neotope
01-03-2003, 09:51 AM
Why can't I use any phone on any network?
The simple answer to this question is that you can't use any phone on any network because phones are designed and locked into one network. There is a more complicated answer that I will briefly go into. Take a phone like the Motorola v60i, you will see that AT&T and Verizon offer that phone. So it makes sense if you bought the phone through Verizon and then wanted to switch to AT&T that you would be able to do so and keep the same phone. In theory that makes sense, but in practice it would not work. The phone really comes in two seperate versions, the v60ti that works on the TDMA network that AT&T uses and the v60ci that works on the CDMA network that Verizon uses. Without getting into much technology issues we can think of a cell phone as a radio. Think of the v60ti as a FM band radio and the v60ci as an AM band radio. The v60ti will not pick-up AM signals just like the v60ci will not pick-up FM signals. Just like the v60ti will not pick-up CDMA signals and the v60ci will not pick-up TDMA signals. While the phone look to be the same exact thing, they are not really the same phone.
Going away from technological issues, every phone has an ESN that identifies the phone and a provider has a list of all the ESNs of phones that are their phones. This means if you buy a Sprint phone and try to activate it on Verizon they will not let you because the ESN invalid. They are really doing this for your benefit because your phone would not work great on the Verizon network if it was designed for and had software to work on the Sprint network.
Another obvious reason why phones will not work across platform is because seemingly every single provider uses some different type of wireless internet. Verizon uses Get-It-Now, while Sprint uses PCS Vision. With a lot of hard work you might be able to get a Verizon phone on the Sprint network but you would not be able to take full advantage of what your phone has to offer because it is not designed for the network. You want to stick with using a phone designed for the network you are using so that you can get the most out of it.
I heard something about GSM phones being used on any provider?
GSM phones are a whole different ball game and they do have the "ability" to be used on different GSM providers. All GSM phones have a SIM card and the SIM card basically stores your account information and your phonebook. So when you get a new phone all you have to do is take your SIM card from your old phone and pop it in your new phone.
Now you can't simply take an AT&T GSM phone and put a T-Mobile SIM card in it and get it to work on the T-Mobile network. You have to get the phone, "unlocked." All phones comes locked so that they can be used by a certain provider. Certain providers will unlock phones for your, but only if you have a good reason. A good reason being that you are traveling abroad and you are going to buy a pre-pay SIM card when you get abroad and you just want to use the phone you already have. The problem is more and more people are lying and doing this only so they can switch providers, so now providers are less likely to unlock phones. You can buy unlocked phones online but they are mostly available from Europe and usually if a phone is unlocked the price will be at least $100 more than just buying the phone here.
Conclusion
When it comes down to choosing a cell phone it is best to go with a provider that has phones that you like. Reception is the most important thing when buying a cell phone, but you also want a cell phone that you like. Don't choose a provider just because they have flashy phones, make sure that the phones work where you live.
The simple answer to this question is that you can't use any phone on any network because phones are designed and locked into one network. There is a more complicated answer that I will briefly go into. Take a phone like the Motorola v60i, you will see that AT&T and Verizon offer that phone. So it makes sense if you bought the phone through Verizon and then wanted to switch to AT&T that you would be able to do so and keep the same phone. In theory that makes sense, but in practice it would not work. The phone really comes in two seperate versions, the v60ti that works on the TDMA network that AT&T uses and the v60ci that works on the CDMA network that Verizon uses. Without getting into much technology issues we can think of a cell phone as a radio. Think of the v60ti as a FM band radio and the v60ci as an AM band radio. The v60ti will not pick-up AM signals just like the v60ci will not pick-up FM signals. Just like the v60ti will not pick-up CDMA signals and the v60ci will not pick-up TDMA signals. While the phone look to be the same exact thing, they are not really the same phone.
Going away from technological issues, every phone has an ESN that identifies the phone and a provider has a list of all the ESNs of phones that are their phones. This means if you buy a Sprint phone and try to activate it on Verizon they will not let you because the ESN invalid. They are really doing this for your benefit because your phone would not work great on the Verizon network if it was designed for and had software to work on the Sprint network.
Another obvious reason why phones will not work across platform is because seemingly every single provider uses some different type of wireless internet. Verizon uses Get-It-Now, while Sprint uses PCS Vision. With a lot of hard work you might be able to get a Verizon phone on the Sprint network but you would not be able to take full advantage of what your phone has to offer because it is not designed for the network. You want to stick with using a phone designed for the network you are using so that you can get the most out of it.
I heard something about GSM phones being used on any provider?
GSM phones are a whole different ball game and they do have the "ability" to be used on different GSM providers. All GSM phones have a SIM card and the SIM card basically stores your account information and your phonebook. So when you get a new phone all you have to do is take your SIM card from your old phone and pop it in your new phone.
Now you can't simply take an AT&T GSM phone and put a T-Mobile SIM card in it and get it to work on the T-Mobile network. You have to get the phone, "unlocked." All phones comes locked so that they can be used by a certain provider. Certain providers will unlock phones for your, but only if you have a good reason. A good reason being that you are traveling abroad and you are going to buy a pre-pay SIM card when you get abroad and you just want to use the phone you already have. The problem is more and more people are lying and doing this only so they can switch providers, so now providers are less likely to unlock phones. You can buy unlocked phones online but they are mostly available from Europe and usually if a phone is unlocked the price will be at least $100 more than just buying the phone here.
Conclusion
When it comes down to choosing a cell phone it is best to go with a provider that has phones that you like. Reception is the most important thing when buying a cell phone, but you also want a cell phone that you like. Don't choose a provider just because they have flashy phones, make sure that the phones work where you live.