Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

As I promised earlier I would put up the situation regarding the Sprint's Touch Pro 2's SIM subsidy lock situation once I am in China, so bear with me.

I have my Sprint's roaming SIM card activated, now... as soon as I land in Canton (Guangzhou), China, I turned my TP2 on and left it in "GSM Only". That did not do anything since it did not find any networks.

So I left it at Global, what do you know, it actually roamed onto China Unicom (CDMA provider)'s CDMA network! Of course 1xRTT only and I actually made a call back to the States, the audio quality is actually pretty darn good.

I swapped out the Sprint's GSM card and put the China Telecom SIM in and changed the mode to GSM only. Next thing you know, it registered onto the China Telecom's GSM network with the name "CHINA MOBILE" on the screen. I was able to make phone calls, send and receive text/MMS right away. Of course, EDGE speed only, the UTMS 3G in China isn't that quite widely rolled out so I can't quite test the extend of the international 3G capacity on the phone.

So to cap the situation... it has no subsidy lock EXCEPT for going onto an US-based tower.

Now to deal with the jet lag...

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

sweeet, thats good to know since im headed to japan here in a couple weeks.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Good to hear.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Does regular GSM still work in Japan? I thought it was all HSDPA now or something like that.

--Chris

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

I wonder if the "China Telecom" sim would have worked if Sprint's roaming SIM card had not been activated.... (I don't see why it wouldn't, but just worried if I should do that before I go on my vacation to another part of Asia

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Thanks for the update. Have been waiting for it.

I think this is an important piece of information for many Sprint users.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

i hope not, i havent been there in 4 years so i really dunno. guess ill find out when i get there lol.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Great news, thanks! I am going to Mexico on 3 weeks, wanted to make sure I can get in touch once there.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Here's some notes about Japan. Doesn't appear to be much if any GSM there.
http://euc.jp/misc/cellphones.en.html#tech

But Telestial (common place for getting foreign SIM cards) seems to just say you can pop in their SIM and go... so I donno. I've seen other stuff online saying only HSPA works there (which is W-CDMA).

Worth a shot to try tho.

--Chris

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Adding to the last one. If you check Verizon's international roaming pages for Japan it looks like you'll just roam using regular CDMA. But no video/picture/data messaging. You'd need a UMTS device for that.

http://b2b.vzw.com/international/Roa...fic/Japan.html


--chris

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

if you're using international sim card. do that change your number? how is that work now.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Of course that changes your phone number. The only way that your phone number from the States remains when you are overboard is when you are roaming; but if you are using a SIM card from a local provider (non-US), then your phone number would be the one that's assigned on the SIM card.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

SIM card is prepare right? so everytime i buy a new SIM card my number change?

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

The carrier bound the phone number with your SIM card. Unless you change the carrier or something happens to it, a SIM card has it's own number.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

How does the phone recognize the difference between US GSM and International?

I also read in here that Sprint TP2's are only restricting t-mob and at&t GSM? Is that truly the case?
I would like to get a SIM from a local carrier that is Einstein PCS, they have their own craptastic network, but the rates are low. I don't really need it, but I do want it for cool factor. So if it's only tmob and at&t that is blocked or do the towers here in the US tell the phone it is in the US?

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Bottom line, every single GSM network in the world has an identification, made out of two parts, a country code and a network code.

So Sprint simply locks out all the networks with country code that reflects US GSM networks.

Like I said, doesn't matter where your SIM card is from, as long as it goes to an US network (which is easily identified via the country code on the GSM prefix), Sprint's TP2 will NOT work.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

The phone recognizes the MCC. The Sprint TP2 is blocking based on MCC 310 and 311, possibly others. The MCC is basically a country code for cellular carriers. Base stations advertise this. Something on the Sprint device doesn't even allow Windows Mobile to see those carriers. I tested it with a foreign SIM tonight who has both Tmo US, AT&T, Cincinatti Bell, and others as roaming partners. My phone accepted the SIM, the PIN for it, the contacts, even the MVNO profiles on it. I switched to GSM only mode and it saw nothing. It didn't even see towers. I did a manual network selection and it listed no towers.

It would make sense for HTC to put a condition into the radio portion of the ROM that says if MCC = 310/311, then do not pass to OS. That's probably what's happening with the Sprint phones. As I stated in my other thread about the difference between the RHOD400/RHOD500, VZW and Telus have both stated that they are going the LTE (UMTS/GSM) route, as CDMA2000 is dead in the water after Rev.B. Sprint is going the WiMAX route as it currently stands. Telus is already lighting up some of its UMTS segments.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Wow thanks guys. Pretty much how i imagined it, but it is clear now.

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

China telecom doe snot use UMTS... you need China Unicom

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Ahh Einstein PCS.. I remember that.. but I thought it was CDMA, or at least the phone I had at the time was CDMA... And I thought they shared Verizon towers

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

Does anyone know if this would work in Vietnam??

Re: Regarding Sprint's TP2's SIM Subsidy/Network Situation
 

it would be nice if the Sprint TP2 was truly and "unlocked" sim device...but wasn't a deal breaker for me when I paid for the phone. As long as it was a worldphone, it was ok with me. I go to the Philippines every 1 1/2 - 2 years and usually stay a minimum of 3 months. it was important for me to know if i would be able to use a local sim with my phone. thanks for the confirmation StevedUSA.

my question is, since the Philippines cell networks run 3g technology, will my TP2 be on 3g as well if the local Philippines sim I will use run on a 3g network? i know some phones if it's 3g here in the states, when you take internationally, it won't run on 3g even if it's available.