Basic phone upgrade

Question

My mother in law has an old Kyocera basic flip phone on VZW that stopped holding charge. If I purchase a Verizon compatible flip phone from Amazon or other 3rd party seller, can I simply move the SIM to the new flip phone and have everything work? It is difficult to get her to a Verizon store so I want to do this myself if possible. Can it be done without any VZW involvement? I’ve done it myself with smartphones but never with basic ones. Thank you.

pastoar · Accepted Answer

Yes, you can usually do that — but with a few things to double-check first.

Most of Verizon’s newer flip phones use 4G LTE and VoLTE (HD Voice) for calling, while many of the older Kyocera models used the now-retired 3G network. So as long as the new flip phone supports Verizon’s 4G LTE network and is listed as Verizon-compatible or unlocked for Verizon, it should work fine. You can move the SIM card over yourself — just make sure it’s the same size (nano/micro) and that the new phone recognizes it. If it doesn’t connect automatically, you might need to activate the device online through your My Verizon account (no store visit needed). If you share the model you’re considering from Amazon, people here can double-check whether it’s 100% compatible.

SynthpopAddict · Accepted Answer

The catch with buying a phone via a 3rd party source is you don't know if it'll work on Verizon.  You'd have to run the IMEI on the device compatibility checker https://www.verizon.com/sales/nextgen/byod.html to know, but this means you must also have the phone.  Amazon has pretty good customer service, but I'd check what the return policy is just in case the phone you buy doesn't work.

As for putting an old SIM card into a new phone, that's no longer supported by Verizon and may even break the functionality of the new device, because the old SIM card could very well be "stuck in the past".  SIM cards are free at corporate Verizon stores, or you can get one mailed to you.  I've seen even budget smartphones these days supporting eSIM, so it's possible even a modern flip phone may do so, in which case you would simply download an eSIM to activate the new phone.