Menekali  Just another IT Blog.

A lot of people are beginning to take advantage of Cricket Mobile. It’s really gaining speed here in San Diego, and has been for quite some time in the more eastern regions of the U.S. Why wouldn’t it? The prices are great, there is no contract, unlimited sms, picture sms, internet, all kind of thing. Albeit, the internet from this network is a joke, but it’s generally pretty limited by the phone its self. Which brings me to my next point.

With all of these great prices and deals coming out of Cricket, people often get to the store, or start doing their research. Then they find out, the phone selection for cricket is terrible. The only thing close to a ‘cool’ or interactive phone, is the Kyocera Lingo. The lingo has a terrible internet display, comes with no serial cable, headphones for driving, and often de-synchs from the Cricket network causing missed calls, the inability to send sms messages, and more really weird issues. It breaks very easily, and costs well above what it should ($200.00). But it’s arguably the ‘best’ and most popular phone in their line up. What can be done about it?

Cricket works on the CDMA cellular network. That means a lot of VZW (verizon), and SNXTL(sprint) will work (granted sprint phones getting internet access is a bit trickier.) The two most common phones to be ‘converted’ are the Treo 600/650, and the LG enV. This guide is for the Treo 600/650. I may do one for the enV at a later date. Also, it should be said now, you may render your phone useless if caution, and patience is not exercised while doing this. But in the end, you will have a PDA on the Cricket network, even though Cricket tells you that just won’t work.

Guide just after the break.

Here are the original instructions for programming the 600 they will work on the 650 also. However the TX and RX for USB are different. Unfortunatley, the USB adapter end that goes into the 650 only has pin connections for the 4 usb wires and 1 for the hotsyn button. That leaves 9 more pins for other stuff that arn’t even connected. So sacrificing a 650 cable would even work. SO, I took a serial cable and stripped the wires down and started “poking” at the connector on the bottom of the 650 trying to get it to connect. No luck. So until I can find out exactly which pins are the serial connections (and if it needs more that just TX, RX and GRN - like does it need handshaking, etc.) I cant reprogram this thing. I only have 15 days to return it too.

Required Hardware:

1. Sprint Treo 650
2. Serial Connection Cable.

Required Software:

1. Qualcomm PST (Product Support Tool). You can download that here.
2. Verizon PRL file (Primary Roaming List).

Required Information:

1. Your TREO 650 MSL (Master Subsidy Lock). Every TREO 650 is assigned a unique 6-digit MSL code.
2. You must either use special software (BitPIM or UniCDMA) or convince someone at Sprint to give it to you. There were some tricks to doing that somewhere on this forum. There were a few people out there willing to obtain your MSL for a fee ranging anywhere from $5 to $50, but it seems that Sprint somehow put an end to that.

Step 1: Changing Sprint’s TREO 650 PRL, MSL and Phone Number.

1. Install PST Software
2. Connect TREO 650 using the Serial Cable. NO USB SUPPORT SO FAR!
3. Turn on the Treo and enter the phone mode
4. Punch ##3424 followed by dial button.
5. You should see the message “Passthrough Enabled”
6. Launch the “Service Programming” program (Start -> Programs -> Qualcomm PST -> Service Programming).
7. Select your phone “Surf” in the Phone Selection dialog box and click OK.
8. Select the “Settings” tab (if not already there).
9. Press “Read from Phone”
10. At the “Enter Service Programming” dialog box, enter the phone’s original MSL code.
11. After reading all information, change Service Programming to 000000.
12. Click the CDMA Tab
13. Change the MCC box to 000 (3 zeros) (Write down ALL your original values for possible future use)
14. Change the 11_12 box to 00 (2 zeros)
15. Change the “directory” and “IMSI_S” boxes to your 10 digit Verizon phone number (no dases).
16. Click Roam Tab, and click the “Browse” button.
17. Locate and select the Verizon PRL file.
18. Click the “Write To Phone” button. Wait about 1 minute.
19. Disconnect the Treo

Step 2: Activating your Phone

1. Go to http://www.verizonwireless.com
2. Login to your account and register your TREO 650 ESN.
3. Dial 611 and you should get a Verizon message.
4. You can now dial *228 to update your PRL and Phone setting.
5. If you have “Roaming” message on phone screen, punch ##3825 or ##727 or ##2362 the Dial. This is because the TREO 600 sometimes works as PCS only or CDMA only. 3825 means “Dual”, 727 means “PCS (1900Mhz)”, and 2362 means “CDMA (800Mhz)”.
6. You can check which Band is being used by punching ##33284.

And there you have it!