Can You Add An Unlocked Phone To A Ver

Verizon is making big changes to how customers purchase devices for its network. And that could mean more opportunities and choices for how consumers larn smartphones in the future.

Earlier this month, Verizon eliminated contracts and the subsidies for smartphones that went with those contracts. And this week, the visitor said it volition make information technology easier for customers to bring unlocked devices -- a term used to depict devices that do not have software blocking them from use on other carriers -- to the Verizon network. These changes could eventually lead to more choices at a wider range of price points for consumers. Just figuring out which devices work on which wireless networks isn't always easy.

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I explain how the industry is changing and give some advice on what specifications customers should be looking for.

Dear Maggie,

I currently have Verizon Wireless service with a not-smartphone. My two-year contract has long since expired. I am considering a Samsung Galaxy or an Apple tree iPhone. I'm willing to pay total price for it, simply I'd like to get a good deal if I could. I'm thinking of buying the phone on the open up market instead of from Verizon. Perhaps I could become a better deal that style? I would too like the phone that I buy to be able to be used on other carriers, should I accept a falling out with Verizon.

Is this possible to practise? When shopping for the telephone, how can I tell from the phone's specs what carriers it will work with?

Thank you,

Jim

Beloved Jim,

Shopping around for an unlocked smartphone that tin be used on multiple wireless operators' networks is a smart thought. For one, it allows you to get the best toll y'all tin can find on a device. And it also gives you the choice to switch to another operator if yous're not satisfied with your service.

Verizon has eliminated contracts and the subsidies for smartphones that went with those contracts.
Verizon Wireless

Merely pop phones like a new Apple iPhone six or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ probable won't be any cheaper unlocked than they would be from your carrier. Still, at that place are enough of budget-friendly smartphones on the market, such as new devices from Motorola and from a slew of Chinese manufacturers that will offer you some big savings. These phones come unlocked out of the box, and you tin can go great deals on them over more expensive models, like the iPhone or Galaxy smartphones.

Verizon has traditionally made it hard to use an unlocked phone bought from a visitor other than Verizon. This is in stark dissimilarity to operators like AT&T and T-Mobile, which take fabricated it easy to bring unlocked devices to their networks for years. Simply things are changing at Verizon, according to Albert Aydin, a spokesman for Verizon. The company is making an attempt to make it much easier to apply some unlocked phones, such as the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, and Nexus half dozen on its network, even if it's a version of the device that wasn't made specifically for Verizon. Customers tin visit Verizon's website and check the ID, such equally the IMEI number, on their device to see if it will work unlocked on the carrier's network.

The company's motion to make information technology easier to use non-Verizon devices on its network comes equally the result of a couple of important trends in the wireless manufacture. Kickoff, need for unlocked devices is growing. And afterwards years of pressuring lawmakers to exercise something to force operators to remove the software preventing them from being used on competitors' networks, wireless operators struck an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission earlier this year to abide by a lawmaking of conduct for unlocking devices. Equally office of this lawmaking, carriers have promised to allow customers to unlock devices that they've already purchased in full.

The other major trend is that the wireless industry is moving away from contract service plans that offer subscribers a depression-cost device in exchange for signing a two-year contract. At present, operators are starting to crave subscribers to pay for new devices in full or in monthly installments with no contract or obligation to continue service. T-Mobile got rid of its contract plans more two years ago. Earlier this month, Verizon appear the same move. AT&T and Sprint give customers the pick to forgo contracts, merely they have not eliminated them yet.

Under the former contract plans, customers would typically pay $200 for a new smartphone. But the device costs much more than than that, usually at least iii times more than the subsidized price. Who paid the rest? The carrier, which and so figured the toll of this subsidy into the monthly service charge. Just customers never really knew how much of their monthly bill went to paying for their service and how much went to paying off their phone. What's more than, once a contract concluded, customers still paid the aforementioned amount each month -- even long after the device the carrier had subsidized was paid off.

That'due south all changing, and information technology'due south skilful news for consumers, peculiarly savvy shoppers like yourself. Now, the toll of your service volition be separate from the price of your device. You can yet buy a new phone from your carrier, but you'll either pay full price for information technology upfront or yous'll finance it.

The other pick, every bit you have suggested, is that yous tin bring your own device. This ways you lot can use a phone that you already ain, buy a used or refurbished smartphone, or shop around for a less expensive device from a lesser-known manufacturer.

This nautical chart shows the LTE frequency bands that the four major US carriers support.
Marguerite Reardon/CNET

Both of these trends are likely why Verizon is changing its policy and finally embracing unlocked phones on its network. But there is a take hold of. Non every device will work on every carrier'due south network. This is especially truthful for Verizon and Dart, which have based their traditional vocalisation and data networks on technologies that are not deployed globally. To make sure the smartphone yous buy will work with your carrier, you must look at the device specifications to ensure it supports the radio frequencies and network technology that is uniform with your carrier.

Checking specs

Network applied science

U.s.a. wireless operators don't use the aforementioned primal wireless technology to deliver vocalism services. For example, Verizon and Dart rely on a network technology known as CDMA for their voice services. AT&T and T-Mobile utilise a unlike technology for voice known as GSM. This is a problem because devices made for AT&T and T-Mobile or European markets, which besides employ GSM, won't include radio technology for CDMA. And that means information technology won't let you to make calls or get text messages on Verizon'due south or Sprint's network.

LTE radio frequencies

The wireless earth is quickly moving to the adjacent generation of network technology known every bit 4G LTE. Right now LTE is the technology used to provide broadband-similar Cyberspace speeds to wireless customers. Even though all major wireless carriers throughout the world, including the iv major carriers in the US, are using the same 4G technology to evangelize high-speed Internet admission to smartphones, they don't all use the same radio frequencies. This means that the device you choose needs to include radios that tin can tune into the frequencies that your carrier is using for its 4G LTE network. If it doesn't have radios that are compatible with its LTE frequencies, you may not get data service at all or you volition become service that is substantially slower than is advertised for a 4G LTE Network.

What to await for

The incompatibility issue is particularly hard for Verizon customers since yous will need a device that supports CDMA for vox. As for 4G compatibility, yous will need to make sure the phone you buy has radios that can tune into the frequencies that Verizon uses for LTE.

When it comes to LTE, it'southward not enough to just wait for the frequency, since some carriers use unlike slivers of the same frequency for their LTE networks. So it'south more helpful to look at the specific LTE frequency "band grade" that is supported. Ring classes are assigned by a wireless standards organization to ensure manufacturers are using the same specifications when developing components for devices. This means that matching LTE frequency band classes is the best way to know if a device you lot're ownership is uniform with the network you apply.

For Verizon, you demand to brand sure the phone yous are purchasing supports any of these iii LTE band classes: LTE ring 13 (700 MHz c), band iv (1700 MHz f) or band two (1900 MHz). Just for reference, AT&T and T-Mobile each back up LTE bands 2 and 4. Sprint supports one band course that is common to Verizon: band 2 (1900 MHz).

I thing to annotation here is that wireless operators utilise a mix of radio frequencies to build their networks. And depending on which markets they own specific frequency licenses and how they are edifice their networks, they may not employ the same frequency bands ubiquitously across their network. What this ways for consumers is that if all the bands don't lucifer up exactly, which they do not for whatsoever of the major wireless carriers, there is a chance that a device made specifically for one carrier may not work optimally on some other carrier.

This issue may soon go away as device makers include more frequency bands in all the devices they make. This has already begun happening with devices from Apple tree, Samsung and Motorola, which are building devices that can exist used across multiple carriers. But for now, information technology'south something to consider when shopping for a new unlocked phone. It'southward still important to read the specs to make certain the bands friction match upwards to the carrier.

What should you practice?

Getting an unlocked telephone that wasn't specifically fabricated to work with Verizon on its network is tricky. The CDMA/voice issue pretty much ensures you need a device that'south made for Verizon. There are a few exceptions. And some of those are the phones that Verizon has already certified to be used on its network. The iPhone six and iPhone half-dozen Plus, equally well equally the Nexus six tin can be purchased unlocked and used on Verizon. Unfortunately, many of the low-cost devices from Mainland china won't piece of work on Verizon, not just because they aren't "certified" by Verizon, only considering the technology is non uniform.

The good news is that all of Verizon'south 4G LTE phones come up unlocked out of the box. And because the remainder of the earth uses GSM for voice rather than CDMA, new smartphones made for Verizon already include CDMA and GSM radios, which means the phone can be taken to a carrier similar AT&T or T-Mobile in the US too as to other GSM operators overseas and it will piece of work.

As for LTE compatibility, as I explained above, AT&T and T-Mobile employ some of the same radio frequency bands for LTE that Verizon uses, then smartphones made for Verizon's 4G network, should however operate on either AT&T's or T-Mobile'southward 4G network. The LTE issue becomes a bit trickier in Europe since wireless carriers there support different frequency band classes than operators in the U.S.

The all-time way to know for certain is to compare the specs. The Verizon phone must be GSM uniform and support the same LTE frequency bands that either AT&T or T-Mobile support. T-Mobile provides a tool on its website that allows y'all to type in the series number of your device to double check.

The bottom line

If yous plan to stick with Verizon every bit your service provider, I suggest just getting a smartphone made for Verizon. This doesn't mean y'all have to purchase information technology from Verizon. You can withal become a used or refurbished phone that was made for Verizon. Y'all volition be able to salvage some money if y'all do that. The reason I suggest buying a Verizon 4G LTE smartphone is because it will work optimally while you lot are a Verizon customer. And if you lot do decide to get out Verizon, it volition most probable work on either AT&T or T-Mobile. It's a win-win for you lot.

Good luck!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. If y'all have a question, I'd dearest to hear from yous. Delight send me an email at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And delight put "Inquire Maggie" in the subject header. You can too follow me on Facebook on my Ask Maggie folio.