VZW TP2 Roaming on AT&T..... SOLVED

[stevedusa]

Originally Posted by pjsockett

I'm sorry but can someone please explain why this is such a big deal. Why would you want to use European Sim on US carriers? You would be paying high international rates using a European sim here. I can understand why you would want to use a 3rd party sim elsewhere in the world but unless it works for us sim card i just don't see why the sprint users are so upset.

Well there are couple reasons why.

1. We love choices. If we paid for a phone that has both CDMA and GSM capability, then we should be entitled to enjoy what we paid for without limitations. Telus can unlock and no limit on what SIM, now VZW is on the same boat, except Sprint: As long that GSM is going onto an US-based GSM provide disregard what SIM card it is, it WILL NOT WORK. Same as down the road when we want to have two numbers in one phone, one is on Sprint one is a prepaid US carrier, we feel we should have the rights to do so. As for international roaming, Sprint did NOT lock that part down, so as matter of fact that we can use any SIM in there, as long as it's not going onto an US-based GSM network.

2. VZW's TP2 was cheaper than Sprint's, and VZW is officially providing their subscribers with subsidy unlock codes to release the GSM lock, even allow them to use an US-GSM provider SIM card. It's just unfair for Sprint subscriber.

3. We are GEEKS.

[stevedusa]

Originally Posted by Gulanowski

Please bear with me, I'm trying to wrap my head around all this. So if i bought this prepaid sim card from Tmobile...

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/...a-000007a2ac12

...as well as did the necessary unlocking on the TP2, I could roam on tmobile if I wanted to? Would I still be using my verizon phone number, or would it be necessary to get another phone number with a GSM provider?

Yes you can but it will be in GSM mode (your VZW number will be offline, calls to VZW number will goes to VM) and whenever ppl call your t-mo's prepaid SIM card's phone number, your phone will ring as long as it's on GSM mode.

[Gulanowski]

Originally Posted by stevedusa

Yes you can but it will be in GSM mode (your VZW number will be offline, calls to VZW number will goes to VM) and whenever ppl call your t-mo's prepaid SIM card's phone number, your phone will ring as long as it's on GSM mode.

Thats still pretty sick, too bad we couldn't roam on U.S. GSM towers while using our Verizon phone numbers though.

So what is the charge to get a tmobile/att number? I see the purpose of having the GSM in the US option as viable only when CDMA isn't available (never really been in a situation like that), so paying monthly fee's to keep a number with tmobile/att as well as minutes would trump the benefits, see what I'm saying? Unless, of course, it's relatively cheap.

[boredandtattooed]

for me i go alot of places.. out of town...other side of the country... even way up north here in MI... the fact of the matter is we can roam-basically only with VZW as of now..

with the TP2s, id never use it in the US, unless i find myself somewhere without service... pop in the sim, who cares about the rates, and now i would be able to see if theres a tmo or att network available and no longer be in a "blackout" area----in theory...

thats why im interested in it.... and im going on tour with D12 again soon, but i dont know if im doing international this time around or not... but im not doubting sprints TP2 abilities abroad though

**edit** to above: you wouldnt pay a monthly fee to that carrier, youd buy a prepaid SIM, now your not paying for something and not using it.... you buy the card 1price and use it when needed till u runs out of funds.... this is exactly what ill be doing if we figure all this out

[pjsockett]

Originally Posted by stevedusa

VZW is officially providing their subscribers with subsidy unlock codes to release the GSM lock, even allow them to use an US-GSM provider SIM card. It's just unfair for Sprint subscriber.

This is the part where I think there is confusion. From what I have seen This was not a US-GSM provider SIM card, it was a European card that was used on AT&T's service. I agree that this is an entirely different situation if it were a US based card but I haven't read anything where that works.

[isdnmatt]

Originally Posted by pjsockett

This is the part where I think there is confusion. From what I have seen This was not a US-GSM provider SIM card, it was a European card that was used on AT&T's service. I agree that this is an entirely different situation if it were a US based card but I haven't read anything where that works.

Correct, the SIM is not an ATT SIM. You can see the phone is ROAMING on ATT. I just ordered a T-mobile pre-paid sim for $6.99. We'll see if that works. I just didn't want to post anything showing Verizon violating the FCC guidelines.

[stevedusa]

Now it is possible that VZW did follow the FCC's regulations where it will lock down the US-GSM providers BUT NOT ROAMING onto it, unlike Sprint it just kills it doesn't matter what SIM card it is, home service or roaming.

However you were right since nobody has put in a local provider's SIM to try it, we can't tell. Guess someone has to try. If VZW end up like Sprint, locked out of US-GSM providers, then it's just a bigger can of worm to open and figure out.

Think this is why the HardSPL has been delayed?

[8notime]

Originally Posted by Gulanowski

Please bear with me, I'm trying to wrap my head around all this. So if i bought this prepaid sim card from Tmobile...

http://www.t-mobile.com/shop/Phones/...a-000007a2ac12

...as well as did the necessary unlocking on the TP2, I could roam on tmobile if I wanted to? Would I still be using my verizon phone number, or would it be necessary to get another phone number with a GSM provider?

No, which is why using the Verizon card is advantageous. You'd get a unique # with that SIM card and it would in no way be tied to your Verizon account. The only reason you'd want to do this is if you are traveling to somewhere that Global roaming using your Verizon SIM card would be really expensive. For example, if you travel to the UK and use the Verizon SIM card, you will pay $1.29 a minute. Rather than do that, you could purchase a pre paid card when you get to the UK with a bucket of minutes and pay a lot less. That card in no way would be tied to your Verizon account and calls will not forward to that #, but at least you're paying a lot less with that card that you would be with Verizons.

[isdnmatt]

Originally Posted by stevedusa

Now it is possible that VZW did follow the FCC's regulations where it will lock down the US-GSM providers BUT NOT ROAMING onto it, unlike Sprint it just kills it doesn't matter what SIM card it is, home service or roaming.

However you were right since nobody has put in a local provider's SIM to try it, we can't tell. Guess someone has to try. If VZW end up like Sprint, locked out of US-GSM providers, then it's just a bigger can of worm to open and figure out.

Think this is why the HardSPL has been delayed?

The delay is definitely because they don't have a device to test on.

We do know that once the phone is unlocked, none of this will matter, and the phone's potential will be realized. It DOES mean that US GSM frequencies are available which is the biggest deal, but I guess we already knew that from the Telus version.

I still prefer the reliability of the CDMA networks here in the US, so I think using the GSM pre-paid SIM will be a very RARE occurance.

[stevedusa]

Originally Posted by isdnmatt

The delay is definitely because they don't have a device to test on.

We do know that once the phone is unlocked, none of this will matter, and the phone's potential will be realized. It DOES mean that US GSM frequencies are available which is the biggest deal, but I guess we already knew that from the Telus version.

I still prefer the reliability of the CDMA networks here in the US, so I think using the GSM pre-paid SIM will be a very RARE occurance.

+1 on the reliability of CDMA in the States.

Boy my friend visited from Chicago couple weeks ago, he just keep dragging about how fast his HSDPA/UTMS is on his ATT Fuze in Chicago.

So one night we were driving down the 101, near downtown, I said, hey why don't you do a test, on both mine and yours (I had a Sprint Touch Pro back then) and to his surprise, my CDMA TP outperform his GSM TP speed by almost twice, on multiple tests.

Oh yeah he complains about the voice quality on the GSM here in SoCal.

I just tell him, "GSM Capacity".

Anyway back to the subject matter, I certainly hope the HardSPL will be done and all the chains on our TP2s will be cut. At least for now, it won't ask for my to put in an unlock code once I travel to China in less than 2 weeks and use a local prepaid SIM card.