Another thread about unlocking - Motorola Q Forum

funesto · 05-20-2008, 07:14 PM

My contract with AT&T was just canceled. I want to put the phone on to my Sprint account. Is this possible? If so, do I just simply get the unlock code, throw in a new SIM and follow the same process as everyone else?

bobby-n · 05-20-2008, 07:18 PM

you need to flash it to sprint i believe first .... search monster flash files....

PacoJr67 · 05-20-2008, 07:25 PM

mmm, no. It's not possible with the Q9h. AT&T uses GSM and Sprint uses CDMA (incompatible). A nextel plan may work, but it's still doubtful.

funesto · 05-20-2008, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PacoJr67

mmm, no. It's not possible with the Q9h. AT&T uses GSM and Sprint uses CDMA (incompatible). A nextel plan may work, but it's still doubtful.

just found that out. oh well.. at least AT&T was very willing to give me the unlock code. they were even willing to walk me through the unlocking process over the phone!

mexiken · 05-20-2008, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PacoJr67

mmm, no. It's not possible with the Q9h. AT&T uses GSM and Sprint uses CDMA (incompatible). A nextel plan may work, but it's still doubtful.

A Nextel plan would only work if there was a flashable file for the Q9h, which there isn't. And even then, the radios probably just wouldn't work. AT&T uses GSM, while Nextel uses iDEN, which is an offshoot of TDMA, just like GSM is.

PacoJr67 · 05-20-2008, 07:34 PM

Thought so, They were only considering the merger when I left radio shack so I never bothered to learn much about nextel.

Guardian · 05-20-2008, 10:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by funesto

just found that out. oh well.. at least AT&T was very willing to give me the unlock code. they were even willing to walk me through the unlocking process over the phone!

Thank you for posting that since I mentioned this in another thread and there seemed to be disbelief about it.

Guardian · 05-20-2008, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PacoJr67

Thought so, They were only considering the merger when I left radio shack so I never bothered to learn much about nextel.

Nextel is pure digital mostly PCS like the old sprint. The whole TDMA/CDMA I thought was only kept alive by Verizon but I guess now I know better

mexiken · 05-21-2008, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guardian

Nextel is pure digital mostly PCS like the old sprint. The whole TDMA/CDMA I thought was only kept alive by Verizon but I guess now I know better

To clarify, PCS is a band of frequencies (1900 MHz), not a cellular technology.

TDMA and CDMA are the two principal types of cellular radio technologies in use today. TDMA is the principal technology used by AT&T and T-Mobile, as well as any GSM carrier. CDMA is used by Sprint, Verizon, Alltell, MetroPCS, and so forth.

Think of it like TDMA and CDMA being C in computing language. They are the base language from which all are built. GSM/WCDMA/CDMA 1x and CDMA Rev A all being like C++, or C#, or C++.net, all extensions of it.

An interesting tidbit though. At first, many people thought CDMA was a clear winner over TDMA, but as the 3G speed wars (as well as the simultaneous voice and data stream) proved, it was not so. And in fact, the clear 4G standard is LTE, which is a variant of GSM specs (itself being a variant of TDMA). Verizon has announced they will support this standard, with trials starting this year. So in the future, we may see phones that could potentially run on both networks. Interesting to say the least....

Guardian · 05-21-2008, 02:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mexiken

To clarify, PCS is a band of frequencies (1900 MHz), not a cellular technology.

TDMA and CDMA are the two principal types of cellular radio technologies in use today. TDMA is the principal technology used by AT&T and T-Mobile, as well as any GSM carrier. CDMA is used by Sprint, Verizon, Alltell, MetroPCS, and so forth.

Think of it like TDMA and CDMA being C in computing language. They are the base language from which all are built. GSM/WCDMA/CDMA 1x and CDMA Rev A all being like C++, or C#, or C++.net, all extensions of it.

An interesting tidbit though. At first, many people thought CDMA was a clear winner over TDMA, but as the 3G speed wars (as well as the simultaneous voice and data stream) proved, it was not so. And in fact, the clear 4G standard is LTE, which is a variant of GSM specs (itself being a variant of TDMA). Verizon has announced they will support this standard, with trials starting this year. So in the future, we may see phones that could potentially run on both networks. Interesting to say the least....

What he said