How do I setup the Treo 750 to use on the T-Mobile network?

I recently received a question asking how to setup an unlocked Treo 750 on the T-Mobile network. It was a great question and thought more people would want to know. You must be subscribiding to a data plan as well.

1. Goto Settings.
2. Select Connections
3. Select Add new modem Connection
4. Change the default name from "Connection 1" to "T-Mobile"
5. Select Cellularline (GPRS,3G) from the list of modems
6. Select the Next button
7. Enter "wap.voicestream.com" into the Access Point Name
8. Select the Next button
9. Enter your telephone number as your username
10. Enter the password you created for your online T-Mobile account as your password.
11. Keep the domain name as blank
12. Select the Finish button

How do I verify a Sprint ESN is clear?

For anyone who has looked bought a previously owned Sprint phone it's hard to know if the ESN is clear or not before truly activating. www.Checkesn.com provides a 100% reliable and easy way to verifyif the phone is truly activable. Nothing against the Sprint customer service employee's that you will speak with on the phone. One of the Sprint employee's told me they had 3 systems they had to check to see if it was clear, and one of the systems it was hard to tell if it was previously activated or currently activated. This service (for a small fee) will verify directly in the Sprint ESN database if it is truly clear or not. This can save you alot of headache in knowing if the handset can be truly activated or not, which will save you money and time in the future. The company also provides volume pricing and allows you to submit a large amount of ESNs at once. Check the service out for yourself. It has worked for us!

Palm Pixi Announced - Latest WebOS handset

Palm announced the release of the Palm Pixi, the second handset in the WebOS family. The Pixi is a perfect blend of traditional Palm form and WebOS functionality, and is sure to be a success. The handset is intended as a lower end handset to the Pre, while delivering most of the same functionality. The LCD is noticeably smaller at 2.63 inches, but delivers a full qwerty keyboard below (think Palm Treo series). The unit maintains a small trim size and weight making it ideal to carry around with you. It's .43 inches thick, 2.17 inches wide, 4.37 inches long, and weights 3.51 ounces. Palm has incorporated a 2 megapixel camera, built in gps, 7 gigabytes of usable memory, and a 3.5mm stereo earjack. The biggest functionality it does lack is wi-fi. As with the WebOS, it integrates with facebook, gmail, yahoo mail, and your personal outlook email allowing you to keep up on all your messages. As with the Pre, the initial launch of this handset will only be available to Sprint customers. The Pixi should be a strong contender in the marketplace by providing a lower end handset that will attract more Treo and Blackberry users to make the switch. We can only hope in the future releases, this model will be released with wi-fi and on a GSM network.

Can I use a GSM phone on all GSM networks or a CDMA phone on all CDMA networks?

We will start with GSM phones. You can use a GSM phone on another GSM network if it has been unlocked and if the carrier and phone operate on the same frequencies. When a GSM phone is put out by a carrier (AT&T or T-Mobile for instance), the phone is "locked" to that carriers network. To remove the carrier lock, known as unlocking, you can either request the unlock code from the carrier or purchase the unlock code from a secondary company (check ebay or google "unlock code"). Regarding the phones operating frequencies, generally most cell phones produced are quad band; they operate on all 4 possible GSM frequencies. Quad band phones can be used on any GSM network worldwide. If you want to know what frequencies your cell phone operates on, we recommend checking phonescoop.com. You can look up the technical details of any phone on that site. You can contact your carrier and see which frequencies they operate on in your particular area.
With CDMA phones, you can not unlock them to be used on another CDMA network. You can "flash" them to another CDMA network. This requires having the phone reprogrammed for the other carriers CDMA network, and not all CDMA networks will accept a phone that was on a competitor. Verizon and Sprint will not activate a phone that had previously been on another network once it had been flashed. Cricket and Metro PCS will, but charge an additional fee for the activation.

Can I use a GSM phone on a CDMA network, and vice versa?

This is by far the most common question I receive. It is important to know which type of carrier you have, as a GSM phone can not be used on a CDMA network and a CDMA phone can not be used on a GSM network. The carrier you have will determine which network you are using. In the next posting we will examine if you can use a GSM phone on all GSM networks, and a CDMA phone on all CDMA networks.

What are GSM and CDMA, and what is the difference between them?

This is a common question I receive. The first thing you need to understand is that these acronyms stand for two different types of cell phone technologies. The cell phone carrier (or company) that you have will dictate which type of phone that you can use, a GSM phone or a CDMA phone.

The first technology is GSM, or Groupe Special Mobile technology. GSM is the widest used worldwide cellular technology; more carriers have developed their networks on this standard. It was first developed in Europe in the late 1980's as a means to standardize cellular technology and allow easier roaming between networks in other European countries. Phones that are built on this standard have a sim card that is inserted into the phone. The sim card is the user's specific identification for that network. If a user wants to change phones, all they have to do is remove the sim card from their phone and place it into another phone that will accept that carrier's sim card. The user's identification on the network is transferred tot he new phone via the transfer of the sim card. The two biggest GSM carriers in the United States are AT&T and T-Mobile.

The second technology is CDMA, or Code Division Multiple Access technology. CDMA technology was developed by Qualcomm in the United States. Phones that are build on this standard are programmed with a unique ESN (Electronic Serial Number.) The carrier then assigns the user's telephone number to the ESN of that specific phone. The ESN is generally found on the back of the unit, visible when the battery is removed. In order to switch to a different phone on a CDMA network, the cell phone carrier has to assign the user's phone number to the new phone. The most widely known CDMA carriers in the United States are Alltel, Cricket, Metro PCS, Sprint, and Verizon.