Need Help with Metro PCS phone

[Betty30]

Hello,
I activated a metro pcs phone in California and then moved to New York city six months later. For some reason my phone works in New York City and Florida but NOT in Philadelphia.
Can anyone give me any advice on how to unlock the phone so that it works in Philly? Metro PCS has a HUGE network in New York and Philadelphia so my phone should work there.
Apparently I had to dial some sort of code BEFORE I left California in order for it to work out here and of course they don't tell you that.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

[Mobile Mike]

Originally Posted by Betty30

Hello,
I activated a metro pcs phone in California and then moved to New York city six months later. For some reason my phone works in New York City and Florida but NOT in Philadelphia.
Can anyone give me any advice on how to unlock the phone so that it works in Philly? Metro PCS has a HUGE network in New York and Philadelphia so my phone should work there.
Apparently I had to dial some sort of code BEFORE I left California in order for it to work out here and of course they don't tell you that.

Can anyone help?

Thanks!

Unlocking the phone won't make any difference. Have you contacted Metro about the Philadelphia problem? Is there a code to enter once you are in the Philadelphia market?

CDMA phones (of which MetroPCS uses) don't function any better if unlocked. IF the phone is "locked", it just means you can't use it with any other CDMA carrier (like Verizon, Sprint, Cricket, etc.). "Unlocking" per se, won't have any affect on service availability. If it's not working where it should, then there's another issue at work here.

EDIT: Though I'm not sure if this is the real issue or not, BUT it's possible the frequency Metro uses in New York and Los Angeles is different that Philadelphia. Metro utilizes the 1900mhz PCS band and the 1700mhz AWS (Advanced Wireless Spectrum) band. I don't know if one or both are used in Philly and New York, but if you have an older phone that is missing the 1700mhz band on it, this could be the possible issue. Without access to the available frequency band, the phone simply will not get service.

What phone do you have?

[hank424]

Hey Betty,

This should fix the problem you are having.
First you have to be in a MetroPCS service area like New York or Philadelphia.

From your phone dial
*228 (you'll hear the operator give you some options) press option 2. This should update your phone to the latest roaming list. Then phone should then reset.



If you have any problems please post and let us know if the problem is solved.

[elmo01]

sounds like a roaming thing... call MetroPCS