Is a PRL 100% Necessary?

[mrlucky]

Calling all gurus and experts!: Let's say I have a Virgin mobile phone. I call Cricket and give them the phone's ESN nuraber. Can I now activate via Over-The-Air Service Programming without loading a Cricket PRL first?

 

[Confused44]

yes you can..... sometimes you need to put MIN and MDN also but it always works for me when i dont got the usb

 

[Friz79]

Yes you can but you need to know the *228XX code for your area to force your phone to look for cricket.

I've done it several times, but it's usually more simple and foolproof to just load the PRL...

 

[rainy days are back]

Yeah you can, but you need to unlock the SPC first or fully manually program it and then it will OTAP.

 

[imported_Big_Al]

not all areas are capable. some are, but you will need to unlock your spc first and load a valid cricket min and mdn also for OTASP to work.

 

[João da Silva]

DepenRAB. The MSl neeRAB to be setup right first. Then its just the *228XX code. In my area that doesn't work. So I always have to load a PRL.

Plus on Sprint phones, with Sprint PRL's, *228XX doesn't work. That includes Virgin Mobile.

*228XX Only works on VZW phones as far as I know.

 

[Out of Kool-Aid?]

TechGuy
*228XX will not work on sprint phones that are not SPC Unlocked... If the spc is still the original SPC *228xx will still go to sprint

Reset the MSL to 000000 and then *228xx the phone and it will go to cricket..

 

[tigris22325]

Yelp what everyone else has repeated.

Same answer!

 

[Erin K]

Mine all go to Sprint Customer solutions if they have a Sprint PRL. Even with a changed MSL. The whole idea of the *228XX is to bypass loading a PRL, and force the phone to do so. These phones won't look for the next cell block, its Sprints network intercepting the call and routing it to *2.

 

[flower~]

Should we put together a list of *228XX codes around the country and put it in the FAQ?

 

[!-SaRaH-!]

Yes please this would be most helpful

 

[4263]

Absolutely.

I've had people PM or IM me at least 20 times needing that info.. There's an old thread with a link to figuring out the xx code, but I can't find it anymore...

 

[TERI Sexton]

Ok, i bought a treo 600 on mistyelectronics.com and it was supposed to work with messaging cause it was switched from sprint. but, when i recieve a text, it shows up blank for people that dont have the cricket service. anyone know the codes to help me reprogram it to work?

 

[Maria_2244]

This much i know:
*22800 - cellular A block - In Phx is Alltel
*22801 - cellular B block - In Phx is Verizon
*22802 - PCS A block - In Phx is Nothing
*22803 - PCS B block - In Phx is Sprint
*22804 - PCS C block - In Phx is cricKet
*22805 - PCS D block - In Phx is Nothing
*22806 - PCS E block - In Phx is Nothing
*22807 - PCS F block - In Phx is Nothing

The blocks that do nothing are either the banRAB that at&t and T-Mobile use for GSM service or are unused. There are more activation nurabers (*22880 thru *22899). Many seem to mimic the *2280x codes and I have read of Verizon users trying *22899 to repair data services. The above list I just tried on my phone and it does jive with the banRAB each carrier uses in Phoenix.