Sp5 Unlocked?

[Steve]

My bottom line question is: Are folks able to use the Sp5 with Verizon as their carrier? This probably seems like a stupid question, because everyone knows that the Sp5 is unlocked. However, today I happened to read an item posted by enichols at MGN Forums on December 21, 2005 (see this quote after my next paragraph).

Im not a loyal fan of Verizon, but people are saying that the cellphone reception for Cingular in my area is terrible, (It seems that many folks with the Sp5 use Cingular)and Verizon did work for me in the past. There were some suggested fixes by later forum users, but these seemed fairly technical and maybe 'iffy' to me.

Here is most of the quote that I found at MGN Forums: :?

Ok...so I just got this SP5, so far, I'm really impressed with the reception. I had an unlocked MPx220 on Cingular, and in areas where I had barely a signal, I now have 4 bars and crystal clear sound with the SP5...fantastic!!

But the purpose of this post is whether this phone is locked by the manufactuer or are there security layers in Windows Mobile 5.0 that preventing certain modifications or programs from running? Here's why...

When using Tweaks2K2.net version 1.70, when you select a hack, such as animate menus, the Tweaks2K2 software pops up a screen saying the "Device is locked, contact your provider...it's your right" The Tweaks2K2 writer responded with this:

1-There are at least 3 security levels in a phone. My programs check for what is called "Application lock" no about "SIM Lock". If my program says that the phone is locked that means that my program could not gain access to all keys in your registry. That means that some tricks wont be applied for that reason.
2-Tweaks2k2 is not designed for QVGA phones... I'll work in a verion for QVGA phone that should be released early next year.

Same thing happened with a small little program (TinyGPS) that has never worked for me, but I figured, what the ^*&&...it also popped up a page saying the phone was locked and to contact the GSM Provider.

So I contacted the I-Mate online tech support people (which as a side note, I haven't been too impressed with...esp when paying what I paid for this phone...but that's another issue) and I-Mate Tech support said their phone was not "Locked" that it was a WM 5.0 issue.

So that's you come in...can someone out there, that is smarter than me please tell me what is going on with my I-Mate SP5 that I bought online and am using on the Cingular Network?

And by the way...for those who are wondering...it is a really cool phone!!!

[Mike Temporale]

My bottom line question is: Are folks able to use the Sp5 with Verizon as their carrier? This probably seems like a stupid question, because everyone knows that the Sp5 is unlocked. However, today I happened to read an item posted by enichols at MGN Forums on December 21, 2005 (see this quote after my next paragraph).

No, it won't work. Verizon is CDMA based and the SP5(m) is GPRS. There is nothing you can do to get that phone working on Verizon.

Yes, there are different levels of security, but that has nothing to do with this. The locks in question are carrier related and not application related. All i-mate phones are not carrier locked. All phones have a level of application lock. i-mate typically has a low level of lock for applications, where as the nextel phone has a high application lock.

However, like I already said, none of this makes a difference. Verizon is on a different network, and there is nothing you can do to get this phone working on their network. :)