HTC phone on VM?

[devgru82]

Does anyone know if it would be possible to flash a HTC CMDA phone onto the VM network? I'm thinking changing the PRL and the ESN on the phone would make this possible. Any thought??

 

[Lunacy1134]

Does anyone know if it would be possible to flash a HTC CMDA phone onto the VM network? I'm thinking changing the PRL and the ESN on the phone would make this possible. Any thought??

Changing the ESN on a phone is a federal offense. You might want to reconsider your plan.

Scope:

The Commission considers any knowing use of cellular telephone with an altered ESN to be a violation of the Communications Act (Section 301) and alteration of the ESN in a cellular telephone to be assisting in such violation. The Wireless Telephone Protection Act (Public Law 105-172) was signed into law on April 24, 1998, expanding the prior law to criminalize the use, possession, manufacture or sale of cloning hardware or software. The cellular equipment manufacturing industry has deployed authentication systems that have proven to be a very effective countermeasure to cloning. Authentication supplements the use of the ESN and MIN with a changing encrypted code that can not be obtained by off-the-air monitoring.

FCC: Wireless Services: Cellular Services: Operations: Fraud

Punishment for first time offender:

... a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both

The Wireless Telephone Protection Act (Public Law 105-172):
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-105publ172/pdf/PLAW-105publ172.pdf

 

[asadullah]

well I can't talk to much about the esn swap I had actually thought about it before I got my optimus v. You probably could set your phone up properly to work on virgin mobile but then you can only use certain phones with the beyond talk plan I'm pretty sure so you couldn't just go get one of those ten dollar phones and use it as a dummy phone. But say for instance you do get it on there your gonna have change the build prop to register as an optimus v or samsung intercept. If it's just a sprint hero I would suggest you just sell it for the best you can get out of it and get the optimus v.

 

[mmarz]

You would need a VM ESN. Where would you get one? You would have to buy a VM phone and copy it. You would also have to change all the data settings. Here is what happens when the data settings are set wrong: http://forum.androidcentral.com/optimus-v/66065-mobile-data-issue-after-wrong-sw-update.html

I've never heard of people making this work.

 

[devgru82]

Good to know...
I already have the Optimus V just a thought.
Its says if I steal the ESN its a crime. What if its from a phone and service I own?

 

[asadullah]

All you really need to get it to work is the esn and the prl if you get it activated go from there. But this better not be a sprint hero wasting all that time for what's now a sixty dollar phone.

 

[devgru82]

All you really need to get it to work is the esn and the prl if you get it activated go from there. But this better not be a sprint hero wasting all that time for what's now a sixty dollar phone.

I was thinking EVO or Inspire

 

[Lunacy1134]

Good to know...
I already have the Optimus V just a thought.
Its says if I steal the ESN its a crime. What if its from a phone and service I own?

Read it again - it says that if you change the ESN, or have hardware or software that can change the ESN. Don't do it.

 

[mmarz]

It's a crime like recording NFL games is a crime. Odds are, no one will ever notice. Even if they do, they will just drop your service. The reason for this law is so you don't steal other people's phone service or use stolen ESN's to commit crimes and remain undetected. The real crime is VM not letting you use a phone that is 100% compatible with their network.

 

[Cory Streater]

Unfortunately it is against the law to change the ESN, even if you are changing it from a phone you own to another phone that you own. I think the original intent of the law was to prevent stealing someone else's ESN and then making it your own so you could use their service or intercept their calls.

Discussing it is also a bannable offense per the forum rules:

Violations of one or more of the following rules will result in an immediate ban of your account:

Illegal Activities - Do not post, link, discuss, or request warez, serials, ROM's, or illegal copies of intellectual property of others in the Android Central forums. Discussions regarding hardware or software modifications designed to steal service, such as ESN cloning & phone programming modifications are also forbidden in the forums. AC has a zero tolerance policy on such posts.

But I'm in an unusually good mood today, so I'll chalk it up to just not understanding the legalities of such a thing. I don't think most people these days are asking about this because they are looking to steal service. I think they are looking to replace one of the, um, not so great phone choices on VM's network. Now, had their been a procedure or a link to one posted here, I would no longer be in a good mood