[Fascinate General] jimilives:
Updated Guide with some clarification of steps.

Gentlemen,

I went through the process tonight and everything worked great but I found some confusing parts in the process for a dummy like me so I added some clarification to the process to be a bit more literal for the slower folks in the crowd out there, like myself. Hope it helps.

*** UPDATED GUIDE - 12/21/12 ***

1. First buy a Straight Talk from Walmart.com or straightalk.com. Get the LG220C (Refurbished if needed, it will be a clean phone and works all the same). (Its $45 with one month unlimited everything with free shipping.)

2. ** DO NOT ACTIVATE IT. DON'T EVEN TURN IT ON. THAT'S WHERE THINGS GET MESSED UP OVER THE NETWORK. IF YOU HAVE ACTIVATED IT ALREADY THEN YOU MIGHT HAVE TO GET ANOTHER ONE. THIS IS ONE OF THE ONLY THINGS I DID DIFFERENT AND NOW EVERYTHING WORKS ON MY FASCINATE. **

3.Download the drivers for the Samsung Fascinate SCH-I500 making sure you get 32 bit or 64 bit which ever machine have it installed.

4.Download DFS (as of this posting 4.0.2.0 is the most current). YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY THEIR PRODUCT, EVEN THOUGH IT SEEMS LIKE YOU DO. Just make an account (using the software) and login.

5.*** THE PHONE MUST BE STOCK VERIZON !!!! *** NO, CUSTOM IMAGES!!! I used EH03 Stock Build. You need to put the phone in Debugging Mode & Allow Unknown Sources.

6. Dial **87284 put both options (UART & USB) in modem mode.

6a. Then dial **33284 and enter 000000 in the block for SPC. SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM AND FIND "Dial-UP Networking". Select ON. Backup one screen and select "Port Map" Set it to hkf & diag. It was already enabled on my phone.

7.Then plug the phone in to your PC. It should tell you its found new hardware and ask for drivers

8. Run DFS. MAKE SURE THE RIGHT PORT IS SELECTED FOR YOUR DEVICE. CLICK ON THE TOP LEFT BUTTON CALLED "Ports". DOUBLE CLICK YOUR DEVICE. It will be the one that says "Samsung Diagnostic Modem"... or something equivalent. Diagnostic being the key word. You know you are connected to the phone properly when all the information on the main screen fills in with YELLOW text and tells you everything you may (or may not) have wanted to know about the phone.

9. Go back to the Main DFS Screen.

10. You will need the password to unlock the SCH-I500: 2010031619780721.

11.IN THE SPC THE NUMBERS, it should already have 000000 IN IT. CLICK ON THE RUN BUTTON to the Left of the SPC number. In the "Logging Window" that floats to the side, IT SHOULD SAY "Device Unlocked". THEN enter the 16 digit code in the PWD block at the top of DFS program. Click run to the left of the PWD Numbers and it should say "Device Unlocked" again.

12. IN THE VERSION I'M USING, YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON THE PROGRAMMING TAB TO BRING UP THE MEID OPTIONS. ITS IN THE CENTER COLUMN HALF WAY DOWN. Click the "read" button next to the ESN information. Write it down just in case want put back.

13.Then enter the 20 digit MEID number that's on your straight talk green card (and also on your phone) in the MEID DEC box, (

NOT the HEX

).

14.Hit "Write". It will do it real quick.

15.Then hit reset on the DFS main screen. [TOP RIGHT CORNER]

16. At this point, the phone will come back & be basically brand-new. You have to select your language and then you will only have the "Emergency" & "Activate" buttons. You DO NOT want to ACTIVATE. It will attempt to call Verizon and not do you any good. Instead, PUT THE PHONE DOWN and go to the Straight Talk Website. "Activate" the new MEID that you just programmed into the Fascinate and that was provided to you on the phone and GREEN card. The Straight Talk website will also ask you for the "Service PIN", this is the $45 for Phone / Data you paid for. *** SPECIAL NOTE: You have the option of "porting" a phone number over from another Carrier as you are activating the LG220 MEID. i.e. Verizon. You HAVE to know your full account number, password, last 4 digits of SSN, and billing address of your VERIZON account. IF you choose to port your number over, it says it can take 2 business days; mine took 15 minutes, your results may vary. Once that is all done, the Straight Talk MEID is activated and your newly programmed Fascinate will be ready to come to life (soon). Straight Talk will show the phone as the LG220 you bought, but you took that MEID from the LG220 and put it into the brains of your Fascinate (that's what DFS does).

16a. Pick your phone back up and at the screen with the 2 buttons for "Emergency" and "Activate", press Emergency and Dial *#83786633. A message will pop up that says "Soft Keys enabled". This will allow you to hit the HOME button and get to the normal desktop and give you access to the Phone Dialer. Thereby, avoiding the "Verizon" Activate button that you would've otherwise been forced to use. Use the Phone Dialer to dial *22890, this is Straight Talks number to Program the phone. **NOTE ** If you ported another number over from your old Carrier (i.e. Verizon), This number "may" not answer right away or not work. I "think" the porting has to be complete before it can program you. If you did not Port your number over, then you should be good to go right away.

17. Once that gets done, use the phone dialer again and dial *22891 to update roaming. Once that Completes, make a test call.

18. Once again, DIAL **33284, and UN-SELECT DIAL UP MODE FROM THE BOTTOM. THAT WILL ENABLE DATA.

19. Everything should be live: Phone, Data, Texting. You should have 3g, not 1x or anything like that.

20. At this point, you should be able to put any Custom ROM back on the phone that you want. Welcome to Straight Talk.