1) i have been telling people who have asked me for palm pre to buy new non activated phones , aka virgin palm pre
2) if u have a pre activated phone , still its possible , but u will have to try over and over
3) if ur phone goes offline u need to use only the roms with modem bypass like xxrake
4) u shud never , never hard reset ur phone or upgrade to any official rom , or else ur original meid will be restored and ur phone will go offline
5) palm pre only accepts evdo prl on any network , it wont accept 1X PRL
BUT EVDO PRL WORKS FINE FOR VOICE , SMS AND DATA , INFACT I FEEL ITS BETER THAN 1X INTERNATIONAL ROAMING PRL THAT WE ARE USING
6) i agree with kshah , palm pre is such kind of handset , which shows u new things everyday , so have patience with it , and dont go off limits , or modem will go off permanently
7) ur phone will go offline at some stage even if u r successful , it will go offline
all this is from my own experience after playing with more than half a dozen pre s