I'm curious, can you buy an unlocked wireless phone from NewEgg or Amazon, such as the Motorola RAZR v3, and connect it to your Verizon Wireless service? Or do you have to buy the phone from them, and get locked into another contract?
From the Verizon Wireless website:
You want to start using a phone or wireless device with your existing mobile number. Examples:
- Activate previously used equipment
- Activate replacement equipment
Though on several other websites, I've read varied accounts of whether or not it is possible to use a phone not purchase through Verizon Wireless on their network. From what I can interpret on the website, I think it might be possible.
This text from Amazon makes me think the exact opposite though:
CDMA- and iDEN-based phones do not use SIM cards, and phones for these networks are only available from the carriers.
And this quote from PCToday again flips my thinking back to the other view that unlocked CDMA phones can work on the Verizon Wireless network:
CMDA (Code Division Multiple Access) phones like this LG model from Verizon Wireless must be programmed by the carrier before they will work with the network.
Actually, I guess the terms "locked" and "unlocked" really only apply to GSM phones. The concept stems from the fact that sim cards make the phones so portable that carriers want to lock them into their network. Since CDMA phones do not have SIM cards, they are not as portable. Along those lines, phonedog has some good points about buying a replacement phone without switching service. They say you should try to buy a phone with the carrier logo on it. That's the easy way, but hard due to the fact that it would probably be a used phone. They seem to say that you can do your homework, and find a phone that is technically supported by the carrier's technology.
