yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Alanmw86:
Every single ESN is in sprints database from the beginning of time, notkidding, try and activate a 15 year old phone (ive done it) pulls up model of phone and not only that but history of phone accounts its been on, service thats been performed on the phone previously, if its been reported, lost, stolen, flagged as liquid damage.

Absolutely everything is there and will pull up in accordance to the ESN related t the device.

The absolute only way to do it would be to clone the ESN onto an EVO of a different model and activate it over the phone (in which case some services on your phone may not work properly) but should as long as you select an appropriate device to clone.

Now on to how to clone an ESN...... NO IDEA!! lol sorry, I've never seen it done or come across a situation where it was done, I have however heard of it being done, but its not easy and your going to have to do it yourself, so if your not a programmer, you best take some schooling or give up on the idea (afik)

sprint is cheaper and you get more for your money than any other provider per value and the only major carrier cheaper afik is T-mobile or small company's, time to get over it boys and girls, its 10$ it goes to a good cause, you eat up a crapload of bandwidth and it costs alot of money to expand the network (you want good service right?) if not just goto ATT :-)

oh and it always gives you additional service, it just depends if your in 4g coverage or not, if you go there its available to you, !! I do agree that they should have an option to disable 4G and then you dont have to pay for it.

but thats just not the situation.

Should my monthly bill be cheaper because my house is in a roaming area and I don't get 3G? why isn't my bill cheaper than yours because you getz da 3g's!?!

Stop being so simple minded, seriously, the service is available to you on the network, just not where you live.

It is what it is, and until they make it so you can disable 4g and not get charged there's nothing thats going to change this situation, your still paying less than verizon and ATT
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] barnacles10:
You're question has been answered. Yes it is bs that I pay an extra 10 for nothing. That 10 is a 4g charge by the way. Don't know why no one mentioned that. But I don't even get 4g in my town. None the less, Sprint still has the cheapest plans for what you get. Trust me I have checked. With my unlimited everything 450 minutes and 4g I can get out the door at 80. Compare that to atts 100. But as was said, cloaning an esn would not be legal and I'm not sure that road of discusssion should be taken. Its a buzz kill that you'd have to upgrade your plan. But you have the choice.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Visionikz03:
i agree that $10 is $10... what r u honestly gonna do with that extra $10 a month... It wont go very far elsewhere... If ur that worried about money maybe u should switch to Metro or prepaid. Why not use that $10 to enhance ur mobile phone experience? As long as u know the ramifications of cloning esns and that it's a serious FEDERAL crime nd not some silly civil misdemeanor and that there is not a one click method to do it like rooting a phone then have at it but also beware that some services may not work. And yes compare ATT and or Verizon and see how much better of a deal ur getting with sprint even with the $10 4g surcharge... if u don't want to pay it then switch to TMo and buy the nexus one... it's just as good as the EVO without the 4g surcharge...
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Alanmw86:
im not 100% certain how illegal it is to clone an ESN, so long as the the ESN you are cloning is your own.

but im certain its something thats not worth your time either way.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dallashigh:
BTW there is as of October 1 a new plan called SERO Premium which will work with the newer phones such as Android phones and Palm Pre. The rate plan is $40 so the EVO would be $50 including the extra fee. Not quite the $30 you're currently paying, but it is cheaper than EPRP and includes Any Mobile, Anytime.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fachadick:
Don't go that route. Definitely illegal, even if its your own esn. As per the fcc;

Fraud

Cellular fraud is defined as the unauthorized use, tampering, or manipulation of a cellular phone or service. Cellular industry estimates indicate that carriers lose millions per year to cellular fraud, with the principal cause being subscription fraud. Subscriber fraud occurs when a subscriber signs up for service with fraudulently obtained customer information or false identification.

In the past, cloning of cellular phones was a major concern. A cloned cellular telephone is one that has been reprogrammed to transmit the electronic serial number (ESN) and telephone number (MIN) belonging to another (legitimate) cellular telephone. Unscrupulous persons obtain valid ESN/MIN combinations by illegally monitoring the transmissions from the cellular telephones of legitimate subscribers. Each cellular telephone is supposed to have a unique factory-set ESN. After cloning, however, because both cellular telephones have the same ESN/MIN combination, cellular systems cannot distinguish the cloned cellular telephone from the legitimate one.

The Commission considers any knowing use of cellular telephone with an altered ESN to be a violation of the Communications Act (Section 301) and alteration of the ESN in a cellular telephone to be assisting in such violation. The Wireless Telephone Protection Act (Public Law 105-172) was signed into law on April 24, 1998, expanding the prior law to criminalize the use, possession, manufacture or sale of cloning hardware or software. The cellular equipment manufacturing industry has deployed authentication systems that have proven to be a very effective countermeasure to cloning. Authentication supplements the use of the ESN and MIN with a changing encrypted code that can not be obtained by off-the-air monitoring.

And the $10 fee has nothing to do with 4g - its a front facing camera fee. Every new Sprint phone with a front facing camera will have that fee.

Sent from my blah blah blah blah
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] backdown:
Here's an idea. If you do not like paying the cost of the service, do not get the cell phone that requires that. Get something else. That's the luxury you get for having such a great phone.

Also, this should be locked. Anyone that wants to do an illegal activity should just be smacked. The cloning, or manipulation of an esn is a federal offense. 10$ a month/different cell phone > 5 years in jail.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] HeloHero:
Yea, I'm on SERO too. I'm going tomorrow to get an EVO, not bad for $50/month.

H T T P: //delivery.sprint.com/m/p/nxt/epc/EPRP2-modal.asp
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
is this plan going to be available on their website or do i need to jump through some secret hoops to get it? Or it is just an upgrade option for anyone currently on the old sero plan? thanks for telling me about that

And to everyone else commenting about the $10 fee being for 4g or a front facing camera - bull. If it's for the camera, what happens when i stop paying the $10 fee? does the camera stop working? I can go on ebay and buy a phone without contract, and still have to pay $10 a month for something i already bought?

As for 4g - according to sprint they said they aren't going to charge anyone extra for 4g. Plus i don't live in a 4g area.

The $10 extra charge is just $10 extra - you don't get anything for it. It may just be $10, but i don't like people taking my money in exchange for nothing. That's called being a sucker in my opinion. Sprint just figures if you are willing to buy the most expensive phones they offer, they can milk you for an extra $10 a month.

I'll see if i can google anything about cloning the esn although i suspect it would require me to mess with the phone hardware, and unless it's as easy as swapping the battery, i probably wont do it.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fachadick:
They can't turn off the front camera or make it stop working, that's why the fee is required for for every new Sprint device that has one.

I do find it interesting though, that you're so principled that you would be willing to go on record stating that if its not too much of a hassle, you have no problem committing a federal offence, rather than pay a cell phone charge you don't agree with. Good luck with that.

Sent from my blah blah blah blah
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
If they were giving me the phone for free and said i had to pay an extra $10 a month for it, fine. but i'm not getting it for free. I'm buying and paying for the phone. If i own the phone, why should i have to pay an extra fee for the hardware that i own? You are essentially telling sprint 'yeah, go ahead and take my money in exchange for nothing'. Maybe you like getting ripped off, i don't know. If they are going to charge me $10 more a month, i want to know what i am getting for that extra $10. In this case, i am getting nothing.

As for illegal activity - you've never jaywalked? :)

I won't be asking for any further info in this thread about cloning.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
You do realize what you said makes no sense at all. I am paying for the hardware in the phone. I have to buy the phone. So why should i have to pay a $10 monthly fee for hardware i already own? Plus no where on the sprint website does it say the fee is for the camera.

As for committing a federal offense - breaking the law is not always the same as doing something wrong, at least in my opinion. Sprint is asking for $10 extra month in exchange for nothing. That might not be illegal, but it's wrong. Me wanting to clone my esn to keep my existing sprint service, using a new phone that's not going to be using the service any more or less then how i use it now might be illegal, but it's not wrong. I wouldn't be using their network any more or less then i use it now. At least that's my 2 cents on it.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] backdown:
Like i said, if you don't want to pay, don't play. What this means (Because obviously you do not know), is that if you want an awesome phone that can pretty much do anything, then get he Evo, and pay the extra 10 a month. If you do not want to pay the 10$ a month, get some other phone that is not this phone, nor the Epic.

Also, i never once stated that i have never done anything illegal. I speed everyday. But one thing i do not do is a federal crime. I have yet to commit one, and i do not plan on it.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
guess we just have different opinions. I don't think owning an awesome phone entitles someone to charge me extra money each month just to own the phone i already paid for.

As for committing a federal offense - i'd be more worried about it if i thought there was any real chance of something bad happening. That seems unlikely to me.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] backdown:
Log into your sprint account, and look at your current devices. If you can see what kind of phone you are currently running, then this thread is pointless.

However, if you don't have a sprint account, and you don't think they made it to where they can see your current phone, then something is wrong. Every carrier tracks the ESN in accordance to what the phone is.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
I do currently have a sprint account and the thread wasn't pointless. I found out about the sero upgrade option plus sprint might also have known what phone i have since i bought the phone directly from them.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] DirtyShroomz:
Then get a different phone

Sent from my Evo beeesshh
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] CTH-EVO:
It's easier than swapping a battery. In fact, the reason for creating the mutating/modulating encryption algorithm was more to prevent accidental "cloning", than to prevent intentional "cloning".

'niuf said.

--Chris
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fachadick:
I brought up the front facing camera to show why getting worked up over that $10 fee is pointless. It doesn't have to make sense because it's still true - going forward, every Sprint phone with a front facing camera will just happen be a phone that has the $10 fee attached to it. And it's a better reason than saying the fee is for 4g.

It's no different than when smartphones first came out, and the $10 unlimited data plan you had on your old dumbphone was no longer good enough - now you needed the special $30 PDA data plan. Yeah, it sucks - but fees for everything will always go up - why get worked up over their marketing on what that fee is supposed to be for? It's still cheaper then the other guys.

And, good move on dropping all of the cloning talk. The first rule when committing a federal offense is to not go on record about it first. But if you do break that rule, and you're reminded how illegal it is, the second rule is to not justify it and say you'll do it anyway as long as it's easy. :)

Serious question for you though - if the fee is all about sprint charging extra on their most expensive phones, why don't all of the phones with MSRP's of $450 and over have that charge? Why just the Evo and Epic, and not say, the BB bold, or touch pro 2?
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dianneeraser:
It's only TEN bucks...sheesh - still cheaper than anyother plan...
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] omegasun18:
some people will never learn about posting things in PUBLIC. The record of you trying to obtain information on how to complete a federal crime and you acknowledging you will do it if it isnt to hard is a very very dumb thing to put in public board.

Go look up all the sony crap going on where they are pulling information from forums and the information they have obtained form those forum posts. just because you dont have your real name as your user name doesnt make you anonymous. you have an ip address which CAN be traced to you. even if it is dynamic.

while you may think nothing will ever happen I cant believe you are dumb enough to actually post about it in a public place. that reminds me of the bank robber that called the newspaper to tell them they got there facts wrong. Please Please dont buy an EVO. yuo dont seem to get that you have an option here. it is your choice to buy the EVO. they arent forcing yu to do it. IF you buy an evo you are told about and accept the extra fee. right or wrong whether you think they should charge it or not that is the cost of the EVO. if you dont like it ... you dont have to buy it. committing a federal crime for 10$ a month has to be the dumbest thing i have heard.

just plain stupid that so many people seem to think they are safe to say what ever they want online.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bigmoogle:
I know you problems with the extra $10 but why don't you switch to the SERO Premium plan ($40)? Then even with the extra $10, you'll still be only paying a total of $50 a month for an Evo.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
It can't be that easy - otherwise why isn't everyone doing it and why isn't it just common knowledge? Still haven't bothered looking into it though so maybe i'm wrong.

Actually, i disagree with you there. Charging for 4g makes more sense. 4g is an additional service - something additional i would be getting that i am not getting now. The camera is something i've bought and own. So charging me $10 a month for something i already own makes no sense to me. It also just so happens that every 4g phone they have also has the $10 fee.

Well i think it would be harder for them to justify a new fee on phones they were already offering with the regular plans. They can't just suddenly come up with some marketing BS about the enhanced experience for a phone that didn't have an enhanced experience months ago.

I know about IP's etc etc I already said i wasn't going to bother doing it. And even if i was, i still don't think anything is going to happen. Even if i was going to do it, it's not like i was going to be stealing someone else's account. I would have been continuing to pay my sprint bill every month and would have continued using the service in the same way i am currently using it, using no more or no less data then i am now. I don't think that would have been high on their priority list.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
I might wind up doing that. I wasn't aware of the upgrade option for sero until yesterday. I thought i'd have no choice but to go on their regular plans.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] backdown:
Obvious sarcasm is obvious.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fachadick:
Because it's a federal crime?

The point is that the reasons for the fee don't matter. They can make up whatever reason they wan't - it wouldn't matter if they say the fee is for the front facing camera, access to the 4g network, access to half-price wifi tethering, or even the bigger screen. All of those points are true, and are only availble on two phones (right now). Instead of changing the price on all of their unlimited data plans to be $10 more (which would be unfair to anyone not owning a flagship phone - ie most of their customers) they decided on a "premium data fee" on just those two devices - which is no different in practice than the rate increase that occurred when people went from dumbphones to smartphones. And again, it's still cheaper then the other carriers

Say those two devices came out today - are you saying that the evo and epic have the same user experience than the BB Bold and Touch Pro2?
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] mlin:
Why do you find it necessary to ***** and complain about the $10 fee in every post? We get it, you don't agree with it and you don't want to pay it! Get over it.

EVO on Tapatalk
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
That doesn't seem to stop people from stealing movies and mp3's ... maybe because it's so easy to do?

Ok, this is the part of your reasoning i dont understand. Why would it be unfair to charge everyone? You just said they can make up any excuse they want for the $10 fee, so what difference does it make? If i buy the evo/epic or one of their other phones, i've still PAID for the hardware i am using. And i will still have the same network usage as if i keep my current phone.

You are saying it's ok for sprint to charge me $10 a month for nothing using any bs excuse they want. But it's not ok to charge people using other phones $10 month for nothing using a bs excuse.

I'm NOT arguing that sprint should charge everyone. I'm glad they don't. I just dont understand why you think it's ok for them to charge more money for in exchange for nothing.

i don't see how that is relevant. I am buying the phone aren't i? The user experience is coming from the phone that i will have paid for and own. That's part of the reason why the cost of the evo and epic is higher then the bold and tp2 (going by prices available online, not sprint's msrp). I've already paid for the user experience when i buy the phone. The only way your argument holds water is if I were in a 4g area. Then you could argue i'd be getting additional service i dont have now.

The only argument sprint could make which maybe comes close to justifying the fee is saying since the phone is so much nicer, i'll make more use of it and use more bandwidth. but even that argument doesn't really hold water because i already pay them for the bandwidth i use. If the $10 fee bought be additional bandwidth, then ok. But it doesn't. That fee literally gives me nothing I'm not already paying for. The hardware features on the phone i own. And it's not giving me faster bandwidth or more bandwidth. So i would be paying them an extra $10 a month for literally nothing.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] merkk:
probably for the same reason you felt like posting a reply complaining about my *****ing instead of just ignoring this thread :)

I'm just replying back to other posts. If you don't like it, just unsubscribe.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] fachadick:
First of all, thanks for not flying off the handle when presented with a perspective that you may not agree with. Two people can debate a topic without it devolving into a flaming mess. These threads usually end up going nowhere, bacause when presented with differing opinions, rather than address points, posters start insulting each other.

good point - but also remember where most people know about movie and music pirating, most people don't even know what esn cloning is or what it does. Also, I'm not sure that priating movies and music is a federal crime - I'm pretty sure it's a civil matter of copyright infingment.

Here's the marketing perspective, and why it makes sense for sprint to go this route. Sprint sees the Evo and Epic as flagship devices, with access to capabilities not available on current devices (which they do have - you may not use or need these extra capabilities, but they're there - wifi hotspot, 4g, bigger screen, etc). They could have priced these devices higher instead of the $10 fee, and in the past they have - when the touch pro2 came out, the damn thing was $350. And do you remember the instinct? Or the highnote? And no one bought them. They know that in order to stay competative, they're not able to charge over $199.99 for a phone, unless it's something really special (like having a slide out keyboard on what would normally be a $200 phone - also note that Sprint will most likely be getting a version of the epic without the slide out keyboard, and that one will most likely be priced the same as the evo). They also know that their bread and butter right now is the fact they have the cheapest plans. So what are their options? They can increase the cost of the hardware, at which point nobody will buy them, they can increase the cost of the plans across the board, which would alianate most of their current subscribers (who would then cancel) as well cost Sprint the only real differentiator that they have, or they can find a way to increase the cost of the plans just for the people who buy the flagship devices. Just like those old PDA data plans. Thios also means that they don't need to change any of the plans, marketing, software, or programs interal to sprint - it is after all, just a feature on the standard plan.

You say that you'll still have the same network usage as if you keep your current phone. Does your current phone support flash? Their reports have shown that people using the evo and epic do in fact use much more data than they did on their old phone, even if the old phone was a smartphone. You may be the exception, but how do they know that?
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] eggypadua:
My friend the EVO is not for you.
[EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] TeknoJnky:
this thread is full 'wwwaaaaahhhhhh'