happyGuy

how does one return a magic box? I cancelled my sprint service about a month ago and haven't heard anything from them about returning it.  I also emailed booster@sprint.com a few weeks ago asking how to return it, but so far haven't heard anything back

2 hours ago, ingenium said:

The unlock seems to have to be done with it on the line that it was originally tied to (likely on a lease). Even if the lease is paid off. I had an awful time getting mine unlocked so I could sell it. This may have been changed with the updates to their unlocking server though.

Keep working at it. They may also require it to be active on your line for 60 days before they'll unlock it. If all else fails, file an FCC complaint. That was the only way I got mine unlocked.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

I think you are on to something.  I got more info from a csr and was told that it was already unlocked, and after more research it seems as though if this device (or maybe all sprint devices?) was bought on an 18 month lease/finance the device will be shown on the original account for (seemingly) the entire length of the original 18 month lease/finance, regardless of whether it was paid off early and sold/activated on a new account... so for the initial 18 months, it appears the only one that can request an unlock is the original owner...  and in addition to this if a sprint device WAS unlocked by the original owner, it will RE-LOCK if you re-activate it on sprint.

I bought a used essential phone off ebay.  Clean esn as far as I could tell at the time of purchase.  I activated it on sprint via byod.  Then I did a request to uicc unlocked, and I gave my account info.... however they said it could not be done and to contact the previous owner.  I asked why it could not be unlocked and was told that they could not say why, but to contact the previous owner to request an unlock...

is this normal procedure by sprint?  I mean, i *DID* activate it on *MY* account, so from that point on I figured that *I* was the owner of the phone..  now I am not sure what to do or how to proceed 

1 hour ago, lilotimz said:

What area do you reside in that shows as unavailable now?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

do you want me to pm you the address? or just the zip code would suffice?

17 hours ago, bucdenny said:

Called in 2 days ago and gotten my MB today.

you called or someone called you?  I'm trying to figure out the status of my order i put in a few months ago.

ok, this is strange. i went to the magic box landing page, and re-filled the address to see if i was available to get one. it came back negative! and there was a button you could click as to why, but all it did was lead back to the original page

so this is very confusing to me b/c months ago i was able to sign up for one at the same address... but i wonder now if this means my request was cancelled for some reason.  As far as I know, my order status has always been unknown to me (never got a declined or cancelled message from them)

back in july i requested one of these.  at the time i got an email with " Please visit sprint.com/magicboxupdates for the latest status on Magic Box eligibility and shipments. "   but when i click on the link it just has some generic info about the magic box.  is there some way to check the request status online? 

23 hours ago, SprintNYC said:

Sprint 2.5ghz-2.6ghz spectrum is worth a premium, and Son is making the mistake of thinking about selling for a below market value. 

I want to start off by saying I really don't know much about this stuff... but other than Sprint customers, what exactly would tmobile get from this merger?

Is that high band sprint spectrum really desirable? for example say they merge with Dish instead... tmobile could double their midband and add 22mhz more to their low band (vs just 14 with sprint).

I'm just not sure about being saddled with tens of billions in debt via sprint would be worth it. sprint coverage is almost the same as tmobile so merging with Sprint would not expand their coverage very much vs what it is now... 

 and if they would have to divest some of their spectrum, then add the cost of converting all those sprint towers and replacing people's phones.. seems like it would be a lot more cost effective to go after dish (unless tmobile was mostly interested in gaining sprint's customer base).

I also think if sprint and tmobile merge it might force verizon's hand and they go after Dish. Then again it seems that nobody likes dealing with Charlie...

That may be a nod to the 803s reception I suppose. I did not get the best reception either, stock. What is signal like on a handset? Are you line of sight from your macro? It seems this thing just has rough stock antennae.

 

I ran two separate antennae, one to each input over about 50 feet of LMR 400. The antennas have about a -10dBm gain. I stand at about -102 rsrp on average. Pings are about 60ms, I get 5 down during the day, up to 12 at night. 2 up 24/7. I ordered some cheap amps from Hong Kong to tinker with, it is passive now and does ok. This was the only A/C option so I had to go with it for fail over.

unfortunately I won't be back to the other location for a while, so I'm unable to check for another week or so. In the meantime I was trying to locate the sprint towers in the area. I'm 99% positive they're south of the location (probably at least a couple miles and with lots of trees between it). I can't seem to find a site that can tell me the locations of the cell towers though. I tried rootmetrics, opensignal, sensorly, cellreception, antennasearch etc.  The best result I had was with antennasearch, but all the towers in the surrounding area had "tower not registered" messages, so they could be anything..

I built an antenna system in my attic that I attached to this puppy. It is very functional if able to get a decent signal. I live in semi rural South Carolina, which has a fairly bare network. I have comparable pings and throughput to having an 'outdoors' signal.

 

I have a pretty rough site local to me. It is single band LTE, and evdo is no better than before NV. I just had to get creative against adverse signal fade conditions; coming from a single input site, a light forest in between us, and what I suspect is sector overlap. Sorry it is not working out for you.

 

I was hoping a predecessor or refresh would come along that had improvements. It does have some faults. Try band selection and make sure to use the debug screen to read signal levels. I did this from a mobile device while tuning the antennas I built. It is much more accurate then signal bars. Hope this helps.

this is the thing though, the 803s only has internal antennas, the 6100d has 2 external (although I think only one is used for cell reception). In theory it *should* get a stronger signal compared to the old 803s... but it doesn't. In fact, it can't get any signal. Both were set to LTE only, and I placed the 6100D in the same location as the 803s... well as close as I could, since the 6100d is so massive compared to the 803s.  I'm at a loss how or why the 6100D can't get -any- connection at all. I even unscrewed the plastic enclosure and looked inside to make sure the antenna wires were connected (which they were).

months later and happyguy still isn't very happy with this thing. here is the most recent development

location 1: I have a very old 803s device up and running

location 2: 6100d up and running (albeit slowly for a supposed sprint spark device)

yesterday I decide to move the 6100d to the 803s location... no service. In the router settings the status shows: "Data disconnected." Pressing "Connect" does nothing.

took the 6100d back to original location and it works.

  conclusion: this thing is just a piece of junk

it was chameleon I was thinking of

I came across something a while back but forgot what it was called. There was something about this on the sprint website, but can't seem to find it anymore.

I guess it is for small, independent cell companies that want to use the sprint network and phones, but want them to be unbranded.

 Sorry this is so vague, but I don't remember specifics

It wasn't "Custom Branded Device Program" it had a catchier name, like grasshopper, but not sure.

.

I mentioned neverstop in another forum and immediately started getting flack. For example comments were made that it could not possibly be unlimited and was only a matter of time before they started to throttle people @ 128kbs after an arbritray amount of high speed data was used. I wrote to karma asking, and they said it would never be throttled, but then i asked what if a person used 30gb a month, and haven't gotten a reply back on that question.

 on a side note, does karma only use sprint native coverage? I'm assuining yes, but want to make sure

hi all, i came across some info on ting's website.  under the heading "Ting CDMA SIM Cards and Compatible Devices" it lists quite a few sprint devices and what sims they can use https://help.ting.com/hc/en-us/articles/205428218-Finding-Your-SIM-Card

you have to scroll down the page a bit

Just so everyone knows, now that I no longer work for the company, I don't have access to direct info about new phone releases and the compatible cards anymore. Unless another employee is willing to forward me this information going forward, the updates to the list will be more sparse, and I'm going to have to rely on user reported updates.

 

So... if there's anyone that does work for Sprint that knows how to access CEBU and get me the info to update the PRL and UICC/SIM Compatibility charts, it would be much appreciated. 

 

The Compatibility matrix is already out of date, but I can't find any direct information publicly on the compatibility like I had access to before, to be able to update it properly.

thanks for your efforts.  hopefully someone can come in and fill in the new devices, b/c this info is very useful.  this chart was a lifesaver in helping me figure out what sim i needed for a kyocera phone.

Are you asking about 25, 26 and 41?  Parts only?  CA?  The question is quite broad?

full spark compatibility.  sorry, not really savvy enough to know what those other options are

not sure where to ask this b/c it isn't device specific.

but i am trying to get a list of older sprint devices that are compatible and support sprint spark.

so far I have found

Galaxy S4 Mini

Samsung Galaxy S3 (SPH-L710T)

Samsung Galaxy S4 (SPH-L720T)

nexus 5
htc one max
samsung galaxy mega
 

but there are probably more than that.

I've tried searching online, and can't really find a comprensive list anywhere.

Sprint is most likely using the fact that SIM cards cannot be swapped between devices now as a means to protect it from hotspot unlimited abuse.  Sprint is preventing hot swapping SIMs and requiring that the MEID be registered on their network to a specific device and that device be linked to a specific plan.

 

There is probably another way Sprint could stop smartphone plan SIM's from being inserted and used in a hotspot, but the system Sprint is using now does prevent this problem from occurring.  I wouldn't expect this to change any time soon.  Unless, perhaps, if unlimited is done away with.  With allowing iPhones to do it, limits the issue to just iPhones.  And Apple doesn't do hotspots.

 

Robert

what would happen if i bought a phone off ebay and it did not come with a sim card?  if the phone is locked to a specific sim, then wouldn't that basically make most used phones paperweights?   on a related note, i bought a sprint phone off ebay and surprise, it didn't come with a sim card.  So its kind of getting me worried i wont be able to use it at all.  I'm having a devil of a time getting a SIMGLT207R sim.  i've tried a few hours running in circles with no luck.  if anyone can give me some tips, please send me a pm.   thanks

anyone happen to know if i could use a SIMGLW206R sim card with this phone?

or do i absolutely have to get a SIMGLT207R sim card?

edit: looks like from this topic http://s4gru.com/index.php?/topic/5005-sprint-cant-get-me-a-sim-card/   that the SIMGLW206R  isn't compatible 

well that complicates things a little.