Droid Charge from Samsung (4G)

[yogi108]

I got problems with a Droid Charge from Samsung -- bought on ebay clean esn from Verizon

1. I factory reset the Charge to erase the previous owner's data and bingo! it wanted to be activated. However I have no verizon sim card. I discovered a workaround (Press the emergency call button.Then dial *#837 866 33
Press the home key.) (Other workarounds -- pressing the corners didn;t work) which got me back in and I could set up gmail accounts and download apps via wifi, no problem. So far so good.

2. But I cannot activate via pageplus, which says that Verizon does not allow them to program any 4G phones. (PP relies on V for a lot, as a reseller they have to.)

PP transferred my current pp # to the Charge so I could try. However that failed, even though I tried to do some of the manual activation steps I found at the wiki at howardforums for Verizon Handset Manual Activation .
(The following instructions got me halfway, but only halfway:
"CH-i730 & i760
Dial **772
It should ask for Service Code, enter 000000
If you now see Service Mode"
(On the Charge, it displays MEID # and a "Touch Here" field with Enter, left, right up down OK buttons below it: Pressing down (or enter) gets me ESN with 2 lines of #s; down again gets me AKEY and Input Akey displayed; down again gets me NAM1, CDMA Directory#, and a #; down again gets me MSIN(MIN) with a #; down again gets me NAM1 with CDMA Home SID and 0; down again gets me NAM1 End of BASIC NAM and ) Exit.
I can enter numbers at any point in the field at the bottom but it does not seem to affect the displays above, but when I complete entering say my phone #, and then touch the hard return key on the Charge, it shuts off. Also shuts off if I wait too long! )
The instructions from the wiki continued:
"Press the center button 2 times
Enter YOURNUMBER
Press center button
Enter YOURMIN
Press center button
Enter YOURSID
Press center button twice."
==============================
I transferred my PP # back to my razr while I sorted this out.

3. So this brings me to my questions:
a. Any idea how to use the procedure described above to actually program the charge?
Is it even possible to use a Charge on PagePlus?
b. Is there a way to activate the Charge without having an official Verizon 4G sim card in it?
c. If it is necessary, would it be possible to buy a sim card from Verizon, activate the Charge for 1 month on a Verizon pre-pay plan, and then switch to PagePlus?
d. Would rooting sidestep the need for the 4G sim card?
e. Would unlocking the phone (not sure how to do that) sidestep the need for the 4G sim card?
f. Is there some other ingenious solution that I don;t even know enough to ask a question about?
g.
I would be very grateful for any wisdom, tips, guidance or even educated guesses from you all.
Many thanks! Thomas

[Descalzo]

I don't quite understand. Are you trying to bypass the Customer Service Rep to activate?

Anyway, I have a Bionic that I got activated successfully, so I'll answer as best as I can, hoping that the problems are 4G-related and not specific to the Charge.
a. It looks like you're breaking new ground. If I were you I'd look at the Thunderbolt/Bionic directions and see if that helps.
b. I'll bet you'll need the SIM card. I always needed it. I got mine from Best Buy. I got another one by sending a Verizon buddy into the Verizon store with my broken Bionic to see what they could do. They put a SIM card in it, and didn't take it out.
c. Something tells me that won't work. They say there are ways to buy a SIM card off eBay. It shouldn't be necessary to activate it through Verizon just to get the SIM card.
d. Rooting wasn't necessary for the Bionic.
e. It shouldn't be. Unlocking from Verizon to Page Plus has not been necessary on any phone I've heard of. That's one of the many awesome things about PP.
f. Sorry.
g. My advice: look into the Bionic/Thunderbolt instructions. It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but I got it to work eventually. I was successful on 2 different phones, and I was successful with both QPST and CDMA Workshop. Someone told me that the 4G phones all work about the same process, so I'm thinking it will work for you. The main difference would be how to get the phone into diagnostic mode so you can edit the ruim and nam or whatever it's called. Once you're in, I am thinking it would be about the same.

Good luck!

[yogi108]

Hi Thanks so much for your suggestions -- I was traveling and just now picked up your message. Will follow thru on the Bionic instructions as you suggested and will post my results here. Thanks again! Thomas

[funkd00biest]

Welcome! Quick answer here since its already been answered in other posts, like the one right below this one...unfortunately it wont work. Charge doesn't have the necessary programming menu's that you need to get it flashed. The chipset is different. You can thank Sammy.