Buying an unsubsidized phone

[dontwalkhand]

True. However, if LTE is not available in a given area area, a vzw phone will default to vzw 3G which is CDMA. Doubt that changes.

The CDMA in LTE phones get activated via the C-SIM application on the SIM card. The SIM card tells the phone whether to use CDMA 3G or GSM 3G by telling the phone what kind of card it is. (C-SIM used to be called R-UIM cards, which Verizon did not use until now, which is why Verizon uses SIM Cards, prior to that, Verizon just authenticated based on the ESN or MEID of the phone.)