Do I Need To Register New Phone With Verizon

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

Earlier this month, Verizon eliminated contracts and the subsidies for smartphones that went with those contracts. And this calendar week, the company said it will go far easier for customers to bring unlocked devices -- a term used to draw 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. But figuring out which devices piece of work on which wireless networks isn't always easy.

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

Love 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 iPhone. I'1000 willing to pay total price for information technology, but I'd similar to go a good deal if I could. I'g thinking of buying the phone on the open up market instead of from Verizon. Possibly I could get a amend deal that mode? I would also like the phone that I buy to be able to be used on other carriers, should I have a falling out with Verizon.

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

Cheers,

Jim

Dear Jim,

Shopping around for an unlocked smartphone that can be used on multiple wireless operators' networks is a smart idea. For i, information technology allows you to get the best price you can find on a device. And information technology also gives you the option to switch to another operator if you're not satisfied with your service.

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

But popular phones like a new Apple iPhone 6 or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ likely won't be any cheaper unlocked than they would be from your carrier. Yet, there are plenty of budget-friendly smartphones on the market, such as new devices from Motorola and from a slew of Chinese manufacturers that will offer you lot some big savings. These phones come up unlocked out of the box, and y'all can get not bad deals on them over more expensive models, like the iPhone or Galaxy smartphones.

Verizon has traditionally made it difficult to use an unlocked telephone bought from a company other than Verizon. This is in stark dissimilarity to operators like AT&T and T-Mobile, which have made it piece of cake to bring unlocked devices to their networks for years. But things are changing at Verizon, according to Albert Aydin, a spokesman for Verizon. The company is making an effort to make it much easier to use some unlocked phones, such as the iPhone half-dozen, iPhone vi Plus, and Nexus 6 on its network, fifty-fifty if it's a version of the device that wasn't made specifically for Verizon. Customers tin can visit Verizon's website and check the ID, such as the IMEI number, on their device to come across if it will work unlocked on the carrier's network.

The company'south motion to make it easier to utilize not-Verizon devices on its network comes equally the upshot of a couple of important trends in the wireless manufacture. Starting time, need for unlocked devices is growing. And later on years of pressuring lawmakers to do 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 Committee earlier this year to bide past a lawmaking of conduct for unlocking devices. As function of this code, 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 low-cost device in commutation for signing a ii-yr contract. Now, operators are starting to require 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 calendar month, Verizon announced the aforementioned move. AT&T and Sprint give customers the selection to forgo contracts, merely they have not eliminated them withal.

Under the old contract plans, customers would typically pay $200 for a new smartphone. But the device costs much more than than that, ordinarily at least three times more than than the subsidized price. Who paid the residual? The carrier, which and then figured the cost of this subsidy into the monthly service charge. Simply customers never really knew how much of their monthly neb went to paying for their service and how much went to paying off their telephone. What's more than, once a contract ended, customers nonetheless paid the same amount each month -- even long later the device the carrier had subsidized was paid off.

That's all changing, and it's good news for consumers, especially savvy shoppers similar yourself. At present, the cost of your service will be dissever from the price of your device. You can however buy a new phone from your carrier, but you'll either pay full toll for information technology upfront or you'll finance it.

The other option, as you have suggested, is that you lot tin can bring your own device. This means you tin can use a phone that you lot already own, purchase a used or refurbished smartphone, or shop effectually for a less expensive device from a lesser-known manufacturer.

This chart shows the LTE frequency bands that the 4 major US carriers support.
Marguerite Reardon/CNET

Both of these trends are probable why Verizon is changing its policy and finally embracing unlocked phones on its network. Simply there is a catch. Not every device will work on every carrier's network. This is particularly truthful for Verizon and Sprint, which have based their traditional vocalism and data networks on technologies that are not deployed globally. To make certain the smartphone you buy will piece of work with your carrier, you lot must wait at the device specifications to ensure it supports the radio frequencies and network applied science that is compatible with your carrier.

Checking specs

Network technology

US wireless operators don't utilise the same fundamental wireless technology to deliver voice services. For instance, Verizon and Sprint rely on a network engineering science known every bit CDMA for their voice services. AT&T and T-Mobile use a different technology for voice known as GSM. This is a problem because devices made for AT&T and T-Mobile or European markets, which too use GSM, won't include radio applied science for CDMA. And that means information technology won't allow you to make calls or get text messages on Verizon's or Sprint's network.

LTE radio frequencies

The wireless world is quickly moving to the next generation of network engineering known as 4G LTE. Correct now LTE is the engineering science used to provide broadband-similar Internet speeds to wireless customers. Fifty-fifty though all major wireless carriers throughout the world, including the 4 major carriers in the Us, are using the aforementioned 4G technology to evangelize loftier-speed Internet access to smartphones, they don't all use the same radio frequencies. This means that the device you choose needs to include radios that can melody 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 non become data service at all or yous will get service that is substantially slower than is advertised for a 4G LTE Network.

What to look for

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

When it comes to LTE, information technology's not enough to but look for the frequency, since some carriers utilize dissimilar slivers of the same frequency for their LTE networks. So it'south more helpful to look at the specific LTE frequency "band class" that is supported. Band classes are assigned by a wireless standards organization to ensure manufacturers are using the aforementioned specifications when developing components for devices. This ways that matching LTE frequency band classes is the best mode to know if a device you lot're buying is compatible with the network you utilise.

For Verizon, you need to make sure the phone yous are purchasing supports whatever of these iii LTE band classes: LTE band thirteen (700 MHz c), ring 4 (1700 MHz f) or band 2 (1900 MHz). Only for reference, AT&T and T-Mobile each support LTE bands 2 and 4. Sprint supports one band class that is mutual to Verizon: band ii (1900 MHz).

I matter to note hither is that wireless operators use a mix of radio frequencies to build their networks. And depending on which markets they own specific frequency licenses and how they are building their networks, they may not use the aforementioned frequency bands ubiquitously across their network. What this means for consumers is that if all the bands don't match upwardly exactly, which they practice not for whatever of the major wireless carriers, there is a chance that a device made specifically for 1 carrier may non work optimally on some other carrier.

This issue may soon go abroad every bit device makers include more than 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 tin be used across multiple carriers. But for now, information technology's something to consider when shopping for a new unlocked phone. It'southward still important to read the specs to brand certain the bands lucifer up to the carrier.

What should y'all do?

Getting an unlocked phone that wasn't specifically fabricated to work with Verizon on its network is tricky. The CDMA/vox event pretty much ensures you need a device that'due 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 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, as well as the Nexus 6 can be purchased unlocked and used on Verizon. Unfortunately, many of the depression-cost devices from China won't work on Verizon, non just because they aren't "certified" by Verizon, simply because the technology is non compatible.

The skilful news is that all of Verizon'due south 4G LTE phones come unlocked out of the box. And because the residue of the world uses GSM for voice rather than CDMA, new smartphones made for Verizon already include CDMA and GSM radios, which means the telephone can be taken to a carrier like AT&T or T-Mobile in the Us as well equally to other GSM operators overseas and information technology will piece of work.

As for LTE compatibility, as I explained above, AT&T and T-Mobile use some of the aforementioned radio frequency bands for LTE that Verizon uses, and so smartphones made for Verizon's 4G network, should still operate on either AT&T's or T-Mobile's 4G network. The LTE issue becomes a scrap trickier in Europe since wireless carriers there back up 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 compatible and back up the same LTE frequency bands that either AT&T or T-Mobile support. T-Mobile provides a tool on its website that allows you to blazon in the series number of your device to double check.

The bottom line

If you lot plan to stick with Verizon as your service provider, I suggest just getting a smartphone made for Verizon. This doesn't mean you accept to buy it from Verizon. You can still get a used or refurbished phone that was made for Verizon. You volition be able to relieve some coin if y'all do that. The reason I suggest ownership a Verizon 4G LTE smartphone is considering it volition work optimally while y'all are a Verizon customer. And if you exercise decide to leave Verizon, information technology will about likely piece of work on either AT&T or T-Mobile. It's a win-win for you.

Good luck!

Ask Maggie is an advice column that answers readers' wireless and broadband questions. If you have a question, I'd love to hear from you. Please ship me an e-mail at maggie dot reardon at cbs dot com. And please put "Ask Maggie" in the subject header. You tin can likewise follow me on Facebook on my Enquire Maggie page.