iPhone And The Verizon SIM Question

[DSchwartz88]

Hey,

Ok lets get this done once and for all. When people talk about the verizon sim card, they are talking about the sim that comes with the world phones verizon offers. So stop bashing people who say verizon has sims, they have them but only in world phones. Secondly, and this is my question, are the verizon sims in these phones active in the us? Does verizon have a deal with the GSM carriers to be able to log onto their network if needed, or is this sim only used outside the US. The reason i ask is because if the sim is active inside the US it opens up the possibility for verizon customers to get the iPhone on verizon "network" (GSM deal with carriers). My guess is that this sim isnt used until you are outside the country. Anyone with more information then me about this please let the rest of us know.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[aristobrat]

The Verizon rep that handles the account where I work said that VZW's "World Edition" phones can not roam on GSM in the US.

 

[Laslo Panaflex]

The Verizon rep that handles the account where I work said that VZW's "World Edition" phones can not roam on GSM in the US.

Even if they could roam on US networks, wouldn't that defeat the purpose using Verizon, since you would be roaming on either T-Mobile or AT&T pretty much constantly? At that point you might as well just switch to AT&T.

 

[aristobrat]

Yeah, and VZW's unlimited PDA data plan is 2x more expensive than AT&T's iPhone data plan.

But for people stuck in contract, it might be worth it? Maybe?

 

[question fear]

Yeah, and VZW's unlimited PDA data plan is 2x more expensive than AT&T's iPhone data plan.

But for people stuck in contract, it might be worth it? Maybe?

I would guess that even if you could get a VZW SIM to work in an iPhone, Verizon would boot you so fast your head would spin. They don't want to pay roaming charges to ATT and T-Mobile and they'd be paying through the nose for it since you'd be roaming 24/7. And they'd be able to see you only roamed onto GSM carriers towers by the roaming bill and by the fact that you wouldn't trigger EV-DO or any other CDMA bits.

AFAIK every carrier has some variation of a "if you roam more than X number of days in X number of cycles, we will cut you off"; its to prevent basically similar situations to this, where someone wants to use a phone or feature or rate plan that's available on one carrier but can only use the signal of another, similar carrier in their area. I know for a fact ATT does because I came across it in researching whether I got signal in an outlying coverage area, and the coverage map had a specific clause indicating if the majority of my minutes took place while roaming they would cancel my contract.

 

[mpuck972]

Yeah, and VZW's unlimited PDA data plan is 2x more expensive than AT&T's iPhone data plan.

But for people stuck in contract, it might be worth it? Maybe?

2X more expensive for 10X the speed isn't a bad trade off.

 

[aristobrat]

2X more expensive for 10X the speed isn't a bad trade off.

For some folks, undoubtedly.

Personally, if the iPhone's data plan was $40/month, I wouldn't have purchased the iPhone -- regardless of the data plans speed.

 

[kdarling]

Personally, if the iPhone's data plan was $40/month, I wouldn't have purchased the iPhone -- regardless of the data plans speed.

Which no doubt partially explains the lack of 3G in its launch configuration. (Always wanted to say that!)

Once the iPhone gets 3G, watch for the data cost to rise.

Hmm. Wonder if they could offer a two-tiered data plan? $20 for EDGE still, and more if you want to use 3G? I haven't kept up. Is that sort of platforming available now?

 

[Le Big Mac]

2X more expensive for 10X the speed isn't a bad trade off.

Yeah, but you're not going to get Verizon speed if you're using AT&Ts network with a Verizon worldphone SIM.

 

[question fear]

2X more expensive for 10X the speed isn't a bad trade off.

no its not. Too bad that's not what you'd get. If you did this, you'd roam on ATT or T-Mo, NOT vzw. Ergo, you'd get the same speeds as every other iPhone user for twice the cost. EV-DO highspeed is CDMA network specific, so the iphone is not capable of utilizing it.

 

[killmoms]

I was under the impression that Verizon's world-phones had SIMs and GSM radios that only activated if you went into an area covered by a GSM network partnered with Verizon, and that in the U.S. it was using a CDMA radio to connect to Verizon's network. Am I wrong?

 

[aristobrat]

I was under the impression that Verizon's world-phones had SIMs and GSM radios that only activated if you went into an area covered by a GSM network partnered with Verizon, and that in the U.S. it was using a CDMA radio to connect to Verizon's network. Am I wrong?

That's correct. Our VZW Business rep stated that there was no GSM roaming agreements in the US, although VZW does do CDMA roaming on Alltel and other carriers in parts of the country.

I think mpuck972 was just making a general comment about Verizon's data plan prices.