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Root [Sprint/Cricket] In a pickle... HELP?!

A

andruid2xs

Lurker
So, I have been a SPRINT customer for many years without too many issues. About 3 years ago I added my boyfriend to my plan. In July 2012 we purchased the Galaxy S 3 through SPRINT. We have a shared Everything Unlimited plan. This past week we received a letter from SPRINT stating that his phone is being terminated due to excessive off-network roaming. We have a month to port his number to a new provider with ETFs waived.

I contacted SAMSUNG who said SPRINT needs to be the ones to carrier unlock the phone so that we may use it. SPRINT says that they cannot do that. Another company said that the only recourse if SPRINT won't do so is to root the phone and flash new firmware to it.

I know SPRINT can do this but is saying that they can't when they just won't. I still have the purchase receipt with the original MEID number as well as the one that they changed it to. SPRINT told me that the only thing they could do was buy back the phone which we own outright.

I am almost clueless about rooting phones. I have looked it up before but didn't want to negate the warranty on the phone I had at the time. My boyfriend's phone at the time was out of warranty so he did it but we were still with the same provider.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated. We tried to do things through the companies and have run into dead ends everywhere. Our phones are only 8 months old and we do not have it within our budget to just buy a new phone this month. At this time since my phone wasn't out of contract with the off-network roaming, SPRINT has retained me as a customer and I cannot get out of contract without ETFs applying.

What can we do about rooting his phone and flashing new firmware? Will the phone be usable with another carrier since SPRINT is forcing us to port? I am very confused right now and only have 4 weeks to figure this out. :confused: HELP! PLEASE!
 
First, 4 weeks is a lot, so no need to worry, especially with devs on the S3! The only other carrier that your phone will be usable with MIGHT be Verizon, as they are both CDMA. What that means is that neither uses a sim card for 3G. T-Mobile and AT&T both use a sim, so they are out of question. However, I'm not sure about LTE on Verizon, as it is probably on a different spectrum.

Good luck, and I'm sure there are many who at least have the same phone as you who will be a much greater help than I am.
 
I too am looking into switching carriers with my S3 but there are some things you need to know about the different versions of the S3 to figure out wether that is worth it. @rs98 is right mostly about Verizon LTE. They also require a SIM card to access the LTE network, which the Sprint version does not have a slot for, so you would be limited to 3G only. You could look into MetroPCS because they too use some CDMA handsets. I have no idea how to switch or "flash" devices for another carrier but I would be interested in learning.
 
andruid2xs said:
So, I have been a SPRINT customer for many years without too many issues. About 3 years ago I added my boyfriend to my plan. In July 2012 we purchased the Galaxy S 3 through SPRINT. We have a shared Everything Unlimited plan. This past week we received a letter from SPRINT stating that his phone is being terminated due to excessive off-network roaming. We have a month to port his number to a new provider with ETFs waived.

I contacted SAMSUNG who said SPRINT needs to be the ones to carrier unlock the phone so that we may use it. SPRINT says that they cannot do that. Another company said that the only recourse if SPRINT won't do so is to root the phone and flash new firmware to it.

I know SPRINT can do this but is saying that they can't when they just won't. I still have the purchase receipt with the original MEID number as well as the one that they changed it to. SPRINT told me that the only thing they could do was buy back the phone which we own outright.

I am almost clueless about rooting phones. I have looked it up before but didn't want to negate the warranty on the phone I had at the time. My boyfriend's phone at the time was out of warranty so he did it but we were still with the same provider.

Any helpful advice would be appreciated. We tried to do things through the companies and have run into dead ends everywhere. Our phones are only 8 months old and we do not have it within our budget to just buy a new phone this month. At this time since my phone wasn't out of contract with the off-network roaming, SPRINT has retained me as a customer and I cannot get out of contract without ETFs applying.

What can we do about rooting his phone and flashing new firmware? Will the phone be usable with another carrier since SPRINT is forcing us to port? I am very confused right now and only have 4 weeks to figure this out. :confused: HELP! PLEASE!
Click to expand...

There is a lot more to it than just flashing firmware. First things first, Sprint phone on VZW = will never work. Both companies operate on different bands of spectrum. To be honest, the phone is essentially a dud if he can't use it on Sprint. Just being honest. Your other alternative would be to flash it to be used on a Sprint MVNO (Boost/Virgin Mobile), but even then they may deny you access due to your previous history.
 
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