How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
DFender
Newbie

Hello, my wife and I are traveling in Poland and trying to use foreign SIM cards in our phone. We're on a current contract plan and both have HTC One (M8)s, which are dual service/GSM compatible. My understanding was that all Verizon 4G phones are unlocked so I thought that meant we could just insert the new SIM card into the phone and it would work. But the phone just says it's not a Verizon SIM and the data won't work (although the carrier, Orange, was sending texts). I've tried Global mode and the GSM only mode and neither works.

I see similar questions in the forum, but can't find any others that actually answer the question about what to do to make it work. What am I missing?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
naansalad
Specialist - Level 3

If you bought a wireless device for Postpay Service from Verizon Wireless that doesn't use a SIM card, and you want to reprogram it for use with another wireless network, the default programming code is set to "000000" or "123456." But please note that your wireless device may not work with another wireless network, or the other wireless carrier may not accept your wireless device on its network.

you can read that on that link under My wireless device

Customer Agreement | Verizon Wireless

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
vzw_customer_support
Customer Service Rep

DFender,


Sorry to hear about trouble with your phone not working fully while on your trip. I know how much folks rely on their phones while overseas. Let's make sure everything's up and going. To use another carrier's data service, you will likely need to add an APN to your phone. Do you have anything showing up in the APN list under GSM/UMTS Options while you're in Network Settings? Have you spoken to Orange about adding this to your phone?


EricW_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
DFender
Newbie

I have a message under APNs that says "Access Point Name settings are not available for this user"

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
Weth
Legend

This is actually due to an app installed by Verizon on your phone, specifically the Verizon Setup Wizard App

See discussion on same issue here:

How to get my phone really unlocked???

And more technical details here:

[Solved] - Removing "Non-Verizon" … | Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III

Even though the last one is Samsung Galaxy, it is the same android app from Verizon that does this.

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
DFender
Newbie

So am I understanding correctly, that the only way to "fix" this is to root my phone?

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
Weth
Legend

No.  The instructions do not involve that word.

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
DFender
Newbie

I do appreciate you trying to help me out, but in this case the links you point me to talk about a couple of different things. 1) Disabling the Verizon Setup Wizard - which is impossible to do in the latest version of the firmware/Lollipop that is on the phone now, so would require me rooting the phone and 2) Changing a settings.db setting for the "entitlement" - which as far as I can tell, cannot be done without having root access.

Or is there a way to mess with the settings.db file without having root that I don't know about?

~Dave

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
Weth
Legend

inisfad got it to work, maybe he or she will chime in

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Re: How to Make Foreign SIM cards work?
inisfad
Enthusiast - Level 2

I have a rather old Motorola Droid, that I am able to use overseas.  I have the phone set to either 'global', wcdma or gsm (normally global works fine).  When I first put my overseas SIM in, while the home screen is showing, the phone takes a bit of time to look for a signal.  I think that initially, I had the settings set to manually (rather than automatically) search for signals...it found a number of suppliers, including the one for the sim that I was using.  I always get a notice of 'sim card is unknown', but then I have an option to click 'ok', which I do, and the phone connects to the supplier.  I have used 2 or 3 different suppliers in the phone.  For texts, I had to put in the APN information.  The phone works for texts and phone calls, but does not work for tethering, and continues to look for Verizon.  Frankly, while Verizon continues to insist that these phones are 'unlocked', the aren't truly unlocked, and there is a ton of Verizon stuff in the phone that can be problematic.  I eventually had to root the phone to get rid of the bloatware, however, prior to doing that, the phone did work just for calls and texts.  When you put the foreign sim in, and start up the phone, does that screen that advises you that the sim is not from Verizon, allow you to go further into the phone, settings, etc.  If so, have you tried to search manually for a signal??

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