Has anyone bought a cell phone from eBay or another place and got service through ACS? I figure if you have a 800/1900 CDMA phone it should work or do they really program the phones just for the ACS network?

Winslow

Because of schools calling about sick kids I was finally forced by the wife to get a cell phone (which I'm totally opposed to...) :mad: and asked the ACS folks the same thing. You know what there answer was, of course--if it isn't through them or one of their affiliated kiosks (most run by radio shack, I guess) then it won't work because of what you mentioned.

If it matters, Sam's Club has a kiosk and has a LOT better prices than ACS themselves. The phone I got was $59.99 at ACS and $9.99 at Sams. I would guess Costco would have one too? Dunno.

Anyway, from the horses mouth, no, you can't do it that way--but I know people that say they did that, and just needed to put in a chip or something.

Costco has Cellular One, I believe.

I guess I should clearify, the one at Sam's is Cell One, ACS and...some third one I don't remember. :) They work all 3.

Alaska Digitel is the third. I did check Sam's and their prices are better.

I hate how they try to lock you into their phones and prices. I'll have to check with the other resellers to see what they can do.

Winslow

I guess I should clearify, the one at Sam's is Cell One, ACS and...some third one I don't remember. :) They work all 3.
their better huh? im about to jump on the ACS plan soon because they have a cheap unlimited text messaging plan.. BTW the razors are coming out soon for ACS however their has been a huge recall on razors... some kind of problem with the internal chip installed (or at least somewhere along those lines)

According to my friend you can get anyphone you want and then reprogram it for up here. They told him the same thing that he had to get his phone through them yada yada yada he got pissed and has a friend that's into comps. He and his buds got 3 phones off ebay and reporgrammed all of them. He told me it was pretty simple so if you decide to go that route let me know and I'll look into what you need. He said it was all off home computer and the programs didn't cost squat. Hope this helps!

According to my friend you can get anyphone you want and then reprogram it for up here. They told him the same thing that he had to get his phone through them yada yada yada he got pissed and has a friend that's into comps. He and his buds got 3 phones off ebay and reporgrammed all of them. He told me it was pretty simple so if you decide to go that route let me know and I'll look into what you need. He said it was all off home computer and the programs didn't cost squat. Hope this helps!
all i know is ACS has good plans but their prices for their phones are tramendous... so im trying to figure out if i can purchase a phone somewhere else in anchorage and save some money.. because im with Cell1 right now.. and have unlimited talk but only 300 text messages a month... and im still on the TDM plan because i got it before AT&T left and its cheaper than Cell1's current plan..however ACS has a plan just as good if not better with unlimited talk and unlimited text message plan.. so im probably gunna hope over their..

-Also for the people who do have ACS ..how do you like your service? Are they any good?

all i know is ACS has good plans but their prices for their phones are tramendous... so im trying to figure out if i can purchase a phone somewhere else in anchorage and save some money.. because im with Cell1 right now.. and have unlimited talk but only 300 text messages a month... and im still on the TDM plan because i got it before AT&T left and its cheaper than Cell1's current plan..however ACS has a plan just as good if not better with unlimited talk and unlimited text message plan.. so im probably gunna hope over their..

-Also for the people who do have ACS ..how do you like your service? Are they any good?


I go through ACS right now and I love them. I don't get dropped calls and I have alot of coverage. I think my phone is acting up cause it likes to stay connected to the tower it finds when I turn it on sooooo when I get too far away it takes forever to dial, but if I turn it off then on I have no problem. I know the people at ACS on 15th if you are wanting any deals.

I go through ACS right now and I love them. I don't get dropped calls and I have alot of coverage. I think my phone is acting up cause it likes to stay connected to the tower it finds when I turn it on sooooo when I get too far away it takes forever to dial, but if I turn it off then on I have no problem. I know the people at ACS on 15th if you are wanting any deals.
yeah my mom is wanting me and her cell phone to change..so if you could help me out than that would be great..pm me

What kind of deals can they get?

Winslow

idk if it works for for acs but i know with cell one... you can get most gsm phones from ebay and have it work up here BUT it has to be an unlocked phone meaning its not already programed for a certain company ie cell one,cingular, blah blah
thats what im gonna be doing =)
the phones up here suck haha

bleh. i hate ACS wireless... fewer dropped calls? whatever! i have anywhere from 2-5 dropped calls DAILY! and voicemails?? maybe they'll show up on my phone after a day or two! there was a reason i dropped them after only 5 months when i had my personal phone through them. now i'm stuck with my work phone going thru ACS until we can get those transferred to another service hopefully soon!

bleh. i hate ACS wireless... fewer dropped calls? whatever! i have anywhere from 2-5 dropped calls DAILY! and voicemails?? maybe they'll show up on my phone after a day or two! there was a reason i dropped them after only 5 months when i had my personal phone through them. now i'm stuck with my work phone going thru ACS until we can get those transferred to another service hopefully soon!
wow is it really that bad? see not many teens have ACS anymore at Dimond many have Cell1 ... so if they are bad i wouldnt want to really go to ACS if im going to have fequent dropped calls or late voicemails.. i have to be in contact with the family and especially the girlfriend otherwise they may get mad...mom will probably think im like out of town which she hates me doing and than complain and yell :lol: nice thing is though school is almost done so definatly gunna be having some fun this summer..

bleh. i hate ACS wireless... fewer dropped calls? whatever! i have anywhere from 2-5 dropped calls DAILY! and voicemails?? maybe they'll show up on my phone after a day or two! there was a reason i dropped them after only 5 months when i had my personal phone through them. now i'm stuck with my work phone going thru ACS until we can get those transferred to another service hopefully soon!


With me yeah lol I had Alaskadigitel and they just plane........sucked, then had cell1 and the screwed me on my bill and the service was okay nothing craptacular though. The argued with me on my bill and tried to just give to me as credit when it was well over a thousand lol riiiiiiiiiiight, Made them go down like an altar boy and switched over to ACS and with everyone in town I've had the best luck with them. I have had the voicemail thing you speak of though happen a couple of times and it's well...........rather annoying but besides that it's been great.

unfortunately, up here, there is no great cell phone co. :( we're kinda screwed that way. so it's what works the best for you i suppose. i travel too much and since phil's from canada, we need to have that covered too. cellone is the only choice for that. plus, what i pay for both our phones including canada roaming, nights/weekends, text messaging, nat'l roaming, etc is LESS than i was paying for ACS and having only ONE phone! :(

unfortunately, up here, there is no great cell phone co. :( we're kinda screwed that way. so it's what works the best for you i suppose. i travel too much and since phil's from canada, we need to have that covered too. cellone is the only choice for that. plus, what i pay for both our phones including canada roaming, nights/weekends, text messaging, nat'l roaming, etc is LESS than i was paying for ACS and having only ONE phone! :(
now ACS's unlimited plan and unlimited texts surpases Cellular one... for $5 you get unlimited texting ..and for $5 from cell1 you only get 300..

The wife has had ACS for awhile--the 2 day late voicemails sound familiar... It would show that she had a missed call, but not tell her there was a message for days. If it matters, they also have free "mobile to home" and vice-versa if you have ACS home phone coverage--no minutes garnered for calling to or from home on the cell. Although, we have had an issue or two where we try to pay the home phone bill, and it goes towards the cell phone instead and vice-versa (we were auto-billing out of two bank accounts). We fixed that by using one account and switching the cycle to the same day, so it's moot which one gets paid first as it's now simultaneous.

As for me, I've had perfect service--no dropped calls at all! That's right, neither of the two calls I've ever had on that phone were dropped. Hey, it's all relative, right? :)