Get Your ESN Accepted by MetroPCS (Including PDA's)

Take the phone to a corporate MetroPCS office/dealership and tell them the phone has already been flashed to MetroPCS. Ask them politely to add the ESN to their database. You will be charged a fee to have your ESN activated.

If they give you any "hassle", kindly remind them of their policy to activate any CDMA handset compatible with their network with talk and text. If necessary, ask for a supervisor and have them go over the company policy with you.

Official information on MetroFLASH service can be found on their corporate website:

http://www.metropcs.com/metroflash/

*As a reminder: ESN changing/cloning is ILLEGAL, and you do not need to change/clone your ESN for MetoPCS to activate your phone if you use the method described above.

If you've had your customer-provided phone or PDA activated with MetroPCS, or have any relevant questions, please feel free to provide your feedback and questions to this thread.

berry_lthird, thanks for this sticky. However, some of us may need some more help and someone like you can reall make this simple for us. Those of us that have existing PDAs (WM5 or Palm OS) are refused to have our phones flashed by Metro PCS and have nowhere to go? If metropcs refuses to flash our phones, where do we get them flashed?
Also does getting them flashed automatically gets the internet and emails working? I have been trying to find someone who can do this for me (for a cost) but no one seems to help those of us that are not familiar with this kind of programming.
Can you tell us in simple english where and who do we need to contact to begin the process of converting our PDA phones to metropcs? I have samsung r450 but would really like to use my Sprint PDA on metropcs. :confused:

corp stores around detroit are full of moronic *******s and WILL NOT add esn to system and they dont even know how to pick their nose without a degree. so ill stick to my own ways for now plus i can have as many phones as i want with my number kindof like a flavor of the day lol.

not morons, retards....just came back from a corp store. was told that pda's , treos etc (i have an htc touch diamond) could not be put into the system unless the phones were metroflashed. these phones are not supported for metroflash. was told that because of "legal reasons" they could not add my meid to the system. its funny, i can call *611 and pay my bill and make changes to my account from the htc diamond touch, but i cannot make a simple call.

help me


in south florida metropcs HELL

^^^^^.
Yeah, that's why someone with some intelligence needs to guide the rest of us low watt bulbs on how to proceed if we have a sprint pda phone.
I know there are people who are successfully using these pda phones on metropcs and they should charge for their services and help others to successfully flash other phones.

Okay, let's be clear here: For those of you having trouble activating your phone/PDA with MetroPC; is that because they won't FLASH the phone, or won't activate the ESN? Because these are two entirely different things!

Just to be clear: "FLASHING" the phone means to put the MetroPCS PRL and provisioning on the phone to use with the MetroPCS network. That doesn't mean you will be able to make a phone call. In fact, you can flash the phone without it being activated in their ESN database, but again--you will NOT be able to make a phone call this way.

ACTIVATING the phone means that MetroPCS accepts your ESN into their database, thereby enabling a flashed phone/PDA to make a call. Again--this is separate and different from flashing the phone--if you haven't loaded the MetroPCS PRL and provisioned the phone to work on the MetroPCS network, then you still won't be able to make a phone call.

So, having your phone "fully flashed" to MetroPCS involves TWO things: 1.) Making sure your handset has the correct PRL and provisioning, and 2.) Having MetroPCS add your handset's ESN has been added to their database. These two things do not have to happen at the same time or in that order, even.

So for those who are having trouble, which are you having trouble with? Flashing, or activating, or even BOTH?

If this sounds redundant, then I apologize: I'm just trying to be 100% certain I understand the problems you are all facing!

I am including this poll to determine exactly where the problem is for those who are having trouble getting their phones activated with MetroPCS.

Is your problem getting the phone flashed? Or is it getting MetroPCS to add the ESN to their database? Or is it BOTH?

you are correct about flashing the phones. i believe most of us in this predicament are having trouble getting somebody to scan the esn and put it in the system. thats it. i had the customer service person listen to my phone once i dialed *611. She realized the phone was "flashed properly" but still told me that they were not going to do it. (this was a corporate store). i was able to get in contact with somebody that will put the phone in the system. (he knows somebody that works for metropcs). will keep everybody posted.

thanks

wow, first vote on your poll

the way it works in detroit is if you can NOT connect the phone to their pc and houdini cant find it then it will NOT be activated. they will NOT just type your esn/meid/ssn/blood type/etc. into their database or they will be fired (thats what they say) so in general if your device is NOT on houdini's little list your SOL and back to the underground. :-D clear? all the store reps and corp reps are dumb as hell on phone related programming, etc. they have to have a cheat sheet for just simple nam programming and have the default code wrote down so they remember it. god why is michigan full of so many dumb ppl?

Can you call MetroPCS customer service and have your ESN entered that way?

If so, I would politely insist that it is YOUR account and YOUR right to use any CDMA phone flashed to MetroPCS on your account! It's the LAW. By law, they cannot deny you the use of your own equipment on their network. Not even APPLE with thier iPhone. This is why they can't stop or sue people who unlock the iPhone for other carriers. It's an FCC violation to do so.

Be it by phone or in person, I would ask to speak with a supervisor and ask them to define what makes a PDA so different so long as it works on a CDMA network.

Assure them that you have every means to make that same handset work on the carrier it's branded by, and if you can't get the phone that YOU want to use on YOUR account, that you will have no choice but to leave them as a customer. NO PHONE COMPANY WANTS TO LOSE ITS CUSTOMERS!!! I bet if you asserted this to them they would change their tune! :eek:

The clueless rep thing happens with us over at Cricket, too: Occasionally, you'll get a rep that only knows what's written in front of them on their cue card. Sometimes it takes several tries, but being firm but polite usually gets the job done.

berry_lthird, thanks for your input and I have voted for 'both'. I just cannot find anyone in Los Angeles to flash the PDAs I have. Currently I don't even know if I have to have a WM smartphone or a Palm treo. I have heard that either of them can be flashed but so far I haven't found anyone in LA. The moment they see a PDA they just clam up and refuse to even flash.
So, my problem is getting the flash and then I guess ESN registering with metropcs which is another hassle.
I really appreciate your help in this regard.
I am also willing to pay someone if they give a step by step flashing instruction with screen shots which I would be comfortable doing. Thanks.

First of all, I appreciate all of your feedback! But please--let's keep this discussion on-topic. If you have any questions about flashing, start a new thread or contact me via PM.

Thanks.

called before and they said the phone had no history with them and it could not be entered to their system. phone is worse most the time i get some hindu that cant speak english. not being racist or anything thats who i get on the toll free number. i been told to my face a flat out NO even by reps at corp and dealers i know personally that i couldnt get smartphone/pda on metro.

What format does MetroPCS use to activate MEID or ESN?

For example, Cricket asks for MEID decimal and the MEID converted to hex ESN (called pseudo ESN or p-ESN). Otherwise, it's decimal and hex ESN.

If your PDA's are MEID based, then try giving them only the converted ESN equivalents, NOT the MEID numbers! Use the MEID to ESN converter attached in the following thread:

http://www.howardforums.com/showpost...7&postcount=14