I don’t mean to be harsh or demeaning but I have provided all the necessary information. Apparently no one who has so far read this has any idea of what information the IMEI is key to that is relevant to the question at hand. People are asking for information that is not relevant, that will simply cloud the issue further.
I will try to express it a little differently.
The carrier announced their new, improved network for 5G, accommodating both 4G and 5G, at a new, lower service price. Being that the cost is significantly less, I asked to be put on the new network plan. I was told,
“Great, let me check your phone compatibility. I need the IMEI.”
Notice this is not what brand, what model, or any other piece of information by which phones are sold. The answer came back, my phone, which they have been servicing for some time, is not compatible with the new system. The service person could not explain anything further about it but the implication is that a different physical phone of the same brand and model might work
Recently I was notified that I must upgrade soon. My service could be discontinued at any moment.
The carrier sells quite a few NEW phones. ALL are guaranteed to work on the new network. I have only a few personal requirements, one of which is cost since I am on a strictly limited fixed income. They sell a phone that meets all my requirements (for more than I would like to pay but within possibilities). When I tried to buy it:
out of stock, can’t say when it will be available. Can’t say how long my current phone will continue working.
I find that a few major retailers claim to have the phone in stock at near or exactly the same price.
The manufacturer and the model are the same as what the service provider sells. Nothing in the advertising or the specifications in any way suggests it might only work for some carriers (except the fact that it is manufactured only for GSM) The service provider says maybe one purchased from somewhere else will work, maybe it won’t. Only its IMEI can tell.
The obvious problem is that to get the IMEI I must first have the phone, i.e. I must first buy it. This seems irrational to me. Certainly I have no problem with the fact that there are hardware differences but I have great difficulty with the idea that compatibility differences, if they exist, would not be even vaguely suggested by the manufacturer or major retailers. It rather sound like the service provider is relying on something like random mutations that occur during manufacturing but get encoded in the IMEI number.
The question was, is this a real thing? It has no relevance to what carrier or what manufacturer, what model, or what specifications. It stands alone. Can I get stuck with a phone that is seemingly identical, by all information available to me, to those sold by the carrier, but will turn out to be a useless piece of junk?
