Educated me on the iPhone 4S? I may be getting a free VZW iphone 4S, got ?'s

PacificBeach said:

Educated me on the iPhone 4S? I may be getting a free VZW iphone 4S, got ?'s

1. Is the VZW iphone 4S unlocked for any GSM carrier? If not how can it be unlocked?

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It can be unlocked, and will be unlocked on request by Verizon for use on international GSM carriers (outside of the US), but NOT for US carriers (AT&T, T-Mobile).

And Sprint has a policy where it won't activate any phone that has an MEID not matching up in its internal inventory. If it's not specifically a Sprint iPhone, they won't touch it, unlocked or not.

If I remember right, you also need to be a customer for a certain period of time (60 days?) to get the unlock, but it might be worth asking nicely anyway.

2. Are the iphone 4S for ATT, VZW and Sprint the same? Same hardware?

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Yes, same hardware. The only thing that differentiates them are the serial numbers, and software.

3. Does the VZW CDMA use the sim or is the sim for intl only?

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International only. For the native Verizon CDMA network, they still rely on the MEID, and a PRL being loaded on the phone.