I'm looking into buying a Galaxy S4 on verizon over the summer, as part of my family plan. I'm also going to be studying in the UK for the next few years, spending about half my time in England. I was looking at sim card monthly plans like these from t-mobile and was wondering if those would work with the verizon s4 in England. Would my number change? Would I be able to disable using verizon roaming? Anything else I should know about?
If it's like Verizon's past samsung Galaxy 4g phones, it probably will not allow data roaming with an international sim.
What does that mean? Would I be able to turn off roaming and still use it on the t-mobile voice/sms networks?
most likely, yes.
When you use a sim from another provider, you are operating on their network, with a phone number issued by them, and paying them for the service. essentially, until you put your VzW LTE sim back in your phone, it is not a verizon phone.
I don't actually know if the S4 will allow data services with international sims, I know most VzW phones do, but the S3 and Note 2 did not.
Do you know when/how I'll be able to find out if international data services will work?
It all depends on if you can enter your own APN settings. the Verizon versions of the S3 and Note 2 did not have that function. I have no idea if the VzW S4 has it.
Did some hunting through the manual (
http://support.verizonwireless.com/clc/devices/index.html?p=6754&m= then click Device Manual)
Page 136 of the manual (page 143 of the pdf) mentions the Access Point Names function.
Can someone with a Verizon S4 confirm that this menu is accessible on the VzW phone?
I had an iPhone 5 for which things worked just great. I bought a one month for 20 pound unlimited data, 300 minutes SIM at London airport, popped out the VZ SIM and put that one in (three com). Worked like a charm - but I changed the iphone for an S4 - popped the SIM again and all I get is
Non Verizon SIM - the sim card is from an unknown source.
I presume that this means that the phone is NOT unlocked which is very, very annoying since I specifially asked this when making the change and was told at the VZ ztore that all new VZ 4G phones were unlocked - any ideas anyone?
iPhone 5 is the only phone verizon that comes unlocked. All other compatible phones can be unlocked by customer care if you meet certain conditions like how long you've been a customer, if you owe anything to them etc.
Verizon is notorious when it comes to restricting device capabilities. Even though some of its phones can be unlocked, the unlocking is partial and opens up only certain device features when used with another carrier.
@euro43,
I know being able to use your phone while outside the USA is important especially when trying to stay connected with family and friends.
You need to have the phone unlocked before leaving the USA so you're able to use a SIM card from another carrier in London. Unlike the iPhone 5 this phone does not come unlocked.
If you need to unlock your phone you can contact our Global Support team at (800) 711-8300 if in the USA or (908) 559-4899 if outside the country.
John_VZW
Please follow us on twitter @VZWSupport
You might want to read your "Unlocked 4g Sim Policy" again, John_VZW.
Per the Block C spectrum regulations set by the FCC when VzW bought it's LTE spectrum at auction, all 4g LTE devices that operate on the 700MHZ spectrum are sim unlocked by default.
Well I called Global Support but could not get anyone who understood the
problem. The first suggestion was just to use VZ services and pay the
extra, the 2nd was to call the maker of the SIM, the third was to wait
until I returned to Europe and then can back to VZ support in the
US.....................
Jax Omen suggest that access to the APN is key. When I suggested this
to the rep he said yes of course - you need to request the APN of the
SIM manufacturer!
I have had 3 or 4 GSM phones and bought more than a dozen sim cards over
the years and never had any problem getting them to work in unlocked
phones............
You need the APN of the service provider who is offering service on the SIM, yes. VzW has no way of knowing what that is.
I just don't know if the menu to manually enter APNs exists on the VzW S4. It didn't on the S3/Note2.
I bought my GS4 10 days ago and got to Brazil yesterday.
Got a new SIM card and it gave me the same Non-Verizon SIM warning. I went and added the APNs for my service provider in Brazil and it worked like a charm.
Go to Settings>More Networks>Mobile Networks>Access Point Names.
This is most helpful. I still have no idea why this is necessary for the S4 when it is abolutely automatic for the VZ iPhone 5. For the completely uninitiated, what do you actually have to do to enter the APN? Is it just a selection of the available network from the signal it is broadcasting to your phone or is information required from the web?
When I go to the apn settings ADD NEW Access Point is grey and not able to be selected.
Is that because I still have my verizon sim card installed?
Can you verify the exact steps you took?
Hi can someone confirm if that's why the "plus sign" under the APN settings is grayed out? Because we are checking it with a Verizon wireless sim in it? In other words, will the plus sign become functional once there is a different (international sim card) inserted?
selin319,
We want you to be able to fully use your device while traveling out of the country. In regards the APN settings after the entering in an international SIM card please reach out to our global department at http://vz.to/1jgVJ5K
LindseyT_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport
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