Comments on: Why the Verizon iPhone 5 is a globetrotter’s best friend

By: Emily

Emily — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 15:41:59 +0000

I have an iPhone 4 with Verizon. I’m moving overseas and this phone can’t be used there and where I’m moving to I’d have to buy the iPhone at full price. My mom’s contract with Verizon is up so I was thinking of paying to have her upgrade to the iPhone 5 and then put my iPhone 4 on her contract before I leave. Then I’ll use the iphone5 with a local company abroad. Is this possible? Please help!

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:20:15 +0000

Hi Rishabh,

If Airtel doesn’t offer a nano-SIM you can cut it down a microSIM to nano SIM size. You’ll find plenty of tutorials on how to do so with a Web search.

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:18:28 +0000

Hi Gregory,

It depends on what you’re looking for. The iPhone 5 on any carrier will roam in all of those countries. You’ll just have to pay astronomical roaming rates if you’re home carrier is a U.S. one. What I’m saying with the story is that Verizon allows you to use its iPhone 5 with another carrier if you choose. So if you were in Afghanistan you could get a prepaid SIM card from the local carrier and pay local rates. The when you get back to the U.S. you put the Verizon SIM back in.

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:14:58 +0000

Hi Dorin,

The Verizon iPhone 5 is locked in the sense that to initially activate you have to do so on Verizon, which means you have to do the full contract etc. You can only use Verizon’s CDMA networks as well and can’t take it to Sprint or KDDI 2G/3G networks. But the phone isn’t restricted to Verizon SIM cards so if you were to take the phone internationally you could buy a prepaid SIM card and be up and running on another carrier. You’d still be paying for your Verizon service back home, but at least you could roam without taking out a second mortgage.

By: Gregory Gochtovtt

Gregory Gochtovtt — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 03:00:55 +0000

so if I want to get a verizon iphone 5 and be able to use it in afghanistan when I deploy or france when I go visit my relatives I have to go on ebay and find one of those “unlocked” iphones? is that what “unlocked sim” means?

By: joseph chen

joseph chen — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 14:05:23 +0000

Dear Simon:

So your Verizon i5 works on Unicom’s 3G and 2G network ??

By: NM

NM — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 20:51:27 +0000

Did you have any luck with yours yet?

By: Rishabh

Rishabh — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:53:12 +0000

Hi
As the above people have many difficulties, i too have many
I got a Verizon locked iPhone 5
But considering the nano sim
Will my airtel card connect to the iphone
Because i had a blackberry which was verizon locked and i put my airtel card in it and it simply started working
Please solve my difficulty

By: Simon Kwan

Simon Kwan — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 14:05:00 +0000

I’m an American expat living in China. On a recent visit back to the US, I got myself a new iPhone 5. Couldn’t find one in a store, so I bought one on eBay. I made sure to get a Verizon version. The package was still factory sealed in plastic and unopened when I received it. After I opened my new toy, I removed the nano SIM which was branded Verizon.

As soon as I returned to Shanghai, I went to my local China Unicom office and signed up for a new nano SIM card. China Unicom is already stocking them. Not sure about China Mobile, but I didn’t want their service anymore, since I’ve been a CM customer for years and their proprietary ’3G’ network is slow as heck.

Long story short, I can verify that:
a) Verizon model iPhone 5 are shipped unlock from the factory
b) You do NOT need to ‘activate’ or even switch on your new Verizon iPhone 5 before you install a nano SIM from another carrier
c) The Verizon model iPhone 5 absolutely does work here in China with a nano SIM from China Unicom

*note: My Verizon iPhone 5 did NOT include a SIM tray removal tool in the box. Although the SIM tray is removable using Apple’s SIM tray tool, or a bent paper clip, such a tool is no longer included in the retail packaging. All resellers of SIM cards and any mobile accessory dealer should have plenty of Apple iPhone SIM tray removal tools on hand.

By: Dorin Tudoran

Dorin Tudoran — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 22:33:14 +0000

verizon iphone 5 is LOCKED.
I gathered the information by:

a) Calling Verizon
b) Discussing the issue at a verizon shop

I cannot figure out where the “unlocked” story has orifginated from.

Try to open the link to Washington Post story and y’oull see that it leads nowhere…