Verizon forcing move to 4G, but provides no help in finding a replacement

[tmpc]

I am one of the people that has to upgrade his 3G phone by 2020.  I want the cheapest decent smartphone I can get, including phones that are several years old.  Determining 4G compatibility is easy, but determining VoLTE isn't (most just list it as LTE).  Would it be too much trouble for Verizon to provide a list of compatible phones?  This is a giant pain in the derrière.

[omgo]

yes.  we need a 4g phone with a qwerty keyboard please !!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ann154]

---

@omgo wrote:

yes.  we need a 4g phone with a qwerty keyboard please !!!!!!!!!!!!

---

It doesn't exist. 

[glitchedpixel]

---

@tmpc wrote:

Would it be too much trouble for Verizon to provide a list of compatible phones?  This is a giant pain in the derrière.

---

The entirety of Verizon's shop page is a compatible phone list.

[tmpc]

You assume everybody wants to spend many hundreds of dollars on a cell phone.  I don't.  I make phone calls and send texts; that's it.  So for me, an older (even used) phone is fine.  The problem is, VoLTE is a requirement, and though many phones say they are LTE compatible, they may not be VoLTE; they aren't the same thing.  Commonly available information doesn't make that clear.  This is the flaw in "Bring your own phone".

To make matters worse, you still have people selling phones that claim to be Verizon compatible; they are . . . until January 1, 2020 at which point they become paperweights on the Verizon network.

[Ann154]

I agree there should be a list of VoLTE capable phones including the VZW branded but retired phones that can be activated on the Verizon Wireless network. In the mean time you can review the BYOD list for some options for compatible phones. 

https://community.verizonwireless.com/t5/Bring-Your-Own-Device/Verizon-Certified-Unlocked-Android-Sm...

[jav6]

Quotes:

"Would it be too much trouble for Verizon to provide a list of compatible phones?"

"So for me, an older (even used) phone is fine."

If you're looking for Verizon to provide a list of OLD/USED phones that are/might be compatible with their network, you might be dreaming.

[tmpc]

Thanks for the link, but reading through the comments is not comforting.  Too many variables.  What a mess.

[tmpc]

Apparently, I am dreaming.  In my dream, a company providing cell phone service makes a change to their network, offers no help with the complexity of the change, and only provides expensive "solutions" . . . more like a nightmare.

[Ann154]

Additional information. 

https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/knowledge-base-218813/