IMEI provided is valid, but no longer can be used for activation.

[lurkazo]

Has boostmobile finally banned all Sprint/Nextel Phones? or is it just me? I currently have 3 phones which are 2 BB 8350i (which me and my girl currently use, I have the PAYGO and my girl has 50$ unlimited plan) and 1 Motorola iDEN i670 (only for activation purposes) and as info. I am in the Los Angeles area.

Last night we had a 5 min. blackout in our area so naturally I called her cellphone (she was 2 blocks away at her moms) multiple times and thats when I noticed the nextel prerecorded message in all attempts: "Please hold while the subscriber you are trying to reach is located." then finally forwarded to her voicemail at first I thought that the blackout had something to do with it, but then it hit me and called my own cellphone using my moms work phone Motorola i365 (on the sprint nextel network) and got the same prerecorded message, then tried on the landline and got the same message, I also tried to reach myself and my girl using my moms cell with PTT but was getting the following message: "User busy in data".

Then I proceeded to contact boost customer service from a number I found in google search and got a rep. from india we went through the master reset proceedure which I had already done previously when she finally finish reading all that BS from her computer, then she finally just told me that there was a maintenance going on in my area so I just told her thank you and hung up.

Next day I called a different number that I found on google and got a rep. from US this guy straight out told me what device was I using and I told him "blackberry curve" and he told me that device isn't supported by boost mobile and he couldn't help me which I already knew before hand, but since the previous rep. told me it was maintenance issue I was kinda hoping for an update.

So after getting nowhere I decided to update my handheld IMEI to a phone I know they support (so I thought) using the boostmobile website and then call boostmobile again so I could have my service fixed, so I entered the IMEI number from the i670 and to my surprise I got this message: "IMEI provided is valid, but no longer can be used for activation." then I tried to enter the blackberry IMEI from my handheld, then I tried my girls handheld and got the same message on all tries.

I would understand if they blacklisted my BB IMEI since i'm on the PAYGO plan and my phone does abuse data, but my girl is on the $50 unlimited plan, and what really throws me off is that I can't even activate my i670 on their website. So I came to the conclusion that maybe they banned all IMEI's from sprint/nextel phones.

On my blackberry I'm only able to make calls, PTT and send text but not able to receive calls, PTT, text, browse internet, and data (I use shangmail and it's not able to connect).

On the i670 on the other hand i'm able to make calls and PTT, receive calls and PTT, and send text messages but not able to receive text since i'm not able to update my IMEI on the boostmobile website.

All these phones were bought from a authorized sprint/nextel resellers brand new so someone reporting them stolen is not an option.

If anybody can confirm or prove me wrong I would really appreciate it.

Thanks for reading I know its a very long post but I tried to detail it as much as possible.

UPDATE: I just tried my moms work phone IMEI out of desperation and was unsuccessful. it kinda confirms it for me. or maybe its just my and my girls account and/or SIM card....I also do notice the data/internet send and receive arrows on the top right corner are going crazy on both phones which I guess thats what prevents the phone from being useful. I've been using this phone for over a year and until now it's been like this. my girl sadly has been only using it for 3 months. I doubt a program is interfering with the phones operation or firmware issues since we both currently have the most up-to-date OS (5.0.0.1051) and all programs/themes are up-to-date with the OS update.

[lurkazo]

ANOTHER UPDATE: I just contacted sprint for a plan (not unlimited or anything like that).....they are still trying to screw me with 2 year contract even with a phone I already own?...is this valid? $69.99 for 450 anytime minutes called "Everything data"........I feel so violated for buying two 300$USD sprint/nextel phone now......Owned/raped/dominated or anything else you could think of.....thats how I would call the plan........... Instead of letting me have it with K Y Jelly they've added sand and dirt to the abuse or is this just a scam by sprint knowingly that alot of boost subscribers were gonna switch to sprint/nextel after their service got interrupted if they did not have a boostmobile proprietary phone????????? who knows....I guess nothing good last forever...

[knuckleballer34]

I had the same issue with Sprint regarding activating a phone I already owned with no contract. From a corporate perspective, I understand their logic; they're in business to make money. If your thinking about switching to Sprint and want to ease the pain of a new contract, take a free phone from them, and turn around and sell it. It sucks, but it seems to be the only way out.

When I first had the Blackberry 8350i one year ago, my phone had similar issues to the ones you described. I would sometimes get "radio path unavailable" when I called people, and when they called me, they got the "please wait while we locate the user" message. Once I upgraded to OS 4.6.313, the issues subsided. I'm now on 5.0.1051, and don't seem to have any trouble either. You may need to upgrade the operating system to get your phone working properly. I'm on Sprint postpaid, and still had these issues.

I tried Boost for three weeks, and concluded their service is so cheap because their customer service is non-existent. I had a phone break on me, and couldn't contact Boost to find a remedy. Even the employees at a local Boost store couldn't reach the right department at Boost HQ to resolve the issue. I'm paying $20 per month more, but at least I know where the money is going-- theoretically, of course.

[lurkazo]

I guess its all about the benjamins. I'm still trying to avoid Sprint I can't submit to a two year agreement right about now. I still have hope that it might just be both our accounts that got blocked from using nextel phones since I haven't seen anybody else complain about this yet anywhere on the internet and I highly doubt i'm the only one with a boostberry 8350i.

I personally never had any issues with boost mobile in the past until now. I do not discard the option of it being a device issue maybe theres a program that is interfering with the data (most likely shangmail) I will be reinstalling the OS and just keep the core applications I know its not an issue with the OS since I currently have both phones with the latest OS 5.0.0.1051 and whatever programs I have on my phone I also have them installled on my girl phone as well, but even if that fixes the phone the question still remains unanswered "why am I unable to update my nextel phone IMEI using boostmobile website?"

I called today and a boost mobile rep. told me that the reason why the website does not accept my phones i670 IMEI number is that the phone has the nextel brand and that they don't allow nextel phones to be used in their network anymore due to a huge number of compaints by customers that they were having alot of issues service quality and boost mobile came to the conclusion that it was their device and that nextel branded phones use the data differently than the boostmobile branded phones so then he just told me that he couldn't change my IMEI nor further assist me since I did not have a boostmobile branded phone. Call me hardheaded but I still don't believe that!

Boost Mobile is owned by Sprint so thats what makes it hard to believe and I haven't seen anybody else complaining, maybe the rep. didn't want to tell me I have been banned from using nextel phones because of data abuse and it would be extremely easy for me to buy a brand new SIM card from ebay for $3.99 and activate a new line (which I am already starting to look into).

If anybody that currently has a boost mobile account with a nextel device can verify this IMEI issue for me it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[lurkazo]

UPDATE: Well guys I finally got my phone fixed and the culprit was Shangmail all along. I guess the program was unable to connect to the server and excessively tried to reconnect thus hogging all the phones resources. As for IMEI that still remains a mystery I guess new customers or existing customers that upgrade their handset to a nextel branded one will not be able to use boostmobile.

I have everything back to normal minus native email (not a big deal) and I still think it's wrong to block all sprint/nextel phones from being activated on their network in the end it is still the same network and customers should be able to choose whether they want a 50% working phone with the sprint/nextel brand or choose to buy a boost mobile branded phone and have it working 100%, but then again its all about making money. Thank you all for reading.

[still83fifty]

Not sure if this is related or not but I also have had my suspicions that Boost is trying to disable unauthorized phones on their network... I put 9630, 8330, and 8350i's onto the Boost network as a side thing thru craigslist. The majority of the ppl who contact me want to get their 8350i's onto the Boost network. I have done at least 40 of them in the past year. I'd say within the past couple of weeks I had several of them contact me all with the same issue, no text no internet. Problem is when I looked at their phones there was nothing to indicate that they should have a problem. They all had capital NXTL and all books were there. Reflashing them did not remedy the issue. Finally, I tried a master radio reset and all of them started working again. But I'm completely convinced that Boost must be, possibly experimenting with things they can do to stop service to the 8350i's, possibly all unauthorized BB's. It's just a guess but hearing your story i have to wonder if they are doing something, sending a signal or something out that cuts the connection made by flashing. I don't see how it's possible that all of these completely random peoples 8350i's all lose their data and text all basically at the same time. I guess it could be a coincidence, who knows.

[still83fifty]

Also, just so you know, I never change the imei to the 8350i's, I tell everyone who comes to me, leave your old phones info on your account and never tell Boost your using a Blackberry, always refer to your old phone. The whole time I used a 8350i, the i465 was the phone showing on my account.

[chris6517]

sprint is planning to phase out iden network support in 2013, here is an article from cnet.com I found (sorry, I tried to post the link but it wouldn't let me) this must be why boost is blocking iden sprint/nextel phones, so I guess I can understand why they are trying to avoid adding more iden phones to the network since they will not work after 2013 anyway.

With that said, what I am really pissed about is the fact that it seems that boost mobile is "hacking" unauthorized phones and changing the programing in them to block existing phones owned by paying customers to knock them off the network!!! My 7100i was somehow remotely "wiped" of the hotspot browser and mms capability. (Thanks for the tip on the master radio reset btw, it is working perfectly now after a restore of the service books and browser).

Now here's my question, since smart phones are basically small computers, is it a crime for an unauthorized person to hack into it and change operating processes without the permission of the phone's owner? If I were to hack into sprint's computers and delete things without permission and got caught, would I not be facing criminal charges?

Some would say it is illegal to "unlock" a phone to begin with, but from the research I have done, as long as the phone was purchased legally, you unlocked yourself without downloading any copyrighted software illegally, and you are paying for the services you are getting from your carrier you are not breaking any laws. Now you may be in violation of the TOS of the carrier but if this is the case the only legal action they should be able to take would be to cancel the account. Changing and deleting software in the phone remotely and secretly, without permission of the owner would be a direct violation of criminal law.

With that said, I am not a lawyer so I may be wrong on this one, but whatever the case, if boost keeps doing this it is only going to **** off people and they will loose the 50 bucks they get from everyone that gets mad enough to switch carriers and we need to spread this info all over the web to let the world know how this company operates!!

[still83fifty]

As much as I don't like some of the issues you get with Boost mobile, I don't think their guilty of the offense...I don't believe it's even possible for someone to remotely erase service books... That being said, I'm betting your phone just had a malfunction and somehow deleted some files(your service books, probably other stuff you might not have realized). It happens.

Also, I'm pretty sure they got an extension on that supposed iden phase out, for another three years. Boost and Nextel have millions of iden customers, they would never just throw that money away. They both still sell lots of iden phones, it will be surprising to me if it ever gets phased out completely.

[lurkazo]

I agree with still83fifty on both answers.

I used to reset my phone by pressing and holding the left {alt} right {aA^} and {del<} buttons on my 8350i and the phone would restart but sometimes it would corrupt my services books for some odd reason and this would happen randomly. Then I tried those apps that do similar operation that of a battery pull, but then found out they consume too much resources and would lock up my phone at times. So now I just do the old traditional battery pull method and it works great!

As for Sprint phasing out iDen I highly doubt it since there is still a demand for PTT in many industries mainly in the transportation business. Most trucking companies require their drivers to carry a Direct Connect phone (aside from their personal phone) to be able to contact their dispatcher. I work at a railroad and we are all required to use a DC phone and if we didn't have one we would highly depend on e-mail which is not as instant as a DC call.

Here is an article I found on the future of iDen technology:

h t t p : / / newsroom.sprint.com/press_kits.cfm?presskit_id=19

on the section of "Future of Push-To-Talk" you will see that there are still high demands for PTT but most people/companies look elsewhere just because they also have a high demand for data intensive apps and with Android phones coming with pre-installed apps like TiKL (PTT app) it kinda forces Sprint to update/intergrate their old iDen technology to a much faster one before their remaining nextel customers switch carriers.

It also doesn't make any sense to come out with new phones such as Motorola i886 or i686 if they are going to completely phase out that part of the network.

As for BoostMobile IMHO I most likely think they will be the ones phasing out iDen and just sticking with CDMA forcing all iDen users back to Sprint/Nextel with a more expensive plan (just because it's a new iDen network and you got broadband speeds) and forcing them on a 2 year contract.