Problem using European Galaxy S4 with Bring-Your-Own-Device

cardinalm1

Hi!

I recently moved back to the United States from The Netherlands.  While living in The Netherlands, I bought a Galaxy S4 and used that phone with a European carrier (Vodafone).

Now that I'm back in the United States I'd like to sign up for Verizon Wireless' service on my S4 via the Bring-Your-Own-Device program, but my phone's IMEI is not recognized by Verizon (online I received an error message stating "The phone associated with the Device ID you entered is not compatible with the Verizon Wireless network"; I also tried in a Verizon Wireless store and they were unable to find my IMEI in their system either).

I bought the phone brand new so I'm the original owner, and all Vodafone contract phones are supposed to be unlocked by default.

The phone does have a disclaimer saying that it's a European model, and must be used for at least 5 minutes on a European carrier before it will be eligible to be used on a non-European service.  However, I definitely used it on the European network for more than 5 minutes, so this shouldn't be a problem either.

So - any idea why my IMEI can't be found by Verizon Wireless?  I'd really like to use the Verizon Wireless service with my existing phone!

Weth

Verizon only has Verizon IMEI numbers in its database.  what happened to you will happen to anyone who tries to activate a non-Verizon phone. 

You you can try an already Verizon activated SIM from another Verizon phone and put it in your phone.  However, you may still have a problem since Verizon tech is still based on CDMA for basic voice calls and the European model probably does not have that capability.