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Use any phone on virgin mobile or only their phones?

I

imaballer023

Member
HI everyone,
I was wondering if i could get a sprint phone or any other type of phone for example such as the iphone unlock it and put it on virrgin mobile. will the virgin mobile network allow me to?
Thanks
 
This should work because Virgin Mobile uses a CDMA network in the United States, and so does Sprint and Verizon, meaning any unlocked device from these two carriers could be ported over to Virgin Mobile.
 
thebryceee said:
If you're in the US, legally, you can only use phones released by Virgin Mobile.
Click to expand...

It's true that you can only use VM USA phones with VM USA service plans, but state and federal law and regulation have nothing to do with it.

You can only use VM USA phones with VM USA service plans because that is VM USA's company policy - law and regulation don't have a say in it. VM USA could choose to allow the use of non-VM (but otherwise compatible) devices with VM USA service plans, but they choose not to allow/accommodate it.

To get around this company policy, some people will take the ESN of a valid VM USA device and apply that ESN to another non-VM device. This is called "cloning" and can be illegal if certain conditions outlined in Federal law are met - see 18USC1029. Discussions about how to clone are not allowed in this forum because of the potential for illegality.

What Digital Controller says is theoretically correct, but it won't work in practice because VM USA won't allow you to "bring your own device."

imaballer023, if you want to buy an unlocked phone and take it from provider to provider without much grief, you need a GSM phone. AT&T and T-Mobile are the two largest network operators and there are also lots of resellers and regional network operators to choose from.
 
tcomotcom said:
It's true that you can only use VM USA phones with VM USA service plans, but state and federal law and regulation have nothing to do with it.
Click to expand...

We've has this discussion many times before, and I believe that is what thebryceee means by legally, not that you are violating state or federal laws, but you violating Virgin's company policy.
 
tcomotcom said:
imaballer023, if you want to buy an unlocked phone and take it from provider to provider without much grief, you need a GSM phone. AT&T and T-Mobile are the two largest network operators and there are also lots of resellers and regional network operators to choose from.
Click to expand...

The other side of this, is that with CDMA phones, your phone is directly tied to your account. By contrast, with many GSM carriers the account is tied only to the SIM card and you can swap your SIM card between phones -- allowing you to swap phones depending on your needs or even moods.
 
metsfan99 said:
We've has this discussion many times before, and I believe that is what thebryceee means by legally, not that you are violating state or federal laws, but you violating Virgin's company policy.
Click to expand...

"We" may have had this discussion many times before, but imaballer023 (and many others) obviously haven't. thebrycee's answer was partially incorrect and I posted more accurate information - no big deal.

If someone asks a question, let's do our best to give them accurate answers. It's not realistic to expect newbies to noodle their way through some logic puzzle and figure out that what the poster wrote isn't really what they meant.
 
EarlyMon said:
And the law is definitely involved in the US on this.
Click to expand...

EarlyMon, your statement is not correct. The law in the U.S. has absolutely nothing to do with this issue.

Here's an article that talks specifically about the difficulty of taking phones from one CDMA network to another CDMA network in the U.S. Notice that the article says nothing about the law - nothing at all. The article is clear that the "problem" is caused by carriers and their policies.

Here's more info on the MetroPCS example the article describes:

MetroPCS is a regional CDMA network operator. Unlike VM USA, MetroPCS allows you to use non-MetroPCS CDMA phones. The official program is called MetroFLASH. You can read about it on their website. Here's an article that talks about the MetroFLASH service. Obviously, MetroPCS is not breaking the law or they wouldn't be doing this (for several years now) and publicizing it, right? If you're still going to insist that this is somehow illegal, just saying "The law is involved in the U.S. on this." doesn't cut it - you need to cite the relevant federal law.

You can't bring a Verizon/Sprint/Boost/MetroPCS/etc. phone to Virgin Mobile USA because VM corporate policy won't let you. VM USA could change their mind tomorrow and start accepting other carrier's phones and there is no law or regulation stopping them.

Edit: Don't confuse cloning and flashing. They are two different things. However, both have the same end result of making a phone from Carrier A work on Carrier B's network. Cloning involves two phones and some skulduggery. Flashing involves one phone only and requires official involvement from the "new" carrier. Cloning is what people do when a company won't provide flashing. Cloning is illegal when certain conditions are met and I've posted a link to the relevant law on cloning in a post above. Flashing is never illegal because there is no law preventing it. Somewhere out there right now a MetroPCS employee is flashing a non-MetroPCS phone and its all perfectly legal.
 
tcomotcom said:
EarlyMon, your statement is not correct. The law in the U.S. has absolutely nothing to do with this issue.

Here's an article that talks specifically about the difficulty of taking phones from one CDMA network to another CDMA network in the U.S. Notice that the article says nothing about the law - nothing at all. The article is clear that the "problem" is caused by carriers and their policies.

Here's more info on the MetroPCS example the article describes:

MetroPCS is a regional CDMA network operator. Unlike VM USA, MetroPCS allows you to use non-MetroPCS CDMA phones. The official program is called MetroFLASH. You can read about it on their website. Here's an article that talks about the MetroFLASH service. Obviously, MetroPCS is not breaking the law or they wouldn't be doing this (for several years now) and publicizing it, right? If you're still going to insist that this is somehow illegal, just saying "The law is involved in the U.S. on this." doesn't cut it - you need to cite the relevant federal law.

You can't bring a Verizon/Sprint/Boost/MetroPCS/etc. phone to Virgin Mobile USA because VM corporate policy won't let you. VM USA could change their mind tomorrow and start accepting other carrier's phones and there is no law or regulation stopping them.

Edit: Don't confuse cloning and flashing. They are two different things. However, both have the same end result of making a phone from Carrier A work on Carrier B's network. Cloning involves two phones and some skulduggery. Flashing involves one phone only and requires official involvement from the "new" carrier. Cloning is what people do when a company won't provide flashing. Cloning is illegal when certain conditions are met and I've posted a link to the relevant law on cloning in a post above. Flashing is never illegal because there is no law preventing it. Somewhere out there right now a MetroPCS employee is flashing a non-MetroPCS phone and its all perfectly legal.
Click to expand...

As Early is away on another matter I will respond to this. Here is the full law regarding this issue which allows unlocking of phones purchased prior to the implementation of the law and 90 days after. Beyond that point will require carrier permission so in answer the law is involved at this point as a decision has been made in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

C. Wireless telephone handsets
 
I was referring to the law concerning transfer and cloning of ESNs and MEIDs. So far as part of this topic was concerned, that law is definitely in play, from what I thought I read here.

Hope this helps. :)
 
bob60626 said:
I thought the Optimus S was allowed on VM.
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I think some might have gotten approval from Virgin to move the phone to Virgin's network but, as was pointed out, the Optimus S was merely the Sprint version of the Optimus V. They weren't adding a phone to Virgin Mobile that wasn't already being supported.
 
All arguments aside, you can ONLY use Virgin Mobile Phones that are PROGRAMMED for use on Virgin Mobile, on the Virgin Mobile Network. Period.

Now, there are blogs you can read where some creative lad "Purportedly" called Sprint and "Apparently" after five or six or twenty calls, got fortunate enough to get the right Customer Service Rep whom took pity on him and "Apparently" did some magic to the phone, and VOILA! The phone was then set-up for Virgin Mobile or Boost - Pick the sub-carrier of your choice. Then this bright lad called Virgin or Boost and got the former Sprint Phone activated on Virgin or Boost....... Well, If you believe these blogs and have the time and want to try this, then research the blogs and give it a try. It's your time to waste, and you will probably be wasting a lot of time for nothing. Much easier to simply purchase a VM phone set-up to run on Virgin's network. ;)

Quite simply, you need a Virgin Mobile phone to activate it on the Virgin Mobile Network. Pretty straight forward.
 
bob60626 said:
I thought the Optimus S was allowed on VM.
Click to expand...
Yes and no... VMU calls the VM Optimus Slider the Optimus S. Which is different than the Sprint Optimus S. So yes the Optimus S(lider) is allowed on VMU as it is a VMU device, the Optimus S(print) it not allowed since it is a Sprint device.

Two devices, one name.
 
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