Has anyone brought their own phone to verizon on a non-prepaid plan? I know they didn't used to allow it, but I think they do now. I've only been able to find info about their prepaid plans if I bring my unlocked A1453 iPhone 5s. I'd like to switch to verizon but since I believe my phone is compatible, I want to hold off buying a new one until the 6s comes out.
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Carrier Verizon Bring Your Own Phone
- Thread starter bkends35
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They will still only allow Verizon whitelisted devices on their network, so although your 5s is compatible, they will not activate it. With that said, if you can get a hold of any other Verizon device that uses a nano SIM, and get it activated, all you will need to do is swap the SIM card to your iPhone, and it will work. If you can find a way to get a 5s whitelisted, i'm sure there are many other people on here that would love to know how 
Thanks, for some reason I was in the mindset they'd activate any compatible phone.They will still only allow Verizon whitelisted devices on their network, so although your 5s is compatible, they will not activate it. With that said, if you can get a hold of any other Verizon device that uses a nano SIM, and get it activated, all you will need to do is swap the SIM card to your iPhone, and it will work. If you can find a way to get a 5s whitelisted, i'm sure there are many other people on here that would love to know how
If anything seems like common sense, then it's usually safe to assume it doesn't apply to Verizon.
Let me preface this by saying I have no idea what "whitelisting" is.... I assume network approved and sold via the same network?
I just brought my AT&T 6 plus to Verizon yesterday, and joined in one of the more everything plans with my manfriend. I had to unlock the device from AT&T, of course. I went to the store initially, but was met with sales people trying to BS me into buying a new Verizon device, however I knew they were full of S*** so I left and called Verizon customer care. Customer care was able to set everything up over the phone, and send a new Verizon sim card via Fedex. It might not be the fastest way of doing things, but it's absolutely do-able. My service with Verizon so far has been more reliable and a touch faster, but the core reason for my switching is an anticipated move to a place where AT&T service really stinks.
I just brought my AT&T 6 plus to Verizon yesterday, and joined in one of the more everything plans with my manfriend. I had to unlock the device from AT&T, of course. I went to the store initially, but was met with sales people trying to BS me into buying a new Verizon device, however I knew they were full of S*** so I left and called Verizon customer care. Customer care was able to set everything up over the phone, and send a new Verizon sim card via Fedex. It might not be the fastest way of doing things, but it's absolutely do-able. My service with Verizon so far has been more reliable and a touch faster, but the core reason for my switching is an anticipated move to a place where AT&T service really stinks.
One thing sounds really awkward, and kind of backwards here. Why would they have to send you a SIM card if you were in the Verizon store? I can't imagine they don't have a single SIM anywhere in there that you could activate. Did they know where you were calling from?
Anyway...out of curiosity, when you log into your Verizon account, what does the phone show up as? It would seem to me that you got a rep that activated a SIM card, and not the device itself. When that happens, if you login, it will show "unknown Verizon device" as the device type on the account. That's ok, and all will work well, but that just means it wasn't added to their whitelist.
FWIW, when someone talks about a device being whitelisted, that means it's in their database of Verizon approved phones. They normally add the IMEI of the phone, so when you register service it will show up as a Verizon phone. Sprint has only recently started adding Apple devices to their whitelist, and AFIAK Verizon still does not allow this to happen. If your Verizon online account shows that you have a VZW 6+, you might have uncovered something...
Okay, nope... it was DEFINITELY white-listed then. It shows up as an iPhone 6 plus on the Verizon site. They told me that they added the IMEI to their system. I hesitated to mention that Verizon stores have SIM cards, because my understanding is that you have to go in and *purchase* a new SIM from the brick & mortar store for twenty bucks, while the customer care team actually just sent one to us for free. Plus, after the BS I had to deal with from the physical store earlier, I wasn't inclined to go back lest I risk losing my **** on idiot sales people. The problems all stemmed from sales people in the stores being on commission, and they simply don't care to do crap for you if you aren't buying new phones.
If you can step into a store, buy a SIM; then go home and activate the service with the new SIM in your existing device, you'd speed up the process immensely and have a Verizon activated phone by the end of the day. ONE SMALL PROBLEM-- I'm uncertain if the 5s is compatible with Verizon. There's an IMEI compatibility tool on the Verizon site, you'd have to do that first.
ETA: I wasn't actually IN a Verizon store when I called customer care, I had to wait until we got home. I would have done, just to mess with the ****** sales clerk, but we had manfriend's kids with us.
If you can step into a store, buy a SIM; then go home and activate the service with the new SIM in your existing device, you'd speed up the process immensely and have a Verizon activated phone by the end of the day. ONE SMALL PROBLEM-- I'm uncertain if the 5s is compatible with Verizon. There's an IMEI compatibility tool on the Verizon site, you'd have to do that first.
ETA: I wasn't actually IN a Verizon store when I called customer care, I had to wait until we got home. I would have done, just to mess with the ****** sales clerk, but we had manfriend's kids with us.
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I've never been asked to pay for a new SIM at the Verizon store. Numerous times I've switched between devices and sizes of SIMS - Nano/mini - between iPhone and android.
I think that can vary depending on if it's a Verizon-owned company store or an independently-owned Verizon reseller.
That's possible. All of my transactions have been with Verizon corp stores.
Typically I've never had to pay for a SIM either, but the Verizon Bring your own phone info on their website says you have to purchase one. Never mind the fact that if they can, those ****** as the Verizon corporate store I went to probably would have, just to spite me. YMMV, of course. I have had better experiences in the past with the corp. store on the other side of town, but it wasn't convenient for me at the time.