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Originally Posted by tenthirty2
Careful giving blanket information there Cricket boy, I just talked to Verizon customer service the other day and tried to activate an old digital star tac for use just when I'm on the ATV and don't want to trash my 6700. It was CDMA, and as your post suggests, should have been fine, but in fact it wasn't. The ESN wouldn't take. The customer service rep told me that Verizon has recently had a memo circulating advising of a new policy in which they will no longer activate phones from other carriers. He said the computer will reject an ESN from any other carrier, even though the phone may be CDMA. Alltel has enacted a similar policy in our area, except it is enforced by their reps, and the ESN's aren't actually locked out of the system like Verizon. That was my experience recently anyway, same thing happened to me with an Alltel Blackberry too. Couldn't activate it because the ESN wasn't from Verizon, computer wouldn't accept it.
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Actually, alltel, sprint and Verizon ONLY activate phones from within their own pool of ESN's.. It's been that way for YEARS. The only way to get another carrier's phone activated with these companies is if you have someone on the inside who can manually add an ESN to their database...
Cricket, however, will activate other carriers ESN's with no problems. They hassle you about any extended features (such as photo messaging), but they don't care who's phone you're using on their network.
Which is exactly as it should be. If you own the phone and ESN, there is no legitimate reason for a phone company to refuse to activate it. None, whatsoever. Their only reason is that you're keeping them from making a profit, because they can't force you into a contract if you already own your phone.
Cricket doesnt require contracts in the first place, so this is a moot point with them, which is precisely why they'll activate other carrier's ESN's.