Clarification Question

[Agent OrangeZ]

It's not about the experience really. It's about Verizon (and Sprint for that matter) being asinine. Verizon is using CDMA as an excuse not to let other phones on their network nevermind the fact that the AT&T/T-Mobile/Factory Unlocked iPhone 5c/5s in the US uses basically the same hardware and the only difference is in programming.

The iPhone 5C and 5S that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile use are identical.

Well... that is true. Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T iPhones are identical hardware. But... Verizon only allows the MEID/ESN of it's own phones onto the CDMA network. So the Verizon iPhone has active CDMA radios on it. The AT&T and T-Mobile versions have the CDMA radios in a dormant state, so you couldn't use them on a CDMA network even if you had a carrier willing to accept it. As far as using a non-Verizon iPhone on Verizon... you CAN insert a Verizon SIM and access their LTE network... but not the CDMA network. So you would have a phone that could only access data. Phone calls are only done via the CDMA network until they roll out VoLTE.

 

[rui no onna]

The iPhone 5C and 5S that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile use are identical.

Umm, that is what I said. They're the same hardware. However, CDMA isn't activated on AT&T/T-Mobile/Factory Unlocked GSM iPhones.

I don't think it's quite as simple as the ESN/MEID not being on Verizon's database. If it was, you'll be able to move an already active Verizon SIM to a GSM iPhone and it should work on CDMA but it doesn't.

 

[Winona Northdakota]

Clarification Question

Well... that is true. Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T iPhones are identical hardware. But... Verizon only allows the MEID/ESN of it's own phones onto the CDMA network. So the Verizon iPhone has active CDMA radios on it. The AT&T and T-Mobile versions have the CDMA radios in a dormant state, so you couldn't use them on a CDMA network even if you had a carrier willing to accept it. As far as using a non-Verizon iPhone on Verizon... you CAN insert a Verizon SIM and access their LTE network... but not the CDMA network. So you would have a phone that could only access data. Phone calls are only done via the CDMA network until they roll out VoLTE.

Those CDMA radios are active because Verizon allows them to activate on their network. Not because the phones are gimped in some physical way.

The iPhones 5C and 5S not sold on Verizon's network, may not even have a correctly formatted and compatible MEID for use on Verizon's network, as was the case with the iPhone 4S, but that could easily be solved by providing all iPhone 5c's and 5s's with one that is compatible. Then all Verizon would need to do is enter that MEID into their white list and activate the damn phone. Problem solved. Though, Verizon might cry fowl. They want their iPhone to seem special.