Batboard

A friend of mine has a nextel i1000+ and a M370 both Motorola telephones, i1000 handheld & M370 Mobile trunk mount.

He has both phones programmed with the same telephone # on the same account, he said he had his M370 cloned to match his i1000+ so he can have the advantage of a 3 watt phone in his car and that there is no way for Nextel to know this as long as he doesn't use both phones at the same time thereby he isn't cheating nextel because both phones draw air time for which he pays for.

My question is, is this really possible to do without Nextel finding out and is it easy to do?

Mike

Interesting question, I would say it depends on the Security of Nextel? With mine, I have a ESN DEC. number. which is proprietary to each phone.. So after a month, of using two phones, that I am paying for! (not using them at the same time of course) I was asked by my cell company. to pick one phone only! I suppose it flags there system? just my 2-cents...Ed

It wasn't that long ago that I rememebr that cell phone companies were getting burned by people selling and racking up major air time with cloned phones, I wonder if after getting burned so many times the cell phone companies figured out a way to detect it.

Mike

Hello.

Yes, it is quite easy to clone a nextel/southernlinc/airinc, iDEN unit.

First, the Electronic Serial Number must be changed, however, this is a federal infraction.

Then, you change the Number Assignment Module, this is no big deal.

The NAM/ESN is what the network looks at, just like with cellular/PCS.

I have copied TDMA cellular, this requires "breaking" the coding, as well as sprint and nextel, not much different than putting a type IIi on some system.

P.S. I cannot supply the software.

Hope the buddy with the cloned cell phone isn't in the State of Florida - it's a felony to knowingly possess a cloned phone here!

Thanks for the info, as Intriguing as it sounds I don't plan on doing it.

Its to bad that the cell phone companies don't offer a plan that will allow you to have 2 phones with the same number.

Mike

I believe Cellular One had a plan at one point for people like police officers so that they could have a mobile phone, and then have a star tac that they can take with them when they leave the car.

I don't know if its something that's done for the public, or if they have something in there system where it shares the same ESN, or how they do it.

When we were having some cell work done on the ambulance i was asking the Cell One guy about it, and he said they do it all the time.

-Alex

What you are asking for is indeed possible at the switch. Of course, within the switch, the second phone has it's own number, which is the only way that it's location can be properly tracked. The ESN is checked when a call is placed. Old phones send their ESN's over the air. New phones use ESN encryption to authenticate. Wrong ESN, the call doesn't progress. Also, to avoid fraud, if your phone was turned off in LA, and appears in NY 5 minutes later, your phone number may be deactivated automatically.

So technically, this is OK. However, engineering and marketing never see eye to eye so the final offering is up to the artsies. Often, when available, the second phone is activated to share a pilot phone's rate plan for an extra $5/month. With this arrangement, you can also call the second phone if you wish.