world phone? GSM+WCDMA - Motorola Droid RAZR

Hey all,
a quick question, after reading through the forum there seems to be 2 Razrs out (excluding the customs one released in China MT917 and XT928)
One is the CDMA/LTE version and the other GSM/HSDPA version.
I read this article and it says the RAZR is a world phone, containing a combined radio capable of CMDA and GSM...
So is there any roms out there thats able get the razr to work with both? or am I just reading the article wrong?

Am I dealing with a $650 paper weight?
I Live in the Phlippines. When I first started researching the specs on this phone it list CDMA/LTE and GSM with 4 bands... I assumed it would work over here. I purchased the XT912 model directly from Motorola with no plan and had it shipped directly to the Philippines. (My Bad)
Once in my hands I naturally popped in my micro-sim and turned it on. The only thing I got was that it didn't recognize the sim and my options were "Power Off" or "Emergency Dial". Not a happy camper to say the least... I now have a $650 brick!
I have since been able to get into the main menu of the phone but of course it still doesn't recognize my GSM sim. Most likely because of the fact that it has a CDMA/LTE baseband loaded which I assume has no GSM support. Hence the reason it does not recognize the sim or receive any GSM/HSDPA signal.
My question is this: How do I flash/load a new GSM/HSDPA baseband that will enable the radio and make this phone useful to me?
I'm a total noob when it comes to Android so please be patient with my ignorance... Especially if this is simply never going to work out. Should I keep the phone on the hopes that a developer will crack this nut or sell it on E-Bay and walk away... Thanks!

My apologies for adding insult to injury but it looks like you didn't research enough...
Yes, the XT912 has the hardware for GSM but it was disabled by Verizon since it only needed the LTE hardware. This was noted in the FCC docs that were leaked.
The GSM hardware can be activated in theory but there's a lot more to it than a simple flash.
So unfortunately, you have a paperweight in your hands...
pacafrat said:
I Live in the Phlippines. When I first started researching the specs on this phone it list CDMA/LTE and GSM with 4 bands... I assumed it would work over here. I purchased the XT912 model directly from Motorola with no plan and had it shipped directly to the Philippines. (My Bad)
Once in my hands I naturally popped in my micro-sim and turned it on. The only thing I got was that it didn't recognize the sim and my options were "Power Off" or "Emergency Dial". Not a happy camper to say the least... I now have a $650 brick!
I have since been able to get into the main menu of the phone but of course it still doesn't recognize my GSM sim. Most likely because of the fact that it has a CDMA/LTE baseband loaded which I assume has no GSM support. Hence the reason it does not recognize the sim or receive any GSM/HSDPA signal.
My question is this: How do I flash/load a new GSM/HSDPA baseband that will enable the radio and make this phone useful to me?
I'm a total noob when it comes to Android so please be patient with my ignorance... Especially if this is simply never going to work out. Should I keep the phone on the hopes that a developer will crack this nut or sell it on E-Bay and walk away... Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I frequently travel to Europe, and it is frustrating to learn that Verizon has crippled the phone. It is bad enough that they don't allow me to pay for a plan while I am in Europe (and those plans are generally rip-offs) but to make me have to bring an entirely different phone when the Razr is capable is borderline absurd IMO.
I realize they want to keep it carrier specific... but I used to be a Sprint customer, and had a "world phone" which was unlocked for world GSM but locked for US GSM. This was fair and worked great for when I traveled.

Son of a! Do you mean to tell me that this phone could have been a world phone, but Verizon chose to disable this feature? That's retarded. I knew that it was CDMA/LTE-only when I bought it, but this phone would be nearly perfect if all the radios were enabled.

I read the Droid 4 will be the first LTE phone with GSM capabilities on Verizon, but could the GSM portion be disabled like it is on the Razr?

Ok thanks for the feedback everyone, so it seems the Razr has the hardware to be a world phone, but its just the software that isnt capable.
So if it has an unlocked bootloader, it might be possible to flash radios that support all basebands...correct?
pacafrat, sell me your razr I am in China

Related

cdma to gsm (and other options for USA to Australia)

im going to be in australia for the next few months, and im looking into what phone im going to use there.
Its tough, because ive grown attached to having all the toys on my verizon xv6800, and dont want to go back to a standard phone.
Is it at all possible to get my titan to work on an Australian network? if not, can anyone point me in the direction of some information about other international phone options?
if anyone on here is from australia please let me know, i'd love to get in touch and get whatever information i can about plans and other info.
im open to any suggestions or other options for what i can do about a useful phone in australia.
Thanks alot
Entirely different radio and chip structures
well, you can always use your xv6800 just not to make calls. WiFi and GPS would work, you'd have no cell signal.
So, I suggest carrying 2 devices or searching online or picking up a GSM HTC smart phone. The Tilt/Kaiser Raphael (Touch Pro GSM) and the Blackstone / Touch HD and so many more cooler new devices will work in Australlia. However, some of those things are costly and you could natively use an older HTC phone.
You could buy an unlocked phone and just put a sim in there when you arrive.
The 2 main questions are what do you want to spend on a phone and will you rely on a data connection other than wifi?
I thought there was native CDMA coverage in australia? Or is it only new zealand? I would agree an ebayed tilt unlocked and a prepaid sim would probably be the best route.

Which us cellular android phone?

Hello xda, I was Judy wondering if any of you could help me out with a problem I'm having. I might be getting an android phone, the only problem is that I'm on us cellular and there doesn't appear to be top many options. My phone options are the htc hero s, Motorola electrify, Samsung repp, htc wildfire s, htc merge and huaweii ascend ii ( sorry if I spelled that wrong).
IM looking for a phone with some support of development community behind it, whether it be on xda or some other forum/ website.
Thank you and IM sorry if this its in the wrong forum.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
They are CDMA so if may be possible to activate an unlocked Verizon or maybe Sprint phone but you wouldn't get carrier subsidized pricing so it would be more expensive and may be harder to activate.
Motorola doesn't want to unlock bootloaders while HTC has recently made it possible to unlock bootloaders on recent models. Unfortunately the US Cellular versions of any android phone are going to have less dev support because US Cell is a smaller carrier meaning less device owners.
spunker88 said:
They are CDMA so if may be possible to activate an unlocked Verizon or maybe Sprint phone but you wouldn't get carrier subsidized pricing so it would be more expensive and may be harder to activate.
Motorola doesn't want to unlock bootloaders while HTC has recently made it possible to unlock bootloaders on recent models. Unfortunately the US Cellular versions of any android phone are going to have less dev support because US Cell is a smaller carrier meaning less device owners.
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Click to collapse
I didn't know that, (sorry I'm a noob at phones). I remember when my dad broke his phone (some cheap thing), my brother's old phone was the same model, os he went into the store and they made it his phone without a problem. Do you think they would be willing to do that if I brought in an unlocked verizon phone?
Thanks for replying.
I'm not for sure if a Verizon phone will work, technology wise it has the hardware to communicate with US Cellular since its CDMA, but it may require some software changes to work on their network. Also it depends if they will activate non carrier devices.
spunker88 said:
I'm not for sure if a Verizon phone will work, technology wise it has the hardware to communicate with US Cellular since its CDMA, but it may require some software changes to work on their network. Also it depends if they will activate non carrier devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah they probably wouldn't allow it.
Hopefully at least one of these phones has some rom development somewhere on the internet, or I can get the wildfire and just remove sense from it without a problem.

[Q] Using Droid Razr on Strait Talk network

after looking on the forums and a few other places and seeing that the razr should have gsm turned on if we were to find a way to unlock the gsm and put in say a strait talk micro sim card would it still continue to run cdma with 4g lte or would it just use the gsm networks that are around cause $45 for unlimted everything would be sweet. because of were i am strait talk uses vzw networks but i also know that their gsm phones use i think att's network. but if we could do this how many of you would dump your contracts and only pay $45
no body needs to lecture me about spelling or grammer i know it is my flaw and no reason to flame for it LOL
From what i undertsand it should work with out issues.but i believe u need to be on a ics leak to have it fully unlocked.in the ics leak they made it unlocked for global know and thats what my phone is set at.it will hse gsm frequency only since u wont be tied into verizon no longer....if im wrong someone plz correct but i believe im right...
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda premium
with the straight talk SIM card it would only work on GSM (from straight talk SIM page), yes in the past straight talk had phones that ran/run on verizons CDMA but those are being phased out and the SIM cards being sold now will only work with the GSM, I'm quite interested in this idea myself, I can't do it for more then a year and a half (not worth the cost to break the contract), so someone should be able to confirm this working before that time comes.
But it all depends on whether the razr gsm frequencies are in the same spectrum as AT&T or not, or possibly some other lockout, because in the news articles it seems to imply the global update GSM frequency won't work with AT&T for some reason and you need to be on AT&T GSM to use the straight talk SIM card.
But what would the possibility of getting them to work like the 4g devices on vzw cause I can take the sim out and place in other 4g phone and it works but strait GSM would be nice as well
Side note has any one figured out how to unlock the xt910 phones for different sim. Cards
pondwater said:
But what would the possibility of getting them to work like the 4g devices on vzw cause I can take the sim out and place in other 4g phone and it works but strait GSM would be nice as well
Side note has any one figured out how to unlock the xt910 phones for different sim. Cards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
from my understanding it won't, verizon and straight talk started limiting there interaction before LTE and the SIM cards they are selling now are LOCKED to AT&T GSM frequencies.
http://www.straighttalk.com/shopsims if you choose CDMA it says program not available, and from what I understand AT&T's 4G LTE will be on a different frequency spectrum (50 Megahertz higher IIRC) and so our verizon LTE radios will not be supported on that system.
pondwater said:
after looking on the forums and a few other places and seeing that the razr should have gsm turned on if we were to find a way to unlock the gsm and put in say a strait talk micro sim card would it still continue to run cdma with 4g lte or would it just use the gsm networks that are around cause $45 for unlimted everything would be sweet. because of were i am strait talk uses vzw networks but i also know that their gsm phones use i think att's network. but if we could do this how many of you would dump your contracts and only pay $45
no body needs to lecture me about spelling or grammer i know it is my flaw and no reason to flame for it LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could buy a GSM razr /maxx that comes sim unlocked and use it on straight talk
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA
Samsuck said:
You could buy a GSM razr /maxx that comes sim unlocked and use it on straight talk
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not all of us have the money to buy a new phone
You can use RadioComm to unlock the CDMA/LTE Razr to work on AT&T and T-Mobile. There is a thread somewhere on XDA that shows how to do it. Then all you would have to do is pop in the Straight Talk SIM and edit the APN settings on the Razr to get data and MMS. IIRC, the Razr supports all the frequencies AT&T uses, including the ones used for HSPA+.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
I don't think Lte will work in straighttalk, would be nice but yes straight talk its phasing out devices that use Verizons frequencies.
droid razr maxx
So can anyone confirm that the droid razr maxx will work on straight talk at all with like att sim card? That would be great news because that phone has the best battery.
Straight Talk didn't work out so well for me...
This is what I have found out from talking to Motorola.
Thanks for reaching out to Motorola.
With the release of the Ice Cream Sandwich, the DROID RAZR MAXX can now support GSM. That means it can be used with any carrier's SIM card. But the phone needs to be unlocked to use it with a different carrier aside from Verizon.
In order to unlock the phone you will need the "subsidy" code. This is a code that is unique to your phone. The code is assigned by the original service provider so that you cannot take the phone to another carrier without their permission. The business (carrier) that the phone was originally manufactured for is the only one that will have this information.
You will need to talk to a technical support person at the company for which the phone was sold, for assistance. The technical support staff will probably need to know the IMEI number off of the phone, under the battery to assist you.
We hope that you find this information useful and we look forward to assisting you in the future.
Thank you for contacting Motorola e-mail support.
Best Regards,
Maureen
ValtheBatman said:
This is what I have found out from talking to Motorola.
Thanks for reaching out to Motorola.
With the release of the Ice Cream Sandwich, the DROID RAZR MAXX can now support GSM. That means it can be used with any carrier's SIM card. But the phone needs to be unlocked to use it with a different carrier aside from Verizon.
In order to unlock the phone you will need the "subsidy" code. This is a code that is unique to your phone. The code is assigned by the original service provider so that you cannot take the phone to another carrier without their permission. The business (carrier) that the phone was originally manufactured for is the only one that will have this information.
You will need to talk to a technical support person at the company for which the phone was sold, for assistance. The technical support staff will probably need to know the IMEI number off of the phone, under the battery to assist you.
We hope that you find this information useful and we look forward to assisting you in the future.
Thank you for contacting Motorola e-mail support.
Best Regards,
Maureen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunatelly it does not work with AT&T or T-Mobile or Straight Talk service in United States. Droid Razr / Razr Max will only work with other GSM Cards outside the US Market. Please see the findings below:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1619563&page=30
talking w/ a geekI know that wooks for verizion
ValtheBatman said:
So can anyone confirm that the droid razr maxx will work on straight talk at all with like at&t sim card? That would be great news because that phone has the best battery.
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Click to collapse
I went to hin earlier this month (Feb, 13) He said yeah it can be done. especially if you click on GSM when you go to your settings where you can choose between global and LTE/CDMA mode. and try clicking on GSM/ UMTS, then you should lost you data and all your bars with a red line through it. If a box pops up saying this phone does not have a GSM carrier connection, or something like that, that's even better. Now since Verizon got rid of unlimited data, and also got fined over 1.2 billion data for deleting 7 3rd party adds for free hotspot, there are more and more hotspot apps popping up all the time. I highly recommend downloading Aptoid for free so you can download any paid app for free. I haven't come across a app it does not have and just downloaded a $29.99 app today. Anyways, he said there are way's to do this without unlocking though many Verizon techs might not do it for you or even tell you how to get the info. I recommend doing and checking out a few things first. If you still have unlimited data, just order the strait talk SIM card for now until either they get rid of unlimited data all together or you don't want to pay full price for a phone anymore. Here's what you need to check into. there are many other pte-paid providers out there. And you can order blank SIM cards from out of country. check out clear.com, thats $45 bucks a month for unlimited data at home or on the go. the devices cost anywhere from 24.99-100+, but the adverage one you need is around $50. If you can conect to your computer from your phone or tablet, there are ways for to remotely send your phone internet access from you PC to you phone or computer. look it up! I don't know hoe to do all this stuff my buddy does. I am just a business owner that has used 149GB on my unlimited data plan through Verizon since January 28th till February 15th, which is on the low side for me since I used 59GB's from January 29th to February 3rd. Whatever blocks come up, there will be a way around them. these companies rely on older people like my aunt who had unlimited data on her regular smart phone + her work phone then she was paying by the GB for her Ipad. All three with with her at all times I showed her how to be able to use all three through her regular phone, Via Hotspot w/ a free hotspot app. or Via Blu-tooth, and how to direct tether. she couldn't believe she was now able to save about $150 a month in about 25 mins of a little education. Also I said there will always be ways around whatever the cell companies do. I am not going to tell you the name of the company that goes live February 21st. but $40 a month, unlimited everything and all you have to do is to get one other person to do it with after you. plus you can use whatever phone you have now. if you get two people to sign up after you it is free, $20 for every person you sign up, $10 for every person they sign up $5 for the next, but it doesn't go any further than that, It hasn't even stated yet, but I signed up in November and signed up 13 people, some of them went nuts and got a lot of people, which only like 4 of them I know and the people the people They signed up signed up alot. now my first months paycheck along with my free unlimited data talk and text will be $3,130. why? because if I didn't sign up anyone my bill would be $40, I signed up 13 and the chain when on from there. less money for the people you didn't sign up but are linked to you from the ones you did. I just found out how much money I will be getting at the end of march. Now they are getting rid of free data. I am going to push this. and you can keep you first service plan if you don't get good reception for calls, just swich out the SIM cards. Look it up, it should be hard to find
not sure
What I want to know is when If I did the following:
jrtower said:
I went to hin earlier this month (Feb, 13) He said yeah it can be done. especially if you click on GSM when you go to your settings where you can choose between global and LTE/CDMA mode. and try clicking on GSM/ UMTS, then you should lost you data and all your bars with a red line through it. If a box pops up saying this phone does not have a GSM carrier connection, or something like that, that's even better.
I got pop up window so what do I do now? I would really like to use my Droid Razor please help me:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Verizon Razr MAXX, World phone + flashing = Problems?

I'd like to replace my Droid X2 with the Razr MAXX, I see this is one of my options on verizon for a "world" phone.
I never expected my career to literally and figuratively "take off" as it has, and now I really need to adapt.
I want to be able to just use prepaid SIM cards when I'm in europe, but being the nerd/geek/technomancer I am (depending on who you talk to)
I just want to be sure that I can still screw with this thing without inhibiting my ability to use DATA and VOICE overseas on a GSM network.
I see that these roms are GSM/CDMA specfic, and if I switch to a GSM network, do I also have to switch to a GSM rom?
and yes, I will void this fukker's warranty the day I bring it home, I can't remember the last computer/tablet/phone that I haven't done that to.
I REALLY like my Droid X2 with the extended battery + CM7, It has been without a doubt the single most reliable phone I've ever owned. (so many people complain about it, but I think they just suck at technology) There isn't a single thing (aside from flashing a new kernel) that I haven't been able to do with/to it. Right now, my biggest dislike about it is the cracked digitizer (it fell out of my pocket onto a concrete slab approx 50ft below me, and all it did was crack the digitizer, thing still works FLAWLESSLY) so I'm pretty sold on motorola despite all the hate.
so are there any globetrotting verizon customers out there that have experience with this or am I going to have to just go out on a limb and do it? if worse comes to worse, I'll just buy a galaxy note and use that in the EU when I'm here, and use my razr maxx when I'm not.
I always have been and forever will be a fan of anything motorola that has the ability to Tx/Rx... they do radios right!
I think that you can't change CDMA to GSM, both are different technologies, that's why there are specifically ROMS for CDMA and GSM.
Enviado desde mi XT910 usando Tapatalk 2
Cheapxj said:
I'd like to replace my Droid X2 with the Razr MAXX, I see this is one of my options on verizon for a "world" phone.
I never expected my career to literally and figuratively "take off" as it has, and now I really need to adapt.
I want to be able to just use prepaid SIM cards when I'm in europe, but being the nerd/geek/technomancer I am (depending on who you talk to)
I just want to be sure that I can still screw with this thing without inhibiting my ability to use DATA and VOICE overseas on a GSM network.
I see that these roms are GSM/CDMA specfic, and if I switch to a GSM network, do I also have to switch to a GSM rom?
and yes, I will void this fukker's warranty the day I bring it home, I can't remember the last computer/tablet/phone that I haven't done that to.
I REALLY like my Droid X2 with the extended battery + CM7, It has been without a doubt the single most reliable phone I've ever owned. (so many people complain about it, but I think they just suck at technology) There isn't a single thing (aside from flashing a new kernel) that I haven't been able to do with/to it. Right now, my biggest dislike about it is the cracked digitizer (it fell out of my pocket onto a concrete slab approx 50ft below me, and all it did was crack the digitizer, thing still works FLAWLESSLY) so I'm pretty sold on motorola despite all the hate.
so are there any globetrotting verizon customers out there that have experience with this or am I going to have to just go out on a limb and do it? if worse comes to worse, I'll just buy a galaxy note and use that in the EU when I'm here, and use my razr maxx when I'm not.
I always have been and forever will be a fan of anything motorola that has the ability to Tx/Rx... they do radios right!
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Click to collapse
Dany.Zam said:
I think that you can't change CDMA to GSM, both are different technologies, that's why there are specifically ROMS for CDMA and GSM.
Enviado desde mi XT910 usando Tapatalk 2
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Click to collapse
i believe lots of over seas people would buy the verizon maxx and use it via gsm because the gsm maxx took a long time to be released.
so data should work fine (and voice to) just no US gsm carriers.
and Dany.zam
both versions have the same radio, it supports cdma and gsm, gsm is just blocked on the verizon one (for us use), and i believe cdma is blocked or not given an esn number for the gsm one.
ooohhaaahh said:
both versions have the same radio, it supports cdma and gsm, gsm is just blocked on the verizon one (for us use), and i believe cdma is blocked or not given an esn number for the gsm one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think the GSM one has a CDMA radio at all, as it would be pointless in markets where its sold.
well, I can always SBF it if it comes down to it, or just have two phones. I like the galaxy note better anyway in terms of hardware/features (I like having a stylus, keeps fingerprints off the screen surface and is good for some of the dirty nasty sweatiness that work gets me into)
Ok, I'll be back in the states in less than a week, Gotta buy a new phone anyway (was using my Droid X2 as a camera and I broke it, dropped it off the top of a fully extended genie lift onto the concrete below) so.
I see there's "2nd system" support using the webtop partition, so I can keep a "daily driver" rom and have another one to experiment with correct?
anyone know of roms that work well on BOTH CDMA and GSM after the radiocomm hacks?
I will be buying this thing full retail from a verizon store.
I give zero fukks if it works on ATT or any US GSM carrier, I only need GSM for european travel.
can I use prepaid sims in europe or should I "rent-a-sim" from one of those sim rental outfits?
if anyone has any real world experience with flashing/hacking this phone and globetrotting, POST UP!
it must work for in-country voice calling, and be able to provide wifi tethering everywhere I have signal.
I will be mostly in germany, the netherlands, france, great britain and spain outside the US. (in order of frequency/importance)
This is a world phone stock, it contains both GSM and CDMA radios, I'm more concerned with how different custom roms interact with the radio and if they work properly for Voice, MMS, SMS and Data on prepaid sims vs. "contract" sims in the european union.

[Q] Unlock Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4

Is it possible to unlock the Verizon version of the S4? I'm deploying in 4 weeks and would like to use my phone with international carriers. I have an SCH-I545 build and I'm still running on stock. Thanks
I think ATT has begun to unlock phones internationally when asked.
Verizon? Not sure... one think to check is if the Verizon GS4 supports a carrier in the country you travel to.
Take a look at Leo Laporte's Tech Guy show... he has callers ask this quetion on average every other week... I think he has show notes on his site now days... techguylabs.com
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
PetrichorXFi said:
I think ATT has begun to unlock phones internationally when asked.
Verizon? Not sure... one think to check is if the Verizon GS4 supports a carrier in the country you travel to.
Take a look at Leo Laporte's Tech Guy show... he has callers ask this quetion on average every other week... I think he has show notes on his site now days... techguylabs.com
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon phones are unlocked out of the box, but you have to make sure that the country you are going to has a GSM network.
After a lot of searching, I decided to ask this here:
I have a Verizon S4, but I was wondering if it was actually unlocked out-of-box or if there is something I have to do in order to use it with, for instance, Cricket, or U.S. Cellular. I have done lots of rooting/developing for Android, but have never tried to use an Android phone with a differing carrier. Can anyone help or point me to a thread that helps? (Again, did lots of Googling and XDA-searching)
furballbeethoven said:
After a lot of searching, I decided to ask this here:
I have a Verizon S4, but I was wondering if it was actually unlocked out-of-box or if there is something I have to do in order to use it with, for instance, Cricket, or U.S. Cellular. I have done lots of rooting/developing for Android, but have never tried to use an Android phone with a differing carrier. Can anyone help or point me to a thread that helps? (Again, did lots of Googling and XDA-searching)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is GSM-unlocked. This means that you buy a SIM, plug it in, then add the proper APN to enable data. (Settings, Connections, More networks, Mobile networks, Access Point Names). The "+" (Add APN) button is disabled if you have a VZ SIM installed but will be enabled if you insert a non-VZ SIM.
Whoever you get the SIM from will tell you what to enter for the APN.
Whether or not it'll work and how fast a network you'll get depends on the bands that the local carrier uses.
k1mu said:
The phone is GSM-unlocked. This means that you buy a SIM, plug it in, then add the proper APN to enable data. (Settings, Connections, More networks, Mobile networks, Access Point Names). The "+" (Add APN) button is disabled if you have a VZ SIM installed but will be enabled if you insert a non-VZ SIM.
Whoever you get the SIM from will tell you what to enter for the APN.
Whether or not it'll work and how fast a network you'll get depends on the bands that the local carrier uses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI k1mu,
So do you mean to say if I purchase this device with full price from VZW ~$400 (month to month plan),
the next thing I can do is take off VZW SIM and would it work on my AT&T GSM SIM in US?
malhotra.aakash said:
HI k1mu,
So do you mean to say if I purchase this device with full price from VZW ~$400 (month to month plan),
the next thing I can do is take off VZW SIM and would it work on my AT&T GSM SIM in US?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe. While the VZW version is GSM-unlocked for international use, it is unclear how well it works with US GSM carriers. Some people say they can get it to work, some say they can't. Theoretically, it should only take you putting in an AT&T SIM then plugging in the APN data for it to work, but some people still say it won't.
So, you should be able to, but going by the accounts of XDA members, it doesn't always work, which may or may not come down to user error.
joshm.1219 said:
Maybe. While the VZW version is GSM-unlocked for international use, it is unclear how well it works with US GSM carriers. Some people say they can get it to work, some say they can't. Theoretically, it should only take you putting in an AT&T SIM then plugging in the APN data for it to work, but some people still say it won't.
So, you should be able to, but going by the accounts of XDA members, it doesn't always work, which may or may not come down to user error.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks joshm.1219,
It still leaves me in a dilemma.. I do really want to get a "S4 mini" model but don't want to stuck up with CDMA providers to be true. Might want to use with ATT or Tmobile or H2O.. I visited the VZW store and the model has option under networks as
1. Global
2. LTE/CDMA
3. GSM/UTMS
Now the Qs are,
1. If this model does have a SIM card slot, how at the first point VZW has lock on it
2. When i asked the VZW associate, he was not sure whether they ever do unlock the device or not
3. If I am ready to pay off complete price of the device which is ~400, what else I would need from them to really 'UNLOCK' it?
4. Is there any means by root/flashing to make such model work for US GSM carriers like H2O or even T-mobile.
Sorry to be so annoying but m new to all these things and quite confused :crying:
many Thx in advance..
malhotra.aakash said:
Thanks joshm.1219,
It still leaves me in a dilemma.. I do really want to get a "S4 mini" model but don't want to stuck up with CDMA providers to be true. Might want to use with ATT or Tmobile or H2O.. I visited the VZW store and the model has option under networks as
1. Global
2. LTE/CDMA
3. GSM/UTMS
Now the Qs are,
1. If this model does have a SIM card slot, how at the first point VZW has lock on it
2. When i asked the VZW associate, he was not sure whether they ever do unlock the device or not
3. If I am ready to pay off complete price of the device which is ~400, what else I would need from them to really 'UNLOCK' it?
4. Is there any means by root/flashing to make such model work for US GSM carriers like H2O or even T-mobile.
Sorry to be so annoying but m new to all these things and quite confused :crying:
many Thx in advance..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I can't be of more help, I've been on Verizon for 10 years now, but it is by all intents & purposes, fully SIM-unlocked. It's simply unclear as to why some people report problems of using Verizon phones on US GSM carriers. If you really don't want to worry about it & are willing to pay full price, purchase a device through the carrier you want to use it on.
here is the code to choose network
you might need to change the network frequency to gsm if you wanna use it on att or tmobile and when you wanna switch back to verizon choose wcdma try dialing *#*#4636#*#*:good:
joshm.1219 said:
Sorry I can't be of more help, I've been on Verizon for 10 years now, but it is by all intents & purposes, fully SIM-unlocked. It's simply unclear as to why some people report problems of using Verizon phones on US GSM carriers. If you really don't want to worry about it & are willing to pay full price, purchase a device through the carrier you want to use it on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had people argue with me over this, but the fact is that NO Verizon LTE phone is SIM-locked. None. Nada.
People who claim differently are simply misinformed. (My I545 comes up on AT&T when I plug in my UK SIM and switch to GSM.)
Not to say that all VZ phones are unlocked - my Inc2 had to be unlocked before it would work with that same SIM. If I remember right, it wouldn't connect in the US, either, even after being unlocked. Not so for the GS4.
I appreciate the posts here from people who know. As for me, I am switching to tmobile and will attempt to use this there. If it doesnt work out, I will sell it on swappa and get a nexus 5!
Hi,
Verizon S4 with 4.3 is international unlocked by default.
You just need to select network mode 'GLOBAL'. Then add the right APN.
I am using Indian GSM SIM with the GLOBAL mode selected. All is well for me.
I can provide screenshots if anybody wanna see.
Verizon phones are unlocked out of the box and they DO work fine on US carriers I'm running my Verizon S4 right now on AT&T and I also ran it on tmobile for short time,
even works with Walmart straight talk and Net10 as those are just subsidies of T Mobile and AT&T anyway.
so don't sweat it if you have a verizon phone that uses a sim card, you can run it on any network that uses a SIM card US or international.
baseband issue
Doesn't the MK2 baseband with jb 4.3 block US Sim cards?
Or do I just have a weird s4?
kendonsh said:
Doesn't the MK2 baseband with jb 4.3 block US Sim cards?
Or do I just have a weird s4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine dont? Im on mk2,
soon as I got my verizon s4 replacement from a damaged model that I turned in,
I threw a net10/att sim card in it.
completely stock phone not even rooted nothin, and it works fine, I did get a popup that said non Verizon SIM card but it works fine
calls in and out MMS works fine
---------- Post added at 01:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:53 PM ----------
CafeAdrutico said:
The S4 is supposed to work globally right out of the box, as long as you've called Verizon to enable International roaming on your account. But, used that way, you'll be paying Verizon for International roaming and it's bloody expensive.
The question is, can you remove the SIM and put in a SIM for a local carrier in the foreign country where you are and use the phone on that carrier? That is what being unlocked would allow you to do. Past Verizon phones have not been unlocked to allow this. But, if you called Tech Support and told them you were going to, for example, Europe and wanted to use a local SIM, they would walk you through unlocking (at no charge).
I read a report that the S4 is not locked and that you can use a SIM for a local carrier in Europe, as it comes out of the box. But, I would not trust that. I would call VZW Tech Support and tell them exactly what you want to do - i.e. don't say "can I use my phone in Europe?" The answer to that is yes, you can, at about $1/minute. What you should ask them is, "can I travel to Europe and purchase a SIM from a local carrier and use that in my phone?" If not, they should be able to walk you through unlocking the phone, so you can do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to answer your question simply yes.
let's say I take my phone to Spain are somewhere in the UK, I'll go to store buy a SIM card for local network and BAM local phone number in Europe making phone calls, you can even get Data to work if you have that local carrier's APN settings
no unlocking is required because it is not locked.
other companies AT&T, Sprint, t-mobile, yes you have to get The phone sim unlocked.
k1mu said:
I've had people argue with me over this, but the fact is that NO Verizon LTE phone is SIM-locked. None. Nada.
People who claim differently are simply misinformed. (My I545 comes up on AT&T when I plug in my UK SIM and switch to GSM.)
Not to say that all VZ phones are unlocked - my Inc2 had to be unlocked before it would work with that same SIM. If I remember right, it wouldn't connect in the US, either, even after being unlocked. Not so for the GS4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is 100% correct. NO LTE phones on verizon are sim locked. They are REQUIRED to keep them unlocked because of their agreement with the FCC for their use of the spectrum they lease. NO OTHER CARRIER must abide by these rules. Only VZW. Sprint I've heard will unlock ANY phone that is capable if you ask them too, and AT&T will NOT unlock any of their phones unless it 2 years old and out of contract (which makes no sense if you have to pay them while under contract anyway). There was a big deal about the Iphone 5 when it came out with LTE for verizon. If you bought a Verizon Iphone, you could put an ATT sim in it and it works, but not an ATT on VZW because ATT keeps them locked.
The Dinc 2 above was NOT an LTE device. Therefore no sim card....and it wouldn't work on most overseas networks anyway as it was a CDMA only phone. I believe VZW tested the limits of the "unlocked" SIM with their first few LTE phones. My Rezound worked with a GSM network sim....but voice and SMS only. It took some unlocking of the bootloader and rooting to run a special Rom to get Data to work on it.
I am heading to the Caribbean in a few weeks, and I will be using a rented SIM card to be able to message back and forth with my wife (with a data based messenger service as data rates are far cheaper than SMS rate there)
318sugarhill said:
This is 100% correct. NO LTE phones on verizon are sim locked. They are REQUIRED to keep them unlocked because of their agreement with the FCC for their use of the spectrum they lease. NO OTHER CARRIER must abide by these rules. Only VZW. Sprint I've heard will unlock ANY phone that is capable if you ask them too, and AT&T will NOT unlock any of their phones unless it 2 years old and out of contract (which makes no sense if you have to pay them while under contract anyway). There was a big deal about the Iphone 5 when it came out with LTE for verizon. If you bought a Verizon Iphone, you could put an ATT sim in it and it works, but not an ATT on VZW because ATT keeps them locked.
The Dinc 2 above was NOT an LTE device. Therefore no sim card....and it wouldn't work on most overseas networks anyway as it was a CDMA only phone. I believe VZW tested the limits of the "unlocked" SIM with their first few LTE phones. My Rezound worked with a GSM network sim....but voice and SMS only. It took some unlocking of the bootloader and rooting to run a special Rom to get Data to work on it.
I am heading to the Caribbean in a few weeks, and I will be using a rented SIM card to be able to message back and forth with my wife (with a data based messenger service as data rates are far cheaper than SMS rate there)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just spent a week in the UK with an ekit.com SIM in my Verizon GS4 - no problem with getting service, no Verizon charge (even though I was on the Vodaphone network for at least some times.)
And the dinc 2, while not LTE, was CDMA/GSM - not just CDMA (yes, the dinc was CDMA-only), so it did accept a SIM card. I'm using that in the GS4 now that it's cut down to micro SIM.
That phone WAS SIM-locked, but VZ happily unlocked it. For the GS4, I didn't have to do anything with VZ to use it off their network.
bickin said:
Is it possible to unlock the Verizon version of the S4? I'm deploying in 4 weeks and would like to use my phone with international carriers. I have an SCH-I545 build and I'm still running on stock. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DOES ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
UNLFOK s4 UK VERSION sorry I'm new to the website
furballbeethoven said:
After a lot of searching, I decided to ask this here:
I have a Verizon S4, but I was wondering if it was actually unlocked out-of-box or if there is something I have to do in order to use it with, for instance, Cricket, or U.S. Cellular. I have done lots of rooting/developing for Android, but have never tried to use an Android phone with a differing carrier. Can anyone help or point me to a thread that helps? (Again, did lots of Googling and XDA-searching)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The phone is already unlocked for SIM and other carriers, all you need is the correct APN for the carrier. I currently have T-Mobile on my i545 and everything works on it.

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