If you have an old Verizion (USA) unlimited data plan (or perhaps other "older" phone plans) that you've been holding onto AND you plan on buying unlocked phones you may want to read about what I learned today... This is mostly a PSA, but if anyone knows of a way to actually "fix" the issue please reply.
The short version is that apparently the old (original) unlimited data plans are setup to only work with locked down "Verizon" phones. I'm still working out all the ramifications of this and could use some help further down in this thread. What this means is that you can NOT activate a NEW sim card in an "non-Verizon" (unlocked) phone IF you're also on an original unlimited data plan (and perhaps any other older plans beyond a certain date?). You CAN; however, activate a NEW sim card in an OLD Verizon phone and after setup is complete you can then move that sim over to your new phone. This should not be a problem for NEW Verizon phone plans OR locked down phones that are considered "Verizon phones" by Verizon software.
As far as I can tell (so far), activating a new sim in an old phone and then moving to the new phone doesn't cause any issues with your service, but I could use some help testing this out in greater detail to confirm.
Here's my story:
I've been on a Verizon unlimited 4G data plan since they first offered them many years ago. I've remained on this plan through price increases and the removal of unlimited only to watch them return it (I almost switched to a new plan months ago... almost). I used to have a Droid Razr Maxx which got rooted and I enjoyed root for awhile. I eventually upgraded to the Droid Turbo (employee edition) which took a long time to gain root so I simply never tried. I decided I wanted root access again and all the joys that brings so after much research into my next phone I landed on the LG V30 unlocked edition. I got my order from B&H Photo a few days ago. I also decided that I wanted a new sim card as I've always felt my old one was "touchy". Could never put my finger on, but mostly I just wanted to start fresh with the V30.
A couple days ago I went into an official (USA) Verizon store and made my request to get a new sim activated on my V30. I didn't think this would be an issue as they sell V30s and I know others have been running "non-Verizon" phones without issues. The CS rep was supportive of this, but after inserting the new card and trying to activate it the Verizon software on his employee tablet shot back something about "this phone does not support this data plan" (or something similar). He tried to troubleshoot the issue for about 10 minutes, but then gave up since I was able to get the V30 working by using my old sim from my Droid Turbo. I accepted this and decided I'd just try again in a few days.
During this time I had no issues with the V30 using my data or making phone calls. I did eventually "kill" the V30 by exploring the band selection screen in the service menu, but a hard factory restore later and I was up and running again. Today I decided to try and get a new sim card again, only this time I decided to head to Best Buy since they sell the unlocked V30 online. My thought was "if they sell the unlocked V30, maybe they'll better understand my issue with a new sim activation"....
After finding the "sim card expert" I requested we went to work. He pulled our a new SIM, dialed up his Verizon contact number and we waited. Once the Verizon rep was on the phone we continued onto activating the sim only to be met with the same error "phone & plan don't like each other". The Verizon rep was stumped after many trial and error attempts on getting it to go through. My issue was eventually escalated to a tech that had more power to get things working and even he was stumped. After nearly 2 hours of digging into provisions and my account info he informed me that my "old" data plan was setup in such a way that it ONLY allows new activations with "Verizon" phones. Of course he suggested I move to a new unlimited data plan (with all the new fine print and prioritizations after 22GB intact of course, ha). He added that there was nothing he could do to change my plan settings to allow new "non-Verizon" phones. He was supportive of activating the new sim on my old Droid Turbo and then placing it into the V30 though. Once we did that the V30 was up and running again. On some quick tests everything appears to be working as well (would like some help to verify this though).
So there's the info I learned today, hopefully this helps someone else avoid any headaches later. How accurate this info is depends on the Verizon tech on the other end of the phone though as I'm only repeating what I was told. The tech did say that he never ran into this before (as I assume most people simply keep swapping in their old sim cards) and he did add that newer plans and phones shouldn't run into this issue and that it's strictly my old plan causing the hiccups on their system. He did check into moving me to the new data plan for activation and then putting my back into my old plan, but came back with "it's not possible".
Now then... all the above said I could use some help ensuring that my unlocked V30 is working correctly on Verizon with my current phone plan.
I've installed an run "RX Monitor", but what I notice is that I see no CDMA options listed under "operator" or "registered cells" or "Neighbor cells". All I see are "LTE" connections that seemingly only use "Band 13". I've driven between different cities from corn fields to the center of town and any time I check I see only "LTE" and "Band 13". Based on what I've read this seems odd... but I don't know enough about it to say for certain.
What I can say is that I can make phone calls (though they seem to be going over LTE and using HD Voice) and I send/receive SMS and MMS texts. I can go online and download and all the good stuff.
Is there a way to further test my phone? When I run RX Monitor on my wife Droid Turbo I can see a CDMA option and other LTE cells, but her phone does not report enough data to compare (ie, it doesn't list the band anywhere in the data) that I can see.
Is there another program or some other way to test or check this? My concern is that I've yet to see "3G" or "1x" on my V30 and I worry that if I end up in an area with more limited coverage that the V30 will simply not work vs switching to 3G or lower (something my Droid Turbo has done in the past).
Any thoughts?... and thank you.
teknomedic said:
The short version is that apparently the old (original) unlimited data plans are setup to only work with locked down "Verizon" phones.
What this means is that you can NOT activate a NEW sim card in an "non-Verizon" (unlocked) phone IF you're also on an original unlimited data plan (and perhaps any other older plans beyond a certain date?). You CAN; however, activate a NEW sim card in an OLD Verizon phone and after setup is complete you can then move that sim over to your new phone. This should not be a problem for NEW Verizon phone plans
After finding the "sim card expert" I requested we went to work. He pulled our a new SIM, dialed up his Verizon contact number and we waited. Once the Verizon rep was on the phone we continued onto activating the sim only to be met with the same error "phone & plan don't like each other".
After nearly 2 hours of digging into provisions and my account info he informed me that my "old" data plan was setup in such a way that it ONLY allows new activations with "Verizon" phones. He added that there was nothing he could do to change my plan settings to allow new "non-Verizon" phones.
He was supportive of activating the new sim on my old Droid Turbo and then placing it into the V30 though. Once we did that the V30 was up and running again.
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Thank you for all the information.
ChazzMatt said:
Thank you for all the information.
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I know it was a long read, but hopefully it made sense.
With full root access would it be possible to label an unlocked V30 as a "Verizon" V30 in software to trick the Verizon registration process into direct activation?
I don't know. The two have different FCC ID, so that would be one way for Verizon to tell the difference.
On the U.S.Moto Maxx 1225, people could unlock the bootloader, then flash Verizon firmware over it to turn it into a Droid Turbo XT1254 because they had the exact same FCC ID and were exactly the SAME device. Verizon just rebranded theirs as a "Droid Turbo" to pretend it was some kind of exclusive. It wasn't even exclusive in the U.S.!
Until Sunshine came along to unlock the Droid Turbo bootloader (a year after release), the Moto XT1225 served as the "dev" version of the Droid Turbo.
Sent from my LG-US998 using Tapatalk
I assume I'm not the only grandfathered Verizon data plan with an unlocked V30... can anyone else confirm that simply moving the sim over from another phone allows the V30 full access to the Verizon network.. CDMA, LTE, 3G, etc?
As I've said so far I only ever seen LTE with 4G. Though I did see CDMA once shortly after activation.. but then nothing
I recently got a Note 8 (at best buy, 300 off,but a down payment, and device payment plan). The sim activated on the Note 8, but my previous active sim was on an Unlocked S8 Plus (g955u1). I then activated the Note 8 Sim on my wife's back up S5, and then put the sim in my S8 plus unlocked. Inhave used the Note yet, because I dont have a glass protector yet and in case I have buyers remorse, I can return the Note 8.
If you have the grandfathered plan (which I do), you jusy simply have to get a 4g Verizon smart phone with a nano sim slot , activate it in there and put it in the Unlovked Lg v30. You should be able to get CDMA and 4g LTE connection.
Sent from my SM-G955U1 using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Hmm I've had the same sim (just shaved down) since my OG Droid. Would this make a difference?
Ooo yeah here we go
Per Verizon's agreement with the FCC when they purchased radio band frequencies, Verizon must allow any compatible device to work on their network. If your device has CDMA and the LTE bands (2, 4, 13) then it will FULLY work. You will be able to make CDMA calls, LTE calls if VoLTE is functional on your device, and use data.
It is true that they are stingy on activation and there is NOTHING the techs can do to activate an unlocked phone. They did't write any code to block it let alone are aware of it. Don't bother even trying. Just get an old Verizon phone that takes nano SIM or go to a store and find an employee willing to activate it in a display phone then give it to you.
I've been using the same SIM for years from my Droid Turbo. It's been in a Nexus 6, Nexus 5x, Moto G4 Play, and an HTC One M8 without any usability issues.
---------- Post added at 12:43 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 AM ----------
Charlie_Don't_Surf said:
Hmm I've had the same sim (just shaved down) since my OG Droid. Would this make a difference?
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Yes, that SIM card you have is still considered a mini SIM and will not activate in newer phones that take nano SIM.
I shaved down a micro SIM to fit a nano Sim slot. I tried to have it reactivated and Verizon was unable to. I informed the tech that it was actually a micro SIM and he activated it in a dummy Galaxy S3 and it worked.
---------- Post added at 12:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:43 AM ----------
teknomedic said:
I know it was a long read, but hopefully it made sense.
With full root access would it be possible to label an unlocked V30 as a "Verizon" V30 in software to trick the Verizon registration process into direct activation?
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Verizon and probably the others use the IMEI number to check if it is a VZW or non-VZW phone before activation. Unless you obtained another IMEI number and used it, they can always tell it is a non-VZW phone. But I'm pretty sure that is illegal.
I'm on an unlocked/google Nexus 6. It wasn't purchased from Verizon. I also have an old unlimited data plan. Once a stockish rom comes out for the LG V30 I'll take the plunge and test this out. Hopefully my sim will work in the v30, since it already works with an unlocked phone.
All good info. Thanks everyone.
How could I test the phone though? Is there a way to force CDMA calling vs LTE.... Also... Using RX monitor why would I only be seeing band 13 with no CDMA listed?
I'll update here what I learn comparing a "Verizon V30" vs my B&H unlocked V30. I purchased a second V30 using the Verizon $300 off deal to combine it with the $400 rebate from LG. I know, I know.. it's locked down... but for a cheap backup phone I'm not complaining. I'll run as many comparisons for cellular service as I'm able to.
I know of RX Monitor... hopefully that will confirm or deny that my unlocked V30 is using the network in the same way as the "Verizon" V30.
Any requests or other programs I should use for comparison??
From what I understand, the grandfathered Unlimited has nothing to do with it. As far as I know, Verizon has only activated NEW sim cards on Verizon branded equipment. Once your number is provisioned on a Verizon phone, there is no issue moving the sim between unlocked phones.
Guyinlaca said:
From what I understand, the grandfathered Unlimited has nothing to do with it. As far as I know, Verizon has only activated NEW sim cards on Verizon branded equipment. Once your number is provisioned on a Verizon phone, there is no issue moving the sim between unlocked phones.
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THIS. This is what I've always been told the past few years. Recently someone said Verizon had changed their policies and they somehow activated a SIM card on a 2015 Moto X Pure, but I think that was some kind of fluke. I would still use this policy as the guiding principle for control freak Verizon.
AT&T and T-mobile don't care where your phone came from, they'll activate your phone. I'm on AT&T and have never had an AT&T branded phone. I even brought in two Moto XT1225 from other countries; the Moto XT1225 is the "international" version of the Verizon Droid Turbo XT1254. It was also basically a 5.2" version of the Moto Nexus 6. AT&T didn't have the XT1225 in their database. I said call it a Moto Nexus 6, which they did have in their database. BOOM. Activated. Two of them. And not just on AT&T, but AT&T Prepaid, because I own my phones and only want to pay for monthly service not pay an arm and a leg to subsidize some AT&T branded phone I will NEVER buy.
I'm not here to bash carriers (but I will bash most MVNOs), but the CDMA twins Sprint and Verizon are more trouble than they're worth, in my opinion. I want to use a carrier's signal, but I don't want to buy a carrier's locked down, often overpriced, devices. I don't want to have to buy a carrier phone just to be able to activate a non-carrier phone on that carrier. That's ridiculous.
Does the hot spot work out of the box on the unlocked V30 US998 on the old verizon unlimited plan?
bugswray said:
Does the hot spot work out of the box on the unlocked V30 US998 on the old verizon unlimited plan?
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yes, it does.
I have the B&H US998 V30+ on Verizon, but I gave up unlimited a year or two ago. Still not on the new unlimited yet.
Are you able to get any VM notifications on this phone?
I only get garbled text messages from Verizon, and there is no VM indication.
I have to check for missed calls and manually call *86 to see if I have any voicemail.
Other than that I think it is functioning fully. However I have never seen a 3G icon in the status bar.
I have a Verizon 4G Network Extender in my house, and I get good 4G at work.
teknomedic said:
I assume I'm not the only grandfathered Verizon data plan with an unlocked V30... can anyone else confirm that simply moving the sim over from another phone allows the V30 full access to the Verizon network.. CDMA, LTE, 3G, etc?
As I've said so far I only ever seen LTE with 4G. Though I did see CDMA once shortly after activation.. but then nothing
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I am a Grandfathered user with 450 anytime minutes and paying for text messages still. I moved from an LG G4 to an HTC 10 to an LG V30 just fine. Popped the simcard out of my HTC 10 and installed it into my unlocked V30 and it works perfectly. I don't have any wifi calling though and I'm assuming because I'm not installing any verizon apps what so ever. I don't require wifi calling so i'm good. But it drops to 3G when it has no LTE signal just fine and VoLTE works perfectly. Hope that helps you out.
dvgb173 said:
I have the B&H US998 V30+ on Verizon, but I gave up unlimited a year or two ago. Still not on the new unlimited yet.
Are you able to get any VM notifications on this phone?
I only get garbled text messages from Verizon, and there is no VM indication.
I have to check for missed calls and manually call *86 to see if I have any voicemail.
Other than that I think it is functioning fully. However I have never seen a 3G icon in the status bar.
I have a Verizon 4G Network Extender in my house, and I get good 4G at work.
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Click to collapse
It's the same for me... just messed up text messages. I even tried to source the Verizon Voicemail app, but it refused to install... sooo... I setup Google Voice instead and after some tweaking it's working great, Google AI or whatever even gives me its best translation of the voice mail too in text form so I don't need to listen
The one thing I have noticed with Google Voice and normal voicemail is that if I let the phone ring through Google voice works perfectly, BUT if I decide to swipe the "ignore" or whatever button, then the normal voicemail picks it up. It's kinda nice in a way having two voice mail boxes... but also wish I knew how to fix that issue and force everything to google voice.
FunktasticLucky said:
I am a Grandfathered user with 450 anytime minutes and paying for text messages still. I moved from an LG G4 to an HTC 10 to an LG V30 just fine. Popped the simcard out of my HTC 10 and installed it into my unlocked V30 and it works perfectly. I don't have any wifi calling though and I'm assuming because I'm not installing any verizon apps what so ever. I don't require wifi calling so i'm good. But it drops to 3G when it has no LTE signal just fine and VoLTE works perfectly. Hope that helps you out.
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It does help, thank you.
I recently purchased an Unlocked V30 from B&H. I was unaware that Verizon would not allow VVM on a non branded phone. It also seems that sprint, and at&t don't either.
I know that Google Voice is an option to get a work around, but does anyone know if T-Mobile will allow you to download their VMM app and it just works?
TIA
See this post, https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=74746007&postcount=5
I think this is what you might be looking for (for at&t). I would think if you can get the apk for the carrier you want, it in theory should work (that post says it did for at&t).
The T-Mobile Visual Voicemail app works (available in the Play Store). It's ugly, and there's a trial period for their not very good voice-to-text implementation. I miss having visual voicemail integrated into the Google Phone app like on Nexus and Pixel phones, but hopefully that can be resolved later on with a newer port of the Google Phone app.
Thanks for the replies.
I called T-Mobile today and the rep at the store called support and they said to use this app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vna.service.vvm they implied that the actual T-Mobile https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tmobile.vvm.application wouldn't work.
I'll do some digging on the AT&T app. I downloaded it from the link.
You would think, that with phone portability readily available when sim unlocked they would not make customers jump through hoops to use the features.
Just wanted to report back and confirm. The T-Mobile app does work on the US998 unlocked from B&H. It does not show the number of emails on the icon, but I did have the new VM icon on the top left of the status bar. I can live with this.
Verizon lost a long time customer today because of their draconian business practices.
Gwartan said:
Just wanted to report back and confirm. The T-Mobile app does work on the US998 unlocked from B&H. It does not show the number of emails on the icon, but I did have the new VM icon on the top left of the status bar. I can live with this.
Verizon lost a long time customer today because of their draconian business practices.
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So you got the T-Mobile voicemail app to work on Verizon on this phone?
I couldn't get a settings menu on it when I installed it. It kept wanting to connect with T-Mobile I think.
dvgb173 said:
So you got the T-Mobile voicemail app to work on Verizon on this phone?
I couldn't get a settings menu on it when I installed it. It kept wanting to connect with T-Mobile I think.
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No I switched carriers and went over to T-Mobile.
Gwartan said:
I recently purchased an Unlocked V30 from B&H. I was unaware that Verizon would not allow VVM on a non branded phone. It also seems that sprint, and at&t don't either.
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Not true with AT&T. Please don't spread misinformation.
I have three LG V30/V30+ US998 phones and all of them have been using or have used AT&T SIM card. Two are daily drivers, and one is a spare. But all three have had AT&T SIM cards in them.
A friend of mine also has LG V30 open market US998 also on AT&T. No problems whatsoever with AT&T.
AT&T doesn't care where you buy your phones. They will give you a SIM card and take your monthly payment.
The last three years, my wife and I have used Moto XT1225, the "international" version of the Droid Turbo -- imported from other countries. Also used just fine on AT&T.
Before that we used two LG Nexus 5, and before that I used two Galaxy Nexus.
I haven't had an AT&T branded phone on AT&T -- EVER.
Galaxy Nexus (2012)
LG Nexus 5 (2013)
Moto XT1225 (2014)
LG V30 US998 (2017)
All on AT&T with AT&T SIM cards.
I have an lg k8+ model x210ulm that i want to use with cricket. The phone is fully unlocked and will accept any sim from any carrier but has an odd behaviour that wont let me use my own sim.
I bought a feesh sim from cricket and when i put it in and set it up it will register with crickets apn and mobile network settibg. I get data and it shows up in the about network as connected and working. It shows cricket carrier in notificstion and i can get texts and even voice mail. But ........
I cannot use the dialer. Upon connection there is no error toast or anything it just imnedistely hangs up.
I can use my wifes my sons or my friends sims in the phone and after a reboot works perfectly. But when i put mine in it stops.
Also my sim works fine in any other unlocked device or cricket device.
Any clue as to wth is going on
Ok so after talking to lg and really that was frustrating. Why because the rep told me it the phone was carrier locked to us cellular which i knew it wasnt because its advertised as being unlocked and well us cellular put up an advert a few years ago stating that all thier phones are unlocked.
So after that i went ahead and talked to a rep at us cellular who assured me it was unlocked and checked the imei for me and sent me link to the advert about thier phones being unlocked.
Back to lg and got another rep this time who knew a lil about something but not much. Could not tell me any thing though.
Now back to cricket where we tested my girlfriends sim in my phone to which it worked and mine in her phone to which it worked. We put the sims in my aristo 2 and fortune 2 and both sims worked. But when i put my sim back in my my k8+(2018) once again every thing works fine but you cannot make or recieve phone calls.
We also tested the voice mail app and and thier what qualifies as a carrier app and it registers. The sim registers in about phone shows service and is connected. Shows the phone number every thing works.
Just not the phone Dialer app
So is there any one out there at all that has had an issue like this before. Any one that can help me figure out what the problem is. This is so crazy that my sim wont work and every one elses will.
Could it be something i did using dialer codes? Any cLues at akl
So here we are months later and im still having sim issues with my k8+ ulm. I ended up buying a brand new device and i tried my provisioned sim card with it not working but literally every other sim card works fine.
I have switched from cricket to assist wireless now who is run or what ever by sprint and i can get the sim card to work for a couple days before switching it to another phone but the main issue is that i get a error popup stating that the sim card has locked and that i need to power cycle and call customer service.
But i made a ton of changes by adding all the system apps from sprint including sprinthiddenmenu and any other apk that was on the tribute dynasty they came from. I also went through the file system and made any prop changes or any thing else that was needed to enable sprint.
At this point id flash a sprint modem but i cant find a cv1 device provisioned under sprint
I just order a att lg G8X on eBay for a really good price. It's unlocked. But my question is, will it work on verizon?
The byod website says no. But a rep I talked to on the phone says it will. Any experiences?
I certainly hope you didn't purchase it from me. Why are you purchasing something when Verizon already says it won't work?
Cherb1990 said:
I just order a att lg G8X on eBay for a really good price. It's unlocked. But my question is, will it work on verizon?
The byod website says no. But a rep I talked to on the phone says it will. Any experiences?
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Click to collapse
I have the Unlocked Sprint version working on verizon. Only trick I had to do was for LTE. After activation on first boot up the APN settings for verizon were blank, un-editable, and I didn't have the menu button to create a new APN. I figured out a work around by powering on the phone with the activated verizon sim, with the phone on swapped with a deactivated sim (mintsim I think), swapped back to activated verizon sim, (AP now editable) edited and saved APN with verizons info found online. In case you run into the same issue on the AT&T version I hope this helps. One outstanding issue is SMS takes like 20 seconds to send, super annoying. MMS and RCS work fine.
You might want to double check the bands. I don't see CDMA bands on the ATT version.
So I bought a phone that says it's suppose to be "sprint" carrier.
Story:
I call Sprint trying to get the phone activated, and even up having to go to a during store.
According to the store manager, he claims this phone may possibly be a pre-paid sprint phone and they are currently trying to re-skew the phone into the system and have an open ticket on it right now.
When I look up the number on Google everything points to att and not sprint.
Perhaps it's gsm unlocked phone?, Can't get a good Google search to find out.
Can anyone confirm what model lg lm-g850um is, if it's a gsm unlocked it an actual sprint phone?
There are various models of UM for the American markets, UM1 is for AT&T and UM9 is for Sprint, but unless you have the original box with the barcode I don't think there is any way to really tell. If the boot logo shows Sprint, then it's a Sprint model, and you should be able to verify that through the BYOD IMEI checker through Sprint or a Sprint MVNO. However, Sprint has a policy of flagging devices that was sold through or used with MVNOs to prevent someone from buying a cheap prepaid phone and using it post-paid, so that may be what they are trying to clear.
-- Starfox