vB Easy Archive - Razr v3c on Alltell

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Razr v3c on Alltell - Phone/ESN issues
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Posted by: computerphreak

Hi all,

This is my first post to the forums after lurking for a little while, and it's a lengthy one, so bear with me.

I had a Razr v3c that I was using under a family plan on the Alltel network. Everything was going fine until I got the phone wet in the ocean. After several semi-successful (but eventually futile) revival attempts, I decided to take it to Alltel to get a replacement. I didn't have insurance on the phone (bad idea in retrospect) and my contract wasn't up for renewal for another 9 months, so they were going to charge around $300 for a new Razr, which was unacceptable. I ended up buying a refurbished Kyocera phone which I despise and have had lots of problems with.

Recently, I decided to purchase a Razr on eBay and get that activated, since my Kyocera is borderline unusable at this point (it constantly powers off and then on again at the slightest jarring). I did some research (although apparently not enough) and determined that I'd need to buy a CDMA phone in order for it to work on Alltel's network, and that Verizon was a CDMA provider as well, so a Verizon Razr V3c should work on Alltel's network. I purchased such a phone off eBay for around $100.

My hopes were dashed, though, when I called Alltel and they refused to activate the phone, stating it 'wasn't an Alltel phone' after I supplied the ESN. I headed back to Google and did some more research... turns out if the ESN isn't on Alltel's whitelist, they won't activate it. I spent more time researching, downloading tools, and tinkering. I managed to flash the phone from the Verizon VCast crap to the Alltel 'monster' firmware, giving it the familiar interface I was used to from my old Razr. I even messed with the NAM settings and got the new phone to sometimes receive text messages and voicemail notifications, although I couldn't make or receive calls (because the ESN doesn't match what Alltel has, if I understand correctly).

I figured if I could replace the ESN on the Razr I had with the ESN that my Kyocera had, or even the old Razr's ESN, then things would work... but apparently this is considered 'cloning' or is related to cloning, and people seem to stay away from even discussing it, so I found little information on this topic.

As it stands now, I have:
-My sometimes functional Kyocera phone
-My eBay'd, Alltel-firmware-restored new Razr
-My water damaged old Razr parts

I tried replacing the new Razr's logic board with the old Razr board, and this actually worked... for a few minutes. The phone then shut off and wouldn't turn back on.

I'm looking for advice on what to do at this point. I'd like to use the new Razr. Is it possible to replace just the portion of the logic board which contains the ESN, enabling me to use the new, undamaged board with the old board's ESN? Or do you think that if I explained this entire situation to an Alltel rep either in person or over the phone, they'd activate the new Razr on their network? Or... do you think I could show them the new phone, omitting the fact that I bought it off of eBay, and insist that I bought it from Alltel and that they should activate it? Or is there some other, better solution?

Thanks for taking time to read this and for your ideas,

CP

Posted by: nfaze

When you called alltel, did you tell them it was a verizon phone? If you did, that was a mistake. The only reason I can see the phone being blacklisted would be because of non payment, or being reported as lost/stolen to verizon; have you contacted the ebay seller to see if either of those was why the seller sold it?

The only way to get the ESN from the old phone working on the new one would be if the old one only had a bad screen, keypad,etc., but since you found out it has a bad board, and the ESN is tied to the board, your out of luck as far as swapping parts. Sorry, bud.

Posted by: computerphreak

Quote:

Originally Posted by nfaze

When you called alltel, did you tell them it was a verizon phone? If you did, that was a mistake. The only reason I can see the phone being blacklisted would be because of non payment, or being reported as lost/stolen to verizon; have you contacted the ebay seller to see if either of those was why the seller sold it?

The only way to get the ESN from the old phone working on the new one would be if the old one only had a bad screen, keypad,etc., but since you found out it has a bad board, and the ESN is tied to the board, your out of luck as far as swapping parts. Sorry, bud.

No, I just gave them the ESN, and they responded with 'that isn't an Alltel phone'. The eBay seller was actually a merchant, zendoo.com. I haven't contacted them yet, but when I received the phone, it had what looked to be someone else's prepaid plan and information on it. I don't have any of that info since I wiped the firmware but it did seem kind of odd. I'll contact the them, but I doubt they're going to come out and say "yeah we sold you a lost/stolen phone."

I assumed that the reason that Alltel would reject the ESN is that they want to force customers to purchase phones from them, so they maintain a list of which phone ESN's that they sell, and only accept those onto their network. Assuming I return this phone, how can I be sure that Alltel will accept the ESN of some other phone I might buy?

Posted by: nfaze

It just seems odd to me that Alltel knows that it's not one of their phones. Take my situation for instance - I own a slvr from u.s. cellular; Alltel doesn't even carry the slvr, and I flashed that slvr with alltel's krzr k1m firmware. I called alltel cs to activate it, and "fibbed" to them that it was a k1m (not entirely a lie

). All I said was that I have a krzr k1m, and it says alltel when it starts up. The cs rep asked for the ESN, I gave it, and she said it was clear and good to go for programming my phone. So basically, I have a phone model that alltel doesn't even carry, from an entirely different service provider, and they took the ESN no questions asked. Those reasons make me think that there is more tied to the phone's ESN than just being a verizon phone.

One thing I can think of, is if the phone has no verizon branding anymore, than you could bring it to a store and act like its a fully alltel phone. I beleive that verizon "stamps" the battery cover on their razr's, right? If they do, you could always take the battery cover off your old alltel razr, and go into a store and just say that I got my buddies old alltel razr, and I'd like to activate it, and see what they have to say in-store.

EDIT: I'd like you to actually try something if you don't mind, cause I'm quite curious about this. Call alltel cs (if you have time to be on hold) and tell them that "I'm thinking about getting this phone off of ebay, and the seller gave me the phone's ESN to check, can you check it and make sure it'll work?" and have the rep check the ESN of your new razr. If they say it's bad again, or say its a verizon phone, ask them how they know this, and what info they have saying it's a bad/verizon phone.

The above is also good to do if you want to buy another phone off of ebay/the net. Before you buy the phone, contact the seller and ask them for the phone's ESN to verify. Call alltel and tell them the little speech I have above, except that time you wouldn't already have the phone. They can tell you if the ESN is clean or not. If a seller refuses to give you the ESN to check, simply refuse to buy the phone. It's only a good deal if you can activate it.

Posted by: computerphreak

Interestingly enough, I just got off the phone with an Alltel rep. I'll try to summarize the conversation:

Me: Hi, I was looking to buy a phone off the internet, and I contacted the seller about it. I was wondering if you could check the ESN and see if it will work on you network.

Rep: Ok, what's the ESN?

Me: *gives ESN*

Rep: Ok, is there an Alltel logo on the phone?

Me: Yes.

Rep: Ok one sec. *brief pause* Yeah that phone is compatible with our network.

At this point I asked him again about how to change the phone over and stuff. I also asked him for his extension but he said 'we don't have extensions here'. I guess I'll call them up tomorrow and ask to get it changed and see what happens... weird.

He didn't ask for any form of identification/authentication, do they know what phone you're calling from if I used #611?

To answer your question, yeah the new phone did have a Verizon stamp or whatever on the battery cover, and I thought about bringing it in to a rep with the old cover on and the Alltel firmware and making a fuss at an actual store.

Thanks for your help.
-CP

Posted by: nfaze

Man, I wonder what the other rep was doing wrong; maybe he/she pressed a wrong digit when entering the ESN or something. Anyway, I'm glad that you got it worked out, enjoy your "new" phone.

Posted by: nero14

Think of this experience as a good one, now you have more CDMA phone knowledge, and know how to flash a phone.

Posted by: cp1332

I actually work for Zendoo.com. Alltel's CS reps are notoriously bad about activating phones. We often get calls from customers that can't get Alltel to activate their phones. Our advice is to try a different rep. It almost always takes 2 tries for some reason.