Thanks Betty.  Actually it was me not Dennis who made that comment.  What
you say jives exactly with what I was saying except for what I asked.
Specifically on what you based your statement.  Not all companies are
necessarily as willing to accomodate this.  My opinion is that they should
ALL base the acceptance on your use of hardware on their approved list
rather than who origianlly vended the phone.

Long ago it was true that companies who used CDMA, for example, would allow
you to use any CDMA based phone on their approved list.  That has been
restricted nowadays to improve the companies revenue stream.  It is true
that they have phones they sell somehow customized (backgrounds, ring tomes,
etc), but those are not the real reasons they only provide service for
phones they sell.  It all goes back to revenue which comes out of your
pocket.  But there is no technological reason for this that is not by design
and some companies are more predatory than others.  BTW, my basis for saying
this is because I worked for one of them.

Anyway, thanks for clearing up the basis for your saying what you did.  I do
know a coupe of people who were less fortunate and lost the money they paid
for a phone from the open market.

On 7/6/06, betty <molossermom@ev1.net> wrote:
>
> > Betty, you indicated you could use a phone purchased elsewhere if it was
> > previouslt an Altel phone.  But you did not say why you believe
> that.  Did
> > Altel tel you that or are you basing it on other information?  I
> certainly
> > wo
>
> hi dennis;
> i have gotten my last three (or was it two)phones, from private parties
> and had the company add the phone as 'new equipment'. as long as the
> equipment is compatible with the phone they can do this. also, they are
> supposed to do it for free, but if you take your 'new' phone into a
> store, they will charge you whereas, if you call them (on the old phone
> or a landline) and just say 'i want to add new equipment' they will tell
> you what to do. well, that has been my experience anyway.
>
> the issue with the new phones is that the same phone, ie treo 650, can
> be made to specifically work with sprint, or with alltel or whoever it
> is marketed to, then it is not movable to another carrier. so one either
> needs to buy an unlocked phone (much more expensive) or get one that was
> made for the carrier you are going to use, from the carrier or a private
> party.  it used not be like that, you could get any motorola v-60 and it
> would work with any cdma carrier (or is it gsm?).  just another way they
> are making it a bit trickier to save some dough.
>
> my daughter is one of a handful of firmware app. engineers for cell
> services in the western u.s. and keeps me updated on this stuff,
> although sometimes i get some of the fine points lost in the translation
> from engineer-speak to nurse-speak, i kinda get it.
>
> --
> betty i.
> www.WebCanine.com
> research & information
> for people who care for dogs
>
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"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the
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