Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
SGMD1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Verizon has confirmed (here and here) they WILL unlock the SIM on the iPhone 4S, allowing for use of local SIM cards while traveling abroad (no word yet on whether this will allow for use on AT&T and T-Mobile.) This is different than the jailbreak unlocking method; SIM unlocking through Verizon is permanent and will not affect your warranty in any way.

1. Meet the following requirements:

* Must be a Verizon Wireless customer.
* The iPhone 4S being unlocked must be active on a Verizon Wireless line of service.
* The line of service must be active at least 60 days.
* The line of service must be in good standing for the past 60 days.
* Only one SIM Unlock per line every 10 months.

If you don't meet one or more of the above requirements, call anyway. You may still get lucky.

2. Insert a foreign SIM into the SIM card slot on the side of your phone (only required to confirm that the unlock is successful.)

3. Call 1-800-711-8300 (Verizon Global Support) and ask the representative for a SIM unlock. Occassionally a representative may not know exactly what you are referring to; make sure you are not transferred to a different department. You are in the right place. Explain that they should have a walkthrough on how to do this, and that it allows for the use of local, non-Verizon SIM cards while traveling abroad.

4. Get confirmation from the rep that the unlock has been applied to your account, then check your phone to make sure it recognizes your SIM and can connect (if successful it will roam on AT&T, assuming you are calling from the USA.) You will NOT see an unlock confirmation in iTunes as that is for a factory-applied unlock only.

 

5. Enjoy your new unlocked iPhone 4S!

Labels (2)
Tags (1)
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
SGMD1
Enthusiast - Level 3

Has anyone done this successfully yet?

Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
sdlaw
Enthusiast - Level 3
I'm curious about this part of what you said.
"SIM unlocking through Verizon is permanent and will not affect your warranty in any way." 
What does it mean it is permanent. If I'm going on a trip to say australia for two weeks and I unlock it and throw in an australian sim, come home and want to get back on verizon will I need a sim card?  I assume the CDMA network will still work since all the components are there?
Assuming I only take 1 international trip every 10 months can I just unlock for while I'm gone then get back on CDMA when I get home?  If not what's the disadavantage?
In other words, is their any downside to unlocking at all?
Thanks
Also to answer the previous posters question... I highly doubt anyone has tried this since it's technically impossible for anyone to have had the iPhone 4S for 60 days.  In 30-60 days we'll probably see a lot more people who have done it.


0 Likes
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
SGMD1
Enthusiast - Level 3

sdlaw wrote:
I'm curious about this part of what you said.
"SIM unlocking through Verizon is permanent and will not affect your warranty in any way." 
What does it mean it is permanent. If I'm going on a trip to say australia for two weeks and I unlock it and throw in an australian sim, come home and want to get back on verizon will I need a sim card?  I assume the CDMA network will still work since all the components are there?

That just means that once it's unlocked, the phone can't be relocked, even if you do a restore or factory reset. The unlock is tied to your phone's IMEI number. If you go to Australia, just go into Settings -> Carrier and switch to GSM; when you get back, just switch back to Verizon in your settings. No downside whatsoever.


sdlaw wrote:
Assuming I only take 1 international trip every 10 months can I just unlock for while I'm gone then get back on CDMA when I get home?  If not what's the disadavantage?

Unlocking won't affect the CDMA capability at all. It just means you can use your own SIM while traveling abroad on a GSM network. When you get home and switch back to Verizon, your phone's GSM portion will still be unlocked for whenever you travel abroad again. No disadvantages whatsoever.


sdlaw wrote:
Also to answer the previous posters question... I highly doubt anyone has tried this since it's technically impossible for anyone to have had the iPhone 4S for 60 days.  In 30-60 days we'll probably see a lot more people who have done it.

You don't need to own the iPhone for 60 days; you just need to be a Verizon customer for 60 days. People who aren't new customers can get their iPhone 4S unlocked today.

0 Likes
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
swedegirl
Enthusiast - Level 2

YES.. and I tried putting my Swedish sim card in the phone and it come s upp as roaming through T mobile (I guess that is who the swedish provider has a deal with ) and when I make a call my swedish cell number shows up on my caller ID so it absolutely works!!!!!

Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
silver6055
Specialist - Level 1

swedegirl wrote:

YES.. and I tried putting my Swedish sim card in the phone and it come s upp as roaming through T mobile (I guess that is who the swedish provider has a deal with ) and when I make a call my swedish cell number shows up on my caller ID so it absolutely works!!!!!


Are you doing this in the US?  If so, that means it doesn't have US carriers blocked, which is better than the Droids!

0 Likes
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
gerelee
Enthusiast - Level 3

silver6055 wrote:

swedegirl wrote:

YES.. and I tried putting my Swedish sim card in the phone and it come s upp as roaming through T mobile (I guess that is who the swedish provider has a deal with ) and when I make a call my swedish cell number shows up on my caller ID so it absolutely works!!!!!


Are you doing this in the US?  If so, that means it doesn't have US carriers blocked, which is better than the Droids!



i've been waiting at least 4 hours but so far no luck with the unlock .... verizon says apple hasn't provided them with all the codes and it may take a while .. i'm trying to activate it with an at&t sim card, which, according to verizon, should work .. keeping my fingers crossed! 

0 Likes
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
newhavenmaven
Newbie

This sounds good.  But what does the limitation of one Unlock per line per 10 months mean?     My wife and I both will have Iphone 4S phones on a Shared Family Plan.  We will both want to unlock our phones after the 60 days because we often spend time in italy and want to use the local Italy SIM service there.  So will be both be able to unlock our phones at the same time?     You say that the phones will then stay unlocked--are you sure about that?  I'm wondering if that 10 month rule means that you can only request an unlock every 10 months, meaning that the phone becomes locked again after a short period of time.  I'm wanting to be sure about this because being able to use the 4S unlocked abroad is really the only reason we are switching from AT&T.....

 

0 Likes
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
silver6055
Specialist - Level 1

newhavenmaven wrote:

This sounds good.  But what does the limitation of one Unlock per line per 10 months mean?     My wife and I both will have Iphone 4S phones on a Shared Family Plan.  We will both want to unlock our phones after the 60 days because we often spend time in italy and want to use the local Italy SIM service there.  So will be both be able to unlock our phones at the same time?     You say that the phones will then stay unlocked--are you sure about that?  I'm wondering if that 10 month rule means that you can only request an unlock every 10 months, meaning that the phone becomes locked again after a short period of time.  I'm wanting to be sure about this because being able to use the 4S unlocked abroad is really the only reason we are switching from AT&T.....

 


Really, the phones stay unlocked!  The limitation is merely to prevent people unlocking and then reselling, several phones.   And the limitation is per line, so since you and your wife have phones with different numbers, you will both be able to unlock your phones.   I have done this several times with Verizon, though not of course with the iPhone 4S.  I was able to unlock several phones on my account because they were on different lines, the phones stay unlocked, and when I got a new phone (more than 10 months later) I was able to unlock the new phone on a line that had previously been used to unlock.

 

Caveat:  this all applies to other phones (Moto/HTC smartphones and samsung/motorola feature phones) so there MAY be a difference with the iPhone, but everything posted on this forum by employees (and elsewhere) suggest that Verizon is adhering to its standard unlock policies.

 

 

0 Likes
Re: Verizon iPhone 4S SIM UNLOCK Tutorial
newhavenmaven
Newbie

Thanks. I hope you are right and that they don't change their minds about this.  Is there somewhere official---like on the Verizon Web Site--that has the policy written out about unlocking after 60 days?  The links you included quoted a Verizon PR person, but were on non-Verizon sites. Since this matters a lot to us---we are only switching to Verizon to take advantage of this unlocking policy--I'ld feel better seeing it directly on a Verizon page.....

0 Likes