I posted a question about my Sprint 8830 I am trying to use in east Africa yesterday.

I was trying to use a Celtel local SIM card. The phone saw the network and it had "Celtel" and "GSM" on the screen. I had a good signal. I could not connect to the Celtel system by dialing the numbers as directed to activate the card. I used both the local number and the number with the international dialing prefixes. When I put the card into another phone, it would work fine and I could dial the CS number.

I swapped out the card for my Sprint SIM and called CS. They were of no help. When I put the Celtel card back in, all I got was the SOS message with no network connection. I could not get back on the system.

I bought another Celtel card and again got the "Celtel" and "GSM" but could not call the activation number. Tried swapping out the Sprint SIM card and the same thing happened and got only the SOS reading.

Finally, I tried a Vodacom card. Got connected on the "GPRS" network, could activate the card and it works fine.

Anyone have any idea why the Celtel card did not work or why I could not get past the SOS after trying the Sprint card? It is working fine on vodacom but it would be nice to know what happened for my next overseas trip.

No ideas re: the Celltel card.

With the Sprint SIM, insert and try search for networks as opposed to using automatic mode:

Manage Connections
Mobile Network Options
Network Mode GSM

Network Selection should then give you the option of scanning for the network that you want. Select one that is a Sprint partner in your country.

I am having this same problem in South Africa with a Vodacom card. In fact i put the sim in, it did not work so someone put a "network connection card" in on top of my sim and it worked for 1 day, then has gone out just like described above - sos message only. Any body know why?

thanks