Will my cell phone company accept a phone I buy elsewhere?

Question

I am a subscriber of Midwest Wireless. First, will any phone matching the network (CDMA, etc) work with this company? Second, if I buy a phone that works with the network, do cell phone companies allow you to use the phone not purchased from them. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Answer 1

Hi there....

Generally speaking, companies don't accept wireless phones from other companies. It seems like a raw deal, however there are a few reasons why companies prefer not to do this.

First, CDMA phones have a PRL (preferred roaming list), which gives the handset guidance as far as which networks on which they can roam in a given area. This can get rather complicated if you purchase a phone from a supplier other than your wireless service provider. If the phone came from another wireless company, it will have that company's PRL stored in the phone and the phone will likely be locked to keep it from being updated with your company's PRL. Phones from other networks could potentially roam in your home wireless coverage area and cause problems in the operation of the phone and even can cost in terms of additional charges (roaming, SMS and otherwise).

A second issue is that many handset manufacturers custom design handsets for each wireless carrier's network. Identical Motorola, Nokia or LG phones can actually have different features from one network to another. It could be a feature that one carrier has available to their network isn't supported by others.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Answer 2

unless you buy a phone from another company (you have Midwest Wireless right now and want to switch to AT&T Wireless, for example) then you should be just fine.

Answer 3

In my experience with cell phone companies, they don't allow this. They will only accept the cell phones you buy from them.

Answer 4

IF YOU HAVE A CONTRACT AND THE CONTRACT IS NOT FINISH YOU CAN NOT USE IT WITH ANOTHER COMPANY