using treo phone with alltel

[betty]

> 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.
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