Carrier T-mobile Uncarrier 4.0 ETF question

[mlody]

Since it has been several months since the T-Mobile un-carrier 4.0 deal, I wonder what the experience is with this deal.

I am on Verizon with iPhone 5S. It is my understanding that I would have to trade in my phone and buy a new phone from T-Mobile in order to qualify for the ETF deal.
Can I do the following to and still qualify for the ETF?
- activate an old/crap smartphone that is perhaps worth $10-20, but works
- go to T-Mobile store and turn in that old/crap smarthphone and buy outright the cheapest possible smartphone from them (like nokia 520).
- swap the sim card from the (ie. Nokia 520) to my original iPhone 5S that I originally had on Verizon.

Basically, I want to avoid trading in a perfectly good phone (iPhone 5S) and buying from T-Mobile another iPhone 5S.
I want to trade-in a crap phone and buy the cheapest/least expensive phone (and later sell it)

My question is, is this possible or perhaps T-Mobile has a specific list of what devices qualify for the trade-in and what device needs to be purchased from them for the ETF deal to work?

I appreciate any help with this.
Thanks

 

[maflynn]

Would you the 5S from VZW give you GSM coverage or just LTE?

If T-Mo doesn't have the full LTE coverage in your area you need to consider how 3G will be handled. I'm not familiar with the unlocked VZW phone.

 

[yeah]

That is a loophole that was discovered by Cultofmac a little bit ago. It should work, but I would caution yourself.

 

[keitarou]

No reason why that wouldn't work. I myself traded in BB last time instead of the actual phones from AT&T.

 

[mlody]

Thank you all for the responses. I was pretty sure this should work, but it is nice to know that some has already tried it.