Phone without Carrier

[mystik1]

Quick question... I currently have the original Motorola Droid with Verizon, of course. I am really liking what I have read about the Samsung Epic 4G, and want one a lot, which is with Sprint. So... I will have to switch to Sprint. I don't want my Droid to be just a paperweight, though, but I don't want to pay for two carriers. I have never owned a phone without a carrier. How does that work? Can I still use it fully over wifi? What about calls? Would I still be able to do even that using Google Voice or something else? As much info you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Chroma]

Verizon and Sprint are both CDMA carriers. You can not buy a phone from one carrier and expect the other carrier to approve it for their network. This is (basically) why you won't find another CDMA service on the globe except for Verizon/Sprint.

If you happened to have purchased a GSM phone. (Global System for Mobile Communications) You could have just swapped the carrier card out to a different phone, no problems. (ATT/T-Mobile/countless others)

Sorry, maybe there is a rooting/unlocking solution available.

 

[mystik1]

Verizon and Sprint are both CDMA carriers. You can not buy a phone from one carrier and expect the other carrier to approve it for their network. This is (basically) why you won't find another CDMA service on the globe except for Verizon/Sprint.

If you happened to have purchased a GSM phone. (Global System for Mobile Communications) You could have just swapped the carrier card out to a different phone, no problems. (ATT/T-Mobile/countless others)

Sorry, maybe there is a rooting/unlocking solution available.

I think you may not have read my whole post. I did already know that much...

 

[rasmith3530]

Chroma, there are a number of carriers, other than Verizon and Sprint, that use CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). In fact, I believe it is the predominant mobile phone technology in the US, based on subscriber numbers.

And while you are correct that it is much harder to change a phone to another carrier, most GSM carriers lock the phones they sell to their networks as well. Try calling AT&T and getting your MSL (Master Subsidy Lock) code!

This is all understandable, as carriers, whether they be CDMA or GSM, don't want to give you a big subsidy on a phone, only to have you walk off and take it to another carrier.