Any way out? Verizon

[Todd33]

I hate CDMA. Being tied to to a phone, no easy way to just switch with a sim.

I have like a year left on my contract with Verizon. The ETF is like $200+ per phone (mine and my wife's). I'd love to be on ATT or T-mobile right now and just buy a Nexus 4 or upcoming Nexus 5.

ATT doesn't seem interested in getting me to switch. Credo will do a contract buyout, but they are CDMA too. Any ideas?

 

[golem]

I hate CDMA. Being tied to to a phone, no easy way to just switch with a sim.

I have like a year left on my contract with Verizon. The ETF is like $200+ per phone (mine and my wife's). I'd love to be on ATT or T-mobile right now and just buy a Nexus 4 or upcoming Nexus 5.

ATT doesn't seem interested in getting me to switch. Credo will do a contract buyout, but they are CDMA too. Any ideas?

Unless Verizon changes it's terms of service I don't think so. And I don't think Verizon has a track record of changing its terms, it's mostly AT&T and Sprint.

You could sell off your phones to offset some of the 200 ETF.

 

[bearxor]

If you want my honest opinion, I'd just wait. You can already swap SIMs with any Verizon phone. And they all come unlocked. Not only that, but Verizon's new spectrum rollouts and roaming agreements are going to put them all over the place, frequency-wise. I think we're only a year or two away from Verizon having the most compatible phones with everything. And once VoLTE rolls out nationwide sometime next year, you'll be able to use just about any phone from anywhere going forward.

 

[Todd33]

If you want my honest opinion, I'd just wait. You can already swap SIMs with any Verizon phone. And they all come unlocked. Not only that, but Verizon's new spectrum rollouts and roaming agreements are going to put them all over the place, frequency-wise. I think we're only a year or two away from Verizon having the most compatible phones with everything. And once VoLTE rolls out nationwide sometime next year, you'll be able to use just about any phone from anywhere going forward.

Nice, I had no idea they were doing anything to improve this. I wish we were like the EU, buy a phone and then find a service. I hate this crap of getting a phone with the contract and then most phones don't work if you want to switch.

 

[dguy6789]

Verizon blocks current phones-even their global capable ones from working with T-Mobile, ATT, Straight Talk, and others. The iPhone is as far as I know the only exception.

 

[notposting]

Weird. I am on Verizon and can just switch phones with a SIM. The (current) 4G phones just tie it all to the SIM. It does have to be a Verizon capable phone, but otherwise you can swap them.

 

[notposting]

Verizon blocks current phones-even their global capable ones from working with T-Mobile, ATT, Straight Talk, and others. The iPhone is as far as I know the only exception.

Not anymore, that was true with the 3G ones. But the current ones have all been straight up unlocked. I could use this Lumia on AT&T or T-Mo if I want.

 

[s44]

If you have unlimited, you can sell your lines.

 

[openwheel]

you can switch SIM between Verizon LTE phones.

 

[Red Storm]

Not anymore, that was true with the 3G ones. But the current ones have all been straight up unlocked. I could use this Lumia on AT&T or T-Mo if I want.

I don't know if it applies to domestic GSM networks though like AT&T or T-Mobile.

 

[dguy6789]

Not anymore, that was true with the 3G ones. But the current ones have all been straight up unlocked. I could use this Lumia on AT&T or T-Mo if I want.

Try it with any Droid Razr 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen. HTC Rezound and Droid DNA. None of them work on ATT or Tmobile even though they all support all of the bands.

Droid Razr HD even had a very easy hack that didn't require rooting or unlocking the bootloader to get it to work on US GSM carriers and they blocked that in a later update.

 

[Joe1987]

Is this the I'm completely clueless about my carrier/Verizon thread?

 

[notposting]

Try it with any Droid Razr 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen. HTC Rezound and Droid DNA. None of them work on ATT or Tmobile even though they all support all of the bands.

Droid Razr HD even had a very easy hack that didn't require rooting or unlocking the bootloader to get it to work on US GSM carriers and they blocked that in a later update.

Oh Verizon, you scumbags :hmm:

Yeah, plus weren't some of them "stealth" world phones at first? Like they had the frequencies but weren't sold that way to begin with?

I know people have gotten the 822 and 928 working, the 822 worked well until GDR1, then with GDR2 it seems things have been opened up to allow settings configuration.

I should get a domestic SIM and try it in my Trophy, I got the unlock code for it before I bought the 928 (and I know that doesn't mean anything if they blocked it deeper).

 

[paperwastage]

Try it with any Droid Razr 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen. HTC Rezound and Droid DNA. None of them work on ATT or Tmobile even though they all support all of the bands.

Droid Razr HD even had a very easy hack that didn't require rooting or unlocking the bootloader to get it to work on US GSM carriers and they blocked that in a later update.

i think some of the recent LTE phones work on American GSM carriers without any unlocking/hacking needed (if the frequencies match)

Working without any hacks/mods
Droid DNA: http://www.androidcentral.com/how-use-verizon-droid-dna-att-or-any-other-gsm-network
iPhone 5: http://forums.imore.com/iphone-5/255871-verizon-iphone-5-t.html
Galaxy Note II: http://forums.androidcentral.com/sp...e-2-t-mobile-t-but-can-i-use-sprint-well.html

Droid 3 works on American GSM carriers with a SIM unlock and radio hack

 

[Thegonagle]

If you have unlimited data on Verizon LTE, keep it. It was the holy grail of cellular data, and it's never coming back. The other unlimited plans are either throttled (AT&T) or are on crappy networks (T-Mobile which is only good in cities--or Sprint, which straight-up sucks almost everywhere).

If you don't have unlimited, pay the ETFs or wait them out. It's your choice. Whatever.

But it is true that Verizon will become more and more standardized as VO-LTE gets phased in, and CDMA and GSM/HSPA are phased out. Mind you, it will take another decade, but as everyone slowly moves to LTE-only hardware, it will eventually happen.

 

[Bman123]

Try it with any Droid Razr 1st, 2nd, or 3rd gen. HTC Rezound and Droid DNA. None of them work on ATT or Tmobile even though they all support all of the bands.

Droid Razr HD even had a very easy hack that didn't require rooting or unlocking the bootloader to get it to work on US GSM carriers and they blocked that in a later update.

You can get all those phones to work on those carriers. The RAZR gets full hspa on att too. I had a RAZR on att and t mobile before. Just a matter of knowing how to do it.
Almost every Verizon phone now can work on att and t mobile

 

[Chocu1a]

You can get all those phones to work on those carriers. The RAZR gets full hspa on att too. I had a RAZR on att and t mobile before. Just a matter of knowing how to do it.
Almost every Verizon phone now can work on att and t mobile

Yeah, I have used my Verizon Note 2 on AT&T and TMobile. On AT&T I get hspa+, on TMobile edge only.

 

[Silenus]

Sure there is a way. Just eat the ETF and leave.

This is what I did. My wife and I were pushing $190+ a month on Verizon. I did the math and it wasn't even worth it to wait out the contract. I bought two new Galaxy Nexus phones, ate all the ETF's for both lines, all of which added up to $1200 front loaded cost to switch to T-Mobile. Here's the things though...I saved that amount in only 1 year. I passed the one year mark back in August and we now well into savings land on T-Mobile.

Sometimes you have to be willing to spend now in order to save in the long run.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Screw it. Get out of Verizon ASAP. If you want any phone mobility, get away from CDMA. People have been singing this whole SIM cards are coming tune for quite a while, and see what Verizon did with the Nexus 7 LTE?

Stay on Verizon only if you cannot tolerate the reception on any of the other carriers (AT&T has improved greatly, so please do not base your decisions off 2009 complaints), and if there's no way you can leave unlimited data. Trust me, you can live with 2GB of data or whatever. You just need to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments.

 

[dlock13]

Yeah, I use AIO service (which is essentially AT&T), and I get amazing service nearly everywhere. Even places where VZW doesn't get service, I still have it with AT&T.

 

[Red Storm]

Honestly what I would do is wait one year, use your upgrades on the iPhone 6, immediately sell said iPhones for a very nice profit, pay the ETF and you should still make out with plenty of money to use on phones for another carrier.

 

[Joe1987]

Screw it. Get out of Verizon ASAP. If you want any phone mobility, get away from CDMA. People have been singing this whole SIM cards are coming tune for quite a while, and see what Verizon did with the Nexus 7 LTE?

Stay on Verizon only if you cannot tolerate the reception on any of the other carriers (AT&T has improved greatly, so please do not base your decisions off 2009 complaints), and if there's no way you can leave unlimited data. Trust me, you can live with 2GB of data or whatever. You just need to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments.

Verizon will eventually allow the N7 on it's network, and they use sim cards in the LTE phones, not sure what you're complaining about, I swap sim cards routinely on my Verizon phones, and if I need say a nano sim instead of a micro sim, they swap me out for free, no fuss or complaints, the CSR's in store are pretty cool when I tell them I have an old unlimited plan, we BS usually 2-3X's longer than the swap actually takes.

If the OP wants, they'll swap him out to an LTE phone/sim (as long as he provides the phone, heck, he can sell his line if it's unlimited for ~$300 on ebay.

I'm not saying Verizon is particularly flexible, cheap or easy to work with, but it's a known issue, you want on their network, you play by their rules.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Verizon will eventually allow the N7 on it's network, and they use sim cards in the LTE phones, not sure what you're complaining about, I swap sim cards routinely on my Verizon phones, and if I need say a nano sim instead of a micro sim, they swap me out for free, no fuss or complaints, the CSR's in store are pretty cool when I tell them I have an old unlimited plan, we BS usually 2-3X's longer than the swap actually takes.

If the OP wants, they'll swap him out to an LTE phone/sim (as long as he provides the phone, heck, he can sell his line if it's unlimited for ~$300 on ebay.

I'm not saying Verizon is particularly flexible, cheap or easy to work with, but it's a known issue, you want on their network, you play by their rules.

You can't just buy any phone you want. It has to be a Verizon stamped phone because no one makes CDMA phones. The concept of device portability on Verizon is just totally different. So while every new phone thread has someone whining about "Is it coming to Verizon???" that's not really something that GSM users have to worry about.

It's not even about their rules or anything, it's like dealing with proprietary plugs. Sure, I can most likely find a lightning connector just asking a couple of next cube neighbors in my office, but I can't just plug any phone into it. MicroUSB on the other hand is GSM, and what the whole world has been used to. No waiting for a phone to arrive on XYZ network, no worrying about carrier exclusives, etc.

And this whole eventually thing is what I've been hearing pre-LTE. I've been able to get every single Nexus phone to work on AT&T no problems. Look at how many Verizon comments are on the Nexus 5 articles...

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Honestly what I would do is wait one year, use your upgrades on the iPhone 6, immediately sell said iPhones for a very nice profit, pay the ETF and you should still make out with plenty of money to use on phones for another carrier.

Not worth it. $250 for an iPhone incl taxes and fees. You sell it for $700 if you're lucky and unlock it. If not, you can expect about $650. That's $400 in profit minus the $350 ETF. All that for $50? Screw it. Get out.

 

[Joe1987]

You can't just buy any phone you want. It has to be a Verizon stamped phone because no one makes CDMA phones. The concept of device portability on Verizon is just totally different. So while every new phone thread has someone whining about "Is it coming to Verizon???" that's not really something that GSM users have to worry about.

It's not even about their rules or anything, it's like dealing with proprietary plugs. Sure, I can most likely find a lightning connector just asking a couple of next cube neighbors in my office, but I can't just plug any phone into it. MicroUSB on the other hand is GSM, and what the whole world has been used to. No waiting for a phone to arrive on XYZ network, no worrying about carrier exclusives, etc.

And this whole eventually thing is what I've been hearing pre-LTE. I've been able to get every single Nexus phone to work on AT&T no problems. Look at how many Verizon comments are on the Nexus 5 articles...

I don't want to be a VZ apologist, LOL, but as long as you follow their rules, things go fine. I don't agree with their rules, and don't like them, but you can use their network, and fiddle with stuff, for instance, I put my iPad sim with Data only in my iPhone for a few weeks, and it worked fine, and have put my phone sim in my iPad and it worked fine.

You can swap VZ certified stuff all day every day, and I find used VZ phones tend to be a bit cheaper too, since it's such a restrictive network and the demand seems to be less.

When everyone goes to LTE, all the damn bands will be different, and it's still the same thing, different day

If congress for instance or the FCC would do something, flipping anything that made the playing field even for consumers, I'd just drop dead, as it stands, the regulatory agencies allow the carriers to pull all of this crap.

As far as the N5 and Verizon, we don't know yet, it would be a big deal if Verizon allows it, and IMHO, the ONLY reason they may not allow it is because they won't make a profit on a phone not sold directly by them. The only reason I'm sure that VZ will allow the N7 is that they sell tablets unsubsidized, and charge out the ass for data on them.