Cell phone question

So I dropped my cell phone in the toilet the other day. Among learning that you should not keep your cell phone in your back pocket, I also learned that a replacement phone of the same type would cost me 150 dollars that I really don’t have to spare.

I have US Cellular, and the lady that works there said that I could buy a phone off of Ebay or something and that it would work as long as it was US Cellular. Now I know that they can unlock cell phones so that they can work with any service. Is there a way that I myself could do this? The reason I ask is that I have an old phone but it is from Alltell. And you can buy “unlocked” phones on Ebay and I didn’t know if this US Cellular lady would find that to be acceptable. She’s either kinda stupid or kinda greedy, because the cheapest phone they had was $150 and she didn’t even have a loner phone that I could borrow. So unless I can find a friend that has an old US Cellular phone I’m just outta luck until I can buy one on Ebay.

So is there a way to unlock a cell phone so that it can work with any service, and if I buy an “unlocked” phone online do you think I could use it?

The way I understand it, cell phones have software programmed to work with a specific carrier’s system, and that software can’t be written over with another company’s.

It goes a little beyond that. Different carriers not only have different programming which may not be changable but they use different frequency bands and communication protocals. A T-mobile phone couldn’t be used for Sprint service even if you could reprogram it.

If you get an unlocked phone from a carrier that uses the same kind of network (CDMA, TDMA, or GSM) you should be able to use it. I don’t know what kind of network US Cellular is offhand. If it’s GSM, you need to know whether you need a phone capable of both 1900 MHz and 850 MHz (like Cingular) or if you can get away with a 1900 MHz-only phone (like T-mobile). If it’s CDMA, the frequency isn’t an issue, since most phones cover all available CDMA bands.

As far as software, you may have a problem if you get a make/model of phone that US Cellular doesn’t use. GSM phones won’t have this problem, but CDMA phones will. Then, the provider has to load a roaming list onto the phone. That’s the only kind of software actually necessary to make the phone work properly. But if you Bring a Samsung phone to US Cellular and they don’t carry Samsung, then they won’t have the support software or cables to do the programing.

In short, by a US-cellular branded phone (or at least te exact same model that they carry), and you can be sure they can unlock and program it. If you get one from off your network, proceed at your own risk.
As far as the “greedy” part, don’t fool yourself. The sales rep has no interest in selling you a phone. The no-contract, full retail price on the phone (the $150 she quoted you) is likely very near their cost. At the provider I used to work for, all of our phones’ full prices were exactly cost; we just broke even. Full-price phones are way too low-volume to be a dependable source of profit for the company. And when they give the phones for $70, or $20, or even FREE with a contract, the company is taking a hit. They know they’ll make it back from you over the life of your contract. That’s why the phones are often cheaper for a 2-year contract over a 1-year.

The sales rep won’t pocket any money from the sale of a handset, full price or not. Where the rep makes commission is on the activation. That means a new contract, and extension, or a renewal. The company doesn’t want to sell you a phone, even for full price. The best thing you can do for the company’s bottom line is bring in your own handset, because that means they don’t have to lose money on you. I used to get a small bonus if I signed a customer up with a self-provided handset.

Hope that helps…

Only third world residents can survive without a cell phone. :smack:

Kniz, it’s not as if I literally can’t survive without a cell phone. I did just fine up until a few months ago. But it’s kind of nice to have one when I signed a year-long service contract that still has 9 months to go, and regardless of whether or not I actually have a cell phone, I still have to pay the 30 bucks a month. And I have the option of either paying $150 for a new phone, paying some other huge ammount of money to get out of my contract, or getting a phone from somewhere else. And it came in handy a couple of weeks ago when my car broke down 20 miles from home. But thanks for your helpful input to my legitimate question.

And audilover, I went back and talked to that lady again and she told me that even if I bought a US Cellular phone off of Ebay it might not work unless its in their “area” and that some guy brought in one that he got in Illinios and it didn’t work. I’m in Kansas so now I’m kind of hesitant to buy anything from Ebay. But your advice was quite helpful, I appreciate that.

I’m pretty sure that U.S. Cellular uses CDMA, just like Alltel. So in theory, an Alltel phone should work on their network.

However, the phone may be locked. The lock on a CDMA phone keeps you from opening the service menu, preventing you from programming the phone for a different carrier. Some carriers (like Verizon) don’t lock their phones, and some will give you the unlock code if you’ve been a customer for long enough, so it’s worth asking Alltel.

Another problem you might run into is that the phone’s firmware might be specifically designed for the other carrier. JerH alluded to this, although in fact you usually can overwrite (“flash”) the firmware - if your new carrier has a version designed for them, and the necessary cables and software to connect to the phone. But if your new carrier has never sold the phone you’re trying to bring over, they won’t have any firmware or tools for it.

As for updating the Preferred Roaming List… I know it can be done over the air with Verizon, so if U.S. Cellular can also update the PRL over the air, that might not be a problem.

Raz, there may be hope for your old phone yet, if you’ve fished it out. I’m a product manager for a line of wireless phones used indoors by businesses. You would be suprised how common a dunk in the toilet is for mobile phones. If you want to try to recessucitate your old handset, you have a couple of options to try, which we used ourselves rather than go through the hassle of replacement:

  1. Remove the battery pack and place the phone in a very low oven 150F, well below 200F, for 4-5 hours, with the door partly open. Any hotter, and you risk damaging the clock cristals on the circuit boards. You’ll probably need to find a new battery for your set, but that’s easier and cheaper than a new set.

DO NOT DO THIS WITH THE BATTERY PACK, OR WITHOUT REMOVING THE BATTERY FIRST . Your could have your phone catch fire and ruin your oven, and maybe even set fire to the house. Did I mention that this would also void your warranty?

  1. A slower but safer approach is to get some silica gel beads, available from Wal-Mart in the craft section, as a flower drying/conserving agent. Put your phone in a ziplock bag, again without the battery, and cover it with the beads; reallly fill the bag and bury the phone. Seal the baggy, and wait 2 days.

If your phone got “gooped” ( :eek: :stuck_out_tongue: ) i.e. the toilet water wasn’t clean, use some antibacterial baby wipes to clean it. (That’s what they were made to cleanup) Don’t spray it with any cleaner, you’ll make the shorts worse if it gets into the housing. Latex gloves are always an option…

Good luck.

I guess I could have added to the helpfulness of my post by mentioning that I’ve fixed a few watterlogged phones before. When I was in wireless sales, I’d get lots of customers who broke their phones in one way or another. More often than not, they’d submit to any possibility that didn’t involve them spending money. Bear in mind I wasn’t certified as any sort of phone technician. I used to be a PC repair dude, but that’s only so applicable. But then again, what’s the harm in trying to fix a phone that’s already dead, anyway?

On several occcasions, the user-caused damage was a dunk in water. Or being left in the rain. Or other variations on the theme. I was always able to resuscitate them, so I think you may want to give it a shot. Here’s what I found to work the best.

Take the phone apart. There are too many variations between phone models for me to tell you how to do it. Try a mobile resource like http://www.howardforums.com for some phone-specific info. A lot of phones (Nokias, Kyoceras, and Sony Ericssons to name a few) require a small Torx driver to open the housing (T6 is common). Disassemble it as much as you think is necessary, paying special attention to how everything goes together.

Once apart, use some electronics cleaner on the circuitry. I always used a spray that appeared to be mostly made from denatured alcohol. It doesn’t do any good to get it on the plastic parts, so to reduce the chance of messing up the phone’s finish, I’d avoid soaking the housing. The cleaner will remove the mineral deposits, and the alcohol therein will mix with the water in the phone and drive it off.

Let it air dry thoroughly. Overnight should be good. And a hair dryer set at a moderate setting will help drive the moisture out of the crevices.

Put the thing back together, and hope it works. You may likely need a new battery, but they’re not all that expensive. In fact, the battery may be the only problem you currently have. But I, personally, wouldn’t bother buying a battery until I’ve tried to fix the phone. If you want to try a different battery out without buying one, just go into a US Cellular store and say your phone isn’t working. (Don’t say anythign about the toilet) Tell them you think the battery has failed and see if they can test it with a known good part.

Normally, I’d attach a disclaimer to advice like this. But your phone’s already broken, so who the hell cares? Give it a try, since you’ve got nothign to lose. Then let us know how it turns out.

I did take the phone apart yesterday, since I had no other options. It took me forever to get the tiny screws out but I finally got it all apart. I noticed what looked like rust behind the screen so I used a q-tip with a tiny bit of alcohol, and that seemed to get the rust off. I dont know if that was a good idea or not but it was already messed up so I figured, what the heck?

I will have to try the silica beads or oven method. However, the phone got dunked on Wednesday so it’s been over two full days. I don’t know how much moisture could be left in there.

The battery pack still does work. My mom has the same kind of phone and it works just fine with hers. Also, I’m not worried about voiding the warranty. I already took off the little “void if tampered” sticker inside the phone.

In a related matter, I am looking to purchase a new cell phone on e-bay. I am a Cingular Wireless customer, so can I simply find a Cingular phone and transfer my sim card? I don’t want to receive my new, expensive phone only to discover that it doesn’t work properly, or not at all.

They told me that I could get one on Ebay and that it would work as long as it was US Cellular. But then they told me a guy had just brought in a phone he bought on Ebay and that it wouldn’t work even though it was US Cellular. So I think its kind of a “no guarantees” type thing. If it doesn’t work you’d probably just have to re-sell it on Ebay.

I believe so.

Any dual-band American GSM phone should work with Cingular’s GSM plans… I think you can find the unlock code for any GSM phone simply by putting its serial number and model into an unlocking program. (European phones will also work if they support the American GSM frequencies, 1900/800, as well as the European ones, 1800/900.)

Yes. That’s the beauty of GSM phones. The handset is just a vehicle for the SIM card, and the card is where your account info resides. Other types of networks have all that stuff in the phone hardware, which is why changing phones is such a pain in the ass.

With GSM phones, you can freely swap your SIM into any phone that will work. You don’t even have to tell your provider…because they don’t care.

GSM providers can (an do) lock their phones so that other provider’s SIM cards can’t be used. But unlocking it (see below) will take care of that.

Not true. This works on some phones, like Nokias. But others require a code specific to the provider’s programming. For a lot of phones, the easiest and most accessible way for a user to unlock their phones with an interface cable and the right software (much of it is a gray market kind of thing, so beware). In the case of my Sony Ericcson GSM phone, I could only unlock my handset by getting a special data cable (not the regular kind that SE will sell you) and using special software.

This is also not necessarily the case. Any dual-band American GSM phone will work with T-mobile The same can’t be said for Cingular and AT&T Wireless. That’s because Cingular has some native 850 MHz coverage, in addition to its majority 1900 MHz. T-mobile, on the other hand, is exclusively 1900MHz.

Some American GSM phones are 1900/850 (The Sony Ericsson T616 is 1900/1800/850). Others only use 1900 in the US (SE T610 is 1900/1800/900)

1900 MHz is a US GSM band.
1800 and 900 are GSM bands fo most of he rest of the world.
850 is a US band.

Confused, yet?

I assumed that a phone marketed to Americans as “dual band” would operate on the two American bands for GSM. Is that not the case? Are there “dual band” phones that use one American band and one European band instead?

Most GSM phones sold in the US are actually called “tri-band”. Either 1900/1800/900 or 1900/1800/850, depending on the provider.

Some phones are sold as “quad-band” The Motorola V600, for example, has 1900/1800/900/850.