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Originally Posted by fuzzybabybunny
Sorry for all these stupid questions. As you can tell, I'm sorely confused on this phone issue.
So to sum up (let me know if I'm correct)
1. If you have a CDMA phone, each phone has an ESN number. If a CDMA carrier does not have that ESN number in their system, there is no way in hell that you can use that CDMA phone on their system. In effect, there is no such thing as an unlocked CDMA phone. All CDMA phones are tied to the carrier, and vice versa. No way to ask the carrier to add your ESN to their system so you can keep your phone and use their service?
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At least not on the top 2 cdma carriers, the smaller ones do allow adding ESN to their tables. And yes for sprint and verizon there is no "legal" way to use a phone that is not theirs.
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2. Quad Band 3G - how do I tell?
Wireless Radio:
GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
UMTS 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 MHz <-this
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The GSM has 4 frequencies, so I assume it's quad band and can use 3G. What's the UMTS then?
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GSM is 2g, UMTS is the family that HSPA belongs to.
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3. Even if I were to get a Verizon world phone with a keyboard, I'd be absolutely stuck using it on Verizon, huh? I'd have to ditch my cheaper Sprint service and go with Verizon. No way to use it on Sprint due to not having the ESN in their system?
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nope, no legal way..you can go to a cheaper provider that resells verizon liek pageplus but their support is horrible (by my personal experience)...
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5. What's the purpose on an unlocked GSM phone? Aren't all GSM phones unlocked? Just swap in a different SIM card from XYZ carrier and you can use that phone on that carrier?
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Generally yes, but usually they do this so you wont take an exclusive phone and swap to a competitor...most of the time its just enter a code and your done..
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6. Carriers:
Compatible Carrier & Service: AT&T, AT&T 3G, T-Mobile, T-Mobile 3G, Rogers, Fido
I've never heard of Rogers and Fido - how prevalent are they?
If I had to choose between AT&T 3G and T-Mobile 3G compatibility, which one is more prevalent internationally? I'm going to take a wild guess and say AT&T.
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Well...T-Mobile uses AWS band for a lot of the 3g..so yeah...AT&T phones are more prevalent assuming its quad-band 3g...
Fido and Rogers I don't think work here in the US, they are Canadian telecos