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VZW won't let me unlock my out-of-contract iPhone

Just to clarify, yes Verizon LTE phones are unlocked out of the box. The 5 doesn't have all LTE bands but the Verizon 5 has the most of the models. It doesn't have US LTE bands (I.e. No ATT or T-Mobile LTE). It has great global support though.

Also China Telecom supports GSM so it will work fine. I can't say for sure if their LTE band is one of the many the Verizon 5 supports though.
 
SHNXX said:
I guess I have no idea about CDMA band and ESN etc.
As you know, cell phone booth employees are not going to know about this kind of stuff whether you are in the US or China.
I may try with both CDMA (China mobile, I believe) and GSM carrier (China unicorn, I think) and see what happens.
I don't know if I can try without signing up though.
Perhaps the sales people have experience with people bringing iPhones from america so it won't be so difficult.
Last time when my lady brought her AT&T locked 5S, she couldn't use it on any network, although I don't know if she tried CDMA.
Good information is awfully hard to find around here.
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Well, the problem with the AT&T phone is it's locked. Of course it's not gonna work with a carrier that's not AT&T (or its MVNO). Just buy a prepaid SIM and test if it works. It can't possibly be that expensive. When I went on vacation to the Philippines, SIM cards cost me just US$1 a pop.
 
According to this:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands#Deployments_by_region

China telecoms use TD LTE bands. As far as I'm aware, Verizon iPhone 5 only has FDD LTE bands so you probably won't get LTE in China. I believe all iPhone 5's support HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100 bands (AWS 1700 added later to US GSM model for T-Mobile) and should cover the 3G bands used in most parts of the world. Iirc, China uses funky CDMA bands so I wouldn't count on CDMA working there.
 
willmtaylor said:
I have been with VZW for quite a while and have had nothing but good customer service encounters. My friends and family are the same.

Perhaps you and your friends should try harder to be something different than you are, as who you are and what you're doing doesn't seem to be working out so well. Just a thought.
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I am always nice to them on the phone and get treated like garbage. I took my Perosnal(2007) and work(2013) line to AT&T because of it.

I had an S4 that kept losing signal and not getting calls. The CSR person told me that my S4 was rolling onto ATT LTE network creating the issues. Well I said lets just put my ATT SIM card in it(surprised them that I had on). Gee would you look at that no LTE(that didn't find it funny). I finally told them I am sure I can troubleshoot phones better(root and rom my android ones all the time). So I pulled the line and went to ATT.

My company recently forced me back to VZW. I have a Note 3 that sucks on reception since the Kit Kat update. Once again they blame everything but the update. Thankfully my works mobile group sticks up for me. I bought a iPhone 5S but returned it becuase of the dropping to 1X for dates on calls. I am now waiting on my preorder done in 9/12 for a 6 Plus. I will be interested to see if the many reports are correct that ATT LTE works.


Personally I would just get a phone in the country you are in unless you know that it works on the LTE bands you want.
 
Big Dawg 23 said:
Personally I would just get a phone in the country you are in unless you know that it works on the LTE bands you want.
Click to expand...

I agree. If we were talking about Europe it would be very easy to keep the Verizon iPhone and find a prepaid SIM to use. Unfortunately it sounds like China does their own thing differently from the rest of the world. It sounds like the 6 will be there in a few weeks though. And that 5 will fetch $200+ stateside if you get the battery replaced.
 
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