Cell Phone Technical Question

[MuffinMuncher]

I purchased a US cell phone (Treo 700, unlocked, from Sprint) that I want to activate on a Rogers cell phone plan. Is this possible by simply taking the phone into a Rogers store, selecting a plan and activating the phone?

Or, as I've heard, are US phones not compatible with any Canadian cell phone provider? If not... why not?

If anyone has a layman's explanation for this, it is appreciated.

 

[WinterHawk]

It depends on the type of phone your purchased and what the US service provided network was. If the phone takes a little card for it to work I believe it's can switched over to Roger/Fido, otherwise it's Bell for you.

 

[tboy]

It depends on the type of phone your purchased and what the US service provided network was. If the phone takes a little card for it to work I believe it's can switched over to Roger/Fido, otherwise it's Bell for you.

And maybe not even bell....for eg: the IPHONE will only work on the rogers network......

 

[masterchief]

I purchased a US cell phone (Treo 700, unlocked, from Sprint) that I want to activate on a Rogers cell phone plan. Is this possible by simply taking the phone into a Rogers store, selecting a plan and activating the phone?

Or, as I've heard, are US phones not compatible with any Canadian cell phone provider? If not... why not?

If anyone has a layman's explanation for this, it is appreciated.

Sadly if its a Sprint phone it's most likely a CDMA phone that won't work on the Rogers Network (which is GSM).

You're choice is either Bell or Telus who are also operating on the CMDA network. You might have a better chance with Telus, since Sprint (which used to be Nextel) both have a partnership with the former MIKE network.

 

[l69norm]

...You're choice is either Bell or Telus who are also operating on the CMDA network....

Yes, there are 2 factors
1. Compatibility of the digital handset technology (GSM vs. CDMA)
2. Willingness of the cellular carrier (GSM carriers don't care, CDMA carriers do)

I think both Bell or Telus will only activate a their own CDMA phones. Any CDMA phones with a serial number (ESN) from another provider will be refused (even Bell to Telus and visa-versa). If you search around, there are ways to get around this but they are not seamless. See:
www.howardforums.com

 

[jimace]

I purchased a US cell phone (Treo 700, unlocked, from Sprint) that I want to activate on a Rogers cell phone plan. Is this possible by simply taking the phone into a Rogers store, selecting a plan and activating the phone?

Or, as I've heard, are US phones not compatible with any Canadian cell phone provider? If not... why not?

If anyone has a layman's explanation for this, it is appreciated.

As mentioned by someone else, it isn't possible since the Treo 700 works on CDMA (Sprint) and Rogers works on GSM. If you would have purchased a Treo 680 or Treo 650 from AT&T or Cingular, you could then use this with a Rogers plan provided that you get it "unlocked".

US phones are compatible with Canadian cell phone providers as long as they use the same technology. One of the 2 issues are that with CDMA (Bell & Telus), they are not very likely to activate another company's phone on their network. With GSM technology, you don't even have to tell Rogers or Fido, you just insert your SIM card into the new phone and as long as it is unlocked, you'll be up and running. Of yeah, I forgot to mention that you have to make sure the the GSM phone that you purchased has the same frequency/band as the country that you plan to use it.

The second issue is that almost all cellphone companies "lock" their cellphones (not just in the US but also in Canada). This makes it a little difficult for people to keep their cellphones and switch providers. This is why you have to get them "unlocked".

 

[Rockslinger]

I have a related question. A friend wants to sell his LG Chocolate cellphone to me cheap. I was thinking of buying it just for the 1.3MP camera and not for the cellphone. Is it possible to use the cellphone just for the camera only? Somebody said replace the Fido SIM card with a "dummy" SIM card and it should be ok.

 

[Rockslinger]

I have a related question. A friend wants to sell his LG Chocolate cellphone to me cheap. I was thinking of buying it just for the 1.3MP camera and not for the cellphone. Is it possible to use the cellphone just for the camera only? Somebody said replace the Fido SIM card with a "dummy" SIM card and it should be ok.