International Calling
martyf
Newbie

I am in Minsk, Belarus.  Yesterday, before I left, the US, I called Verizon to activate my phone.  No problem.  Now i am here, No service.  How do I activate or troubleshoot my phone from here without access to a network?  Thanks in advence.

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Re: International Calling
silver6055
Specialist - Level 1

 


WorldTravel3633 wrote:

I have had a similar problem in Asia a couple of years ago.  Once the service is activated n the US, you must enter *228 in your phone BEFORE leaving US shores to activate the device.  It takes a little time to come back as "activated" (automated voice reponse).  Once I discovered that it was not working in Asia I was able to get a stateside family member to contact Verizon to activate the phone.  It is unfortunate there is not 24/7 online web support for when phones fail to operate overseas, and the landline calls for support are expensive, especially from a hotel room!


 

According to the materials that came with the phone, (assuming you can get to a phone!) you can call Global Services toll-free from Belarus by dialing

 

8-800--103, followed by your global support calling card number and PIN.

 

Otherwise, you can call collect +1 908 559 4899

 

Are you using the supplied Vodafone SIM?  And they said they activated it?

 

If your phone is unlocked, you can also try using a local SIM to see if that works, but try Global Services first.

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Re: International Calling
WorldTravel3633
Enthusiast - Level 2

I have had a similar problem in Asia a couple of years ago.  Once the service is activated n the US, you must enter *228 in your phone BEFORE leaving US shores to activate the device.  It takes a little time to come back as "activated" (automated voice reponse).  Once I discovered that it was not working in Asia I was able to get a stateside family member to contact Verizon to activate the phone.  It is unfortunate there is not 24/7 online web support for when phones fail to operate overseas, and the landline calls for support are expensive, especially from a hotel room!

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Re: International Calling
silver6055
Specialist - Level 1

 


WorldTravel3633 wrote:

I have had a similar problem in Asia a couple of years ago.  Once the service is activated n the US, you must enter *228 in your phone BEFORE leaving US shores to activate the device.  It takes a little time to come back as "activated" (automated voice reponse).  Once I discovered that it was not working in Asia I was able to get a stateside family member to contact Verizon to activate the phone.  It is unfortunate there is not 24/7 online web support for when phones fail to operate overseas, and the landline calls for support are expensive, especially from a hotel room!


 

According to the materials that came with the phone, (assuming you can get to a phone!) you can call Global Services toll-free from Belarus by dialing

 

8-800--103, followed by your global support calling card number and PIN.

 

Otherwise, you can call collect +1 908 559 4899

 

Are you using the supplied Vodafone SIM?  And they said they activated it?

 

If your phone is unlocked, you can also try using a local SIM to see if that works, but try Global Services first.

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Re: International Calling
gcalvinshannon

I purchased a Droid Incredible 2 before leaving the US to Germany.   I plan to stay in Germany 6 weeks, therefore I wish to remove my already installed verizon SIM card and purchase a pay as you go SIM card in germany.  I believe I need a SIM network unlock PIN.  How can I get that number and switch out my current verizon sim card with a local pay as you go sim card in germany?  What steps do I need to take?  And when returning back to the US how to I reset everything back?
Thank you.

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Re: International Calling
silver6055
Specialist - Level 1

gcalvinshannon wrote:

I purchased a Droid Incredible 2 before leaving the US to Germany.   I plan to stay in Germany 6 weeks, therefore I wish to remove my already installed verizon SIM card and purchase a pay as you go SIM card in germany.  I believe I need a SIM network unlock PIN.  How can I get that number and switch out my current verizon sim card with a local pay as you go sim card in germany?  What steps do I need to take?  And when returning back to the US how to I reset everything back?
Thank you.


Are you a Verizon customer?   If so, call Global Services collect at +1 908 559 4899 (or toll-free, 0-800-888-8000 from Germany, and enter your Global support calling card number and PIN, that should have come with the phone).  Explain that you are in Germany and need to to unlock your phone (Subsidy Lock might be what they call it).   Before calling, switch the phone to GSM mode and remove the Vodafone SIM and insert the German one.   You should get a prompt telling you to enter a code.  Once they give you the code, enter it while still on the phone to make sure it works.   If the code is correct, the prompt goes away, and the phone should now use the new SIM.

 

You may need to add a APN to use data.  This shouldn't in fact be needed, the phone should read from the SIM, but the Droid 2 Global at least often fails to do this.   Not sure how to do this on an Incredible 2 (my daughter is getting one today so I have to learn!) but if it doesn't load automatically you will need to get the settings from the German carrier and enter them on the phone. 

 

You don't actually have to do anything when you return to the US, except switch from GSM mode back to CDMA (or Global).  The SIM cannot be used in the US, so it doesn't matter whether you have the original Vodafone one or a foreigh one.

 

Edit: I thought you were already in Germany, but rereading you might not be!   The only change then is you can call Global services at *611 or 800-922-0204 but make sure you ask for Global Services rather than normal customer service (who might think you want to unlock the phone rather than the subsidy code).   As you probably won't have the German SIM, see if you can borrow an AT&T or T-Mobile SIM and put that in the phone to generate the unlock prompt.  Once unlocked, those SIMs still won't work in the phone, but you can make sure that the code was correct.

 

 

 

 

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