Question about unactivated phone

[silverado man]

I have a unactivated Sprint smartphone. Someone upgated to a new device and i got their old one. Since i drive a truck i have took this along with me.I have noticed that while in the cities it shows that it has a signal, but out in the country it shows no service. My question is this. If i activate this phone with Sprint will it still show no service in the country away from the cities or will it show as roaminmg? I know prepaid phones don t roam but curious about this. I would like to use this device but don t know how good it will be away from the major hiways or cities. Any thoughts? Thanks for all replys. Would like to hear some feedback about this.
Thanks again

 

[marctronixx]

The radio in the phone will still pick up towers and if you don't see service in certain areas, it is possible the phone will roam once activated and use Verizons network to roam.

If the phone is stolen or flagged, sprint will not activate it.

 

[silverado man]

Phone is not reported lost or stolen. I got from someone i know who just upgraded and wanted to sell old phone. So everything is legit

 

[kate]

When you have a plan/carrier with no roaming and are not within Sprint coverage you will not have a signal, so it depends on which plan/carrier you go with.

If you plan on going with a Sprint MVNO you could check out Ting - they have free voice and text roaming, but no data roaming, on Verizon so you would get a signal in rural areas (most other Sprint MVNOs do not have roaming). You can check if you can use your phone here. Clicking the link below in my signature right before you signup will give you a discount.