2-year contract Verizon iPhone 6 for use on non-U.S. country's network

T

teeass

macrumors newbie
Hello, I'm planning to purchase iPhone 6 with two year contract.

The situation is that I'm currently outside U.S..

I'm willing to keep the Verizon account active for next two years (paying the voices and data every months), but I wish I can use the new iPhone 6 device in the country outside U.S by popping in non-Verizon network's SIM card.

The question is is the two-year contract iPhone 6 country or carrier unlocked?

Should I have to activate it on Verizon's network in the first place?
Does activation on Verizon's network imply that I'm permanently locked into Verizon's network?

Is it possible to activate the device on Verizon's network and then unlock the phone right after?

Would it be best to not activate the device on Verizon, but just mail it here (outside U.S.) and activate the phone with the local network here? If not activate the phone how will my Verizon account be updated?

I'm really confused...

Can somebody give me a good advice?
 
teeass said:
Hello, I'm planning to purchase iPhone 6 with two year contract.

The situation is that I'm currently outside U.S..

I'm willing to keep the Verizon account active for next two years (paying the voices and data every months), but I wish I can use the new iPhone 6 device in the country outside U.S by popping in non-Verizon network's SIM card.

The question is is the two-year contract iPhone 6 country or carrier unlocked?

Should I have to activate it on Verizon's network in the first place?
Does activation on Verizon's network imply that I'm permanently locked into Verizon's network?

Is it possible to activate the device on Verizon's network and then unlock the phone right after?

Would it be best to not activate the device on Verizon, but just mail it here (outside U.S.) and activate the phone with the local network here? If not activate the phone how will my Verizon account be updated?

I'm really confused...


Can somebody give me a good advice?
Click to expand...


the Verizon iPhone is not locked. furthermore, the t-mobile iPhone full price that you buy at the actual apple store , and not a t-mobile store , is not locked either. if you buy any of those two phones, they are not locked. if your going to be out of the country, i would just recommend buying the t-mobile full price phone. and not signing up to any contracts.

none of the verizon that are LTE are locked to Verizon, its a widely reported fact that they couldn't lock the handsets because of restrictions that came with their frequency block. this includes the 5,5c,5s,6 and 6 plus. anything older like a 4S will still be locked to verizon


if you buy the tmo iPhone at a tmo store it will be locked to tmo

even if you are under a contract with tmo, and your iPhone 6 is locked to tmobile, i believe you can still use it internationally without unlocking it

if you prefer verizon, then thats fine. go right ahead it won't be locked. its just not fair to have to pay for a phone when your out of the country a lot.
 
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Why would you keep paying verizon for 2 years if you're not going to use it on their network and you're out of the country?
Just buy one full price unlocked and use it on any carrier in the world you want.
 
Applejuiced said:
Why would you keep paying verizon for 2 years if you're not going to use it on their network and you're out of the country?
Just buy one full price unlocked and use it on any carrier in the world you want.
Click to expand...

First, I want iPhone 6 so bad... The country I'm here (Korea) has not released iPhone 6 yet.

Second, it's because of the trade-in-promotion that is going on. I can turn in my 4s and 4 together, then I will get the device ($199) for almost free.

Third, I will return to States within 2 years. I guess the upgrade cycle will be perfect when I return if I enter into 2 year contract right now.

Fourth, I can suspend the service for maximum 6 months per year without billing. I guess keeping my phone number with minimum plan with $20 per month ($40*6/12 = $20) isn't bad..

Fifth, I can sell my currently using iPhone 5S for about $400 here now in Korea.


Overall, I think cost and benefit of using Verizon iPhone 6 with 2 year contract is almost the same.

cost: device (free due to trade-in) + monthly fee for two years ($480) = $480

benefit: use iPhone 6 from now on + money after selling iPhone 5S ($400) = $400 + alpha
 
rigormortis said:
the Verizon iPhone is not locked. furthermore, the t-mobile iPhone full price that you buy at the actual apple store , and not a t-mobile store , is not locked either. if you buy any of those two phones, they are not locked. if your going to be out of the country, i would just recommend buying the t-mobile full price phone. and not signing up to any contracts.

none of the verizon that are LTE are locked to Verizon, its a widely reported fact that they couldn't lock the handsets because of restrictions that came with their frequency block. this includes the 5,5c,5s,6 and 6 plus. anything older like a 4S will still be locked to verizon


if you buy the tmo iPhone at a tmo store it will be locked to tmo

even if you are under a contract with tmo, and your iPhone 6 is locked to tmobile, i believe you can still use it internationally without unlocking it

if you prefer verizon, then thats fine. go right ahead it won't be locked. its just not fair to have to pay for a phone when your out of the country a lot.
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for your answer.

I still have some confusion.

I've read some articles on internet saying that.

CDMA iPhones (Verizon) are only unlocked to use it on GSM network carrier (ex. AT&T and T-mobile) and Verizon phones cannot be used on other CDMA carriers (ex. Sprint).

Is this true with iPhone 6?

I will be using a carrier network here in Korea that provides CDMA service.
In that case, wouldn't it be a problem?

Does country lock and carrier lock each imply different thing?
 
teeass said:
Thank you so much for your answer.

I still have some confusion.

I've read some articles on internet saying that.

CDMA iPhones (Verizon) are only unlocked to use it on GSM network carrier (ex. AT&T and T-mobile) and Verizon phones cannot be used on other CDMA carriers (ex. Sprint).

Is this true with iPhone 6?

I will be using a carrier network here in Korea that provides CDMA service.
In that case, wouldn't it be a problem?

Does country lock and carrier lock each imply different thing?
Click to expand...


yes. it is true you cannot use a verizon iPhone for sprint. the main reason is that sprint iPhones have their own firmware.

i wouldn't expect the cdma verizon to work in Korea, and i am going to stick to that and say don't expect any CDMA phone (sprint or verizon) from working in Korea on their CDMA network


gsm is everywhere so you should stick with gsm

carrier lock only seems to apply on sprint handsets. usually the carrier lock prevents one companies CDMA phone from being used on another CDMA carrier. when you activate service with a CDMA carrier they ask you for your MEID and IMEI numbers, and if its a number they do not like, meaning its not on their list of serial numbers, they won't activate your handset


----

crazy stuff section
---

this only applies to the iPhone 6 and 6 plus:

however the tmo iPhone 6 version is the same identical handset as verizon. verizon will not activate your sim card. but!! if you take a pre-actived verizon sim card from another handset and stick it in the t-mo version , it will behave and 100 % operate just like the real verizon iPhone. cdma calling even works.
verzon won't like yur serial # but they don't seem to block it from working.
this only applies to iPhone 6 and 6 plus. other gsm phones in the united states can't be used on CDMA because either they do not have CDMA or the CDMA function was disabled at the factory


really crazy stuff
---
in the sates the CDMA carriers don't care about what ipad you have. sprint will make you prove you bought a sprint iPad, because sprint has their own firmware. but all the other companies don't care. every single cellular iPad will work with verizon, even if its not CDMA.

every single iPad will work on AT&T or tmobile as long as its not a locked verizon iPad 2


the bottom line

get the verizon or the tmobile unlocked version, depending on your budget. don't expect it to work with CDMA in Korea. don't be concerned with international use. because they will work fine, as long as you stick to GSM/LTE
 
Last edited:
if you buy a verizon iPhone 6, with or without service, it will come unlocked and it will work on any other carrier with a sim card. you might even get lucky and it will work on the same LTE high speed channels in other countries because it has 16 LTE channels.

if you buy a t-mobile iPhone 6 from t-mobile with financing , it will be locked to t-mobile , but it will work internationally, they say.

if you buy a t-mobile iPhone 6 from the apple store for full price. it won't be locked to any united states carrier at all, and it will also work internationally.


both versions have fully functional CDMA radios. but don't expect other carriers to be co-operative when asking them to activate your service
 
rigormortis said:
yes. it is true you cannot use a verizon iPhone for sprint. the main reason is that sprint iPhones have their own firmware.

i wouldn't expect the cdma verizon to work in Korea, and i am going to stick to that and say don't expect any CDMA phone (sprint or verizon) from working in Korea on their CDMA network


gsm is everywhere so you should stick with gsm

carrier lock only seems to apply on sprint handsets. usually the carrier lock prevents one companies CDMA phone from being used on another CDMA carrier. when you activate service with a CDMA carrier they ask you for your MEID and IMEI numbers, and if its a number they do not like, meaning its not on their list of serial numbers, they won't activate your handset


----

crazy stuff section
---

this only applies to the iPhone 6 and 6 plus:

however the tmo iPhone 6 version is the same identical handset as verizon. verizon will not activate your sim card. but!! if you take a pre-actived verizon sim card from another handset and stick it in the t-mo version , it will behave and 100 % operate just like the real verizon iPhone. cdma calling even works.
verzon won't like yur serial # but they don't seem to block it from working.
this only applies to iPhone 6 and 6 plus. other gsm phones in the united states can't be used on CDMA because either they do not have CDMA or the CDMA function was disabled at the factory


really crazy stuff
---
in the sates the CDMA carriers don't care about what ipad you have. sprint will make you prove you bought a sprint iPad, because sprint has their own firmware. but all the other companies don't care. every single cellular iPad will work with verizon, even if its not CDMA.

every single iPad will work on AT&T or tmobile as long as its not a locked verizon iPad 2


the bottom line

get the verizon or the tmobile unlocked version, depending on your budget. don't expect it to work with CDMA in Korea. don't be concerned with international use. because they will work fine, as long as you stick to GSM/LTE
Click to expand...


Wow thanks so much for the information.

I just found out that the carrier network in Korea that i would use provides GSM. It was misperception that they provided CDMA.

So I guess two year contract Verizon iPhone 6 will just naturally work with both verizon sim card and Korean sim card!

Thank you
 
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