curious as to what would happen if I decommission my Ting acct and insert a GSM chip. Anybody else know how this dual mode crap works? :D:D

EDIT---- I guess inserting a GSM into a provisioned CDMA Nexus 5 works right away, but a factory reset is needed for re-inserting your old UICC after removing a GSM SIM, according to this post:

Swapping Nexus 5 SIM from Sprint to T-Mobile - Android Forums at AndroidCentral.com
Click to expand...
No factory reset needed. All I did was insert the other SIM and reboot when I switched from Sprint/T-mobile multiple times a day back in December.
 
it's still a sprint phone, but it is unlocked, and I talked to Cricket, they told me they will do it for 50 bucks, but will not help me figure it out for myself
 
My Nexus doesn't have a place for a SIM or any other card, well anything that's obvious, do I need to open it?
 
keonamia said:
My Nexus doesn't have a place for a SIM or any other card, well anything that's obvious, do I need to open it?
Click to expand...

Its directly below the power button.

Pushing a pin or something small into the hole will open the Sim slot.

Sprint doesn't give you to tool to open it with
 
well there Is a tiny hole right above the camera inside, but I don't think that has anything to do with SIM, and theres a tiny little hole right next to the plug in port
but again that doesn't look like it would house an SIM card
 
Google-Nexus-5-leak.jpg

nexus-5-side.jpg
 
keonamia said:
Ting doesn't accept my Nexus 5 because I didn't purchase it through Google Play :(
Click to expand...

Au Contraire....I now see that you don't actually have a Nexus 5, but I'll just throw it out there anyway. They say they don't. I bought mine as a Sprint device from BB, and provisioned with Ting using the Sprint LTE card that was in the phone when I bought it new. Perhaps this restriction applies to those who have subsidized phones? I bought mine outright (and for a bit more money :O) because I didn't want to wait 2 months to get it from Google.

keonamia said:
Also I thought Sprint wasn't a SIM card carrier
Click to expand...

For LTE/4G access, yes. A UICC card (some call it a SIM, and the slot for the UICC is above the battery behind the rear cover.

Now, so I fully understand, you have a Sprint branded Nexus S? AT&T and T-Mobile offered the same phone but they are slightly different models. Your move to any particular carrier, prepaid or not is limited to which Nexus S you have. Look at the Model # under the battery door or under system info:

GT-I9020T is the GSM build Nexus S usable on ATT/TMobile/StraightTalk, possibly Cricket?

GT-I9020KIT is the CDMA build Nexus S for Sprint, that you can use on Sprint, Ting Mobile, possibly on TracFone or StraightTalk. Verizon will tell you to screw if you ask them to flash it. They never sold it, and they hate Google anyway.
 
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