Unlocked iPhone 5 for Verizon?

[SuprUsrStan]

I just sold my iPhone 4S in preparation to buy the new iPhone. I'm probably looking at spending ~750 for the new iPhone. Since I'm already spending that much, it just hit me that I should look into a new unlocked iPhone.

Thus, because the unlocked iPhone 4S wasn't available for the Verizon and Sprint network, what's the probability of the new unlocked LTE iPhone working on the Verizon network? Is there a technical issue behind them not working with Verizon or is it a CDMA/GSM limitation. With the introduction of LTE, does that change things?


EDIT: On second thought, Verizon's 4G LTE is done through a sim card as well isn't it? Theoretically, if you get an unlocked phone, you should be able to pop in the 4G sim card from ATT or Verizon right?

 

[zachnelson]

I just sold my iPhone 4S in preparation to buy the new iPhone. I'm probably looking at spending ~750 for the new iPhone. Since I'm already spending that much, it just hit me that I should look into a new unlocked iPhone.

Thus, because the unlocked iPhone 4S wasn't available for the Verizon and Sprint network, what's the probability of the new unlocked LTE iPhone working on the Verizon network? Is there a technical issue behind them not working with Verizon or is it a CDMA/GSM limitation. With the introduction of LTE, does that change things?


EDIT: On second thought, Verizon's 4G LTE is done through a sim card as well isn't it? Theoretically, if you get an unlocked phone, you should be able to pop in the 4G sim card from ATT or Verizon right?

4G will be "global" but you still have to buy the phone that supports the carrier 3G service. So you'll get a Verizon iPhone.

There is no unlocking under CDMA afaik, perhaps there is.

 

[SuprUsrStan]

4G will be "global" but you still have to buy the phone that supports the carrier 3G service. So you'll get a Verizon iPhone.

There is no unlocking under CDMA afaik, perhaps there is.

That's the thing. The Verizon iPhone 5 will no longer be a "CDMA" phone. It's going to be a LTE phone which uses those sim cards.

Thus, interchangeable if you pick up a factory unlocked phone?

 

[mattopotamus]

That's the thing. The Verizon iPhone 5 will no longer be a "CDMA" phone. It's going to be a LTE phone which uses those sim cards.

Thus, interchangeable if you pick up a factory unlocked phone?

The poster above you is saying that it will have to be CDMA b.c if you are in an area that does not have 4G LTE, the device will need to fall back on a 3G tower for that provider

 

[0007776]

That's the thing. The Verizon iPhone 5 will no longer be a "CDMA" phone. It's going to be a LTE phone which uses those sim cards.

Thus, interchangeable if you pick up a factory unlocked phone?

It still needs to be able to fall back on CDMA when there is no LTE coverage, however you can call Verizon up and get them to unlock the phone for you, it just won't work on other US carriers, but overseas it will work fine.

 

[Applejuiced]

That's the thing. The Verizon iPhone 5 will no longer be a "CDMA" phone. It's going to be a LTE phone which uses those sim cards.

Thus, interchangeable if you pick up a factory unlocked phone?

Guess what?
The verizon iphone 5 will still have to include CDMA cause not all of Verizons coverage is LTE.
So in other words most likelly it will be the way it is now.
Factory Unlocked iphones for just GSM networks, Verizon and Sprint iphones even full priced still locked to them.

 

[cvaldes]

Moreover, Verizon's voice service runs over CDMA. Their LTE is currently data-only.

 

[SuprUsrStan]

Guess what?
The verizon iphone 5 will still have to include CDMA cause not all of Verizons coverage is LTE.
So in other words most likelly it will be the way it is now.
Factory Unlocked iphones for just GSM networks, Verizon and Sprint iphones even full priced still locked to them.

Yeah, I realized that they're still CDMA phones over voice.

Though it goes both ways. Its not like a unlocked GSM phone can work on Verizon's network either. Though, both Verizon's phone and ATT factory unlocked phones can be made to work overseas.

 

[old-wiz]

Moreover, Verizon's voice service runs over CDMA. Their LTE is currently data-only.

Interesting. I didn't know that, so obviously an LTE only phone won't happen.

 

[Pirate515]

Though it goes both ways. It's not like an unlocked GSM phone can work on Verizon's network either. Though, both Verizon's phone and AT&T factory unlocked phones can be made to work overseas.

The interesting thing about 4S is that it has hardware to work with both CDMA and GSM networks, but for CDMA networks such as Verizon and Sprint some additional baseband programming is required. I hear that it can be accomplished, but this task requires a high-level tech person to do it, certainly not something that the sales folks at Verizon/Sprint/Apple stores can accomplish. For that purpose, Apple pre-applies CDMA programming to Verizon and Sprint 4S units, that way the only thing sales staff has to do is register ESN/MEID with an account and that customer is all set. I am sure that if you know someone high up at Verizon or Sprint, they can probably get someone to make a factory unlocked 4S to work with their respective network, but regular mortals like us would have to buy a pre-programmed phone.

Yeah, I realized that they're still CDMA phones over voice.

In a pure LTE world, simply switching SIM's would probably work, but it will be a few years at the very least until we get there. IMO, right now Verizon's top priority is to finish deploying LTE across their entire footprint, after that they will probably start focusing on replacing CDMA with VoLTE for the voice segment. Until Verizon's entire network is VoLTE capable, their handsets will continue to require CDMA programming.

 

[zachnelson]

Moreover, Verizon's voice service runs over CDMA. Their LTE is currently data-only.

Not so with the current chips rumored to be used in the 6th-generation iPhone.

 

[BiggAW]

Theoretically, it could work, as Verizon's CDMA subscriber info is on the SIM card in 4G LTE devices, hence why you can SIM-swap two Verizon branded phones.

 

[amerian007]

unlocked iPhone

once the jailbreaking of the software has been completed,your Phone is ready to unlocked with the help of some important steps. 1 backup your data- 2 Download unlocking tools- 3 Run installation process.

 

[BiggAW]

once the jailbreaking of the software has been completed,your Phone is ready to unlocked with the help of some important steps. 1 backup your data- 2 Download unlocking tools- 3 Run installation process.

No. Unlocking and Jailbreaking are two different things.