Once Verizon enables GSM chip in Droid Razr, Droid 4 etc, can I use it on AT&T?

[aneftp]

I know people root and hacked the HTC Rezound and use that phone on ATT or other GSM providers in the USA.

Wondering once Verizon officially enables GSM chip in the Razr, Razr Maxx, Droid 4. Can I use it within the USA? Or does Verizon block all local USA GSM networks?

I remember in the past people used the Verizon Blackberry Storm (which had EDGE/2G chip) on ATT or T-mobile's network. Or has Verizon gotten nasty about locking down the GSM portion of their chip? (like they did with the iPhone 4S lock down).

Reason I ask is cause I have both Verizon and ATT service and would love to have the flexibility to switch a Verizon phone onto the ATT network anytime I wish (obviously can't put a ATT onto Verizon network).

[chrisf8657]

They already have enabled it in the Ics update. However, there is some sort of lock that prevents it from being used on at&t and T-Mobile.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[aneftp]

They already have enabled it in the Ics update. However, there is some sort of lock that prevents it from being used on at&t and T-Mobile.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

Thanks. I had a hunch. That sucks. Unlocked GSM is supposed to be universally compatible with all GSM networks. It's not like it can't be done. Don't know what Verizon's problem is.

Verizon LTE ipad has unlocked GSM functionality.

[i0wnj00]

http://www.extremetech.com/mobile/12...ity-with-them\

Until proven otherwise take this article with a grain of salt.

Even better is to use a Verizon Wireless mirco SIM card (or even roam on) in my AT&T branded Samsung Galaxy S III.
AWS support is good enough for me and if it works on the limited range of the lower C block on 700 MHz then even better.

[taoman54]

I know you're not talking about the iPhone but this seems relevant. From CNET article today:

Verizon and Sprint do not unlock their phones to be used on any other CDMA or GSM network in the U.S., even though the iPhone 4S they sell includes the same hardware and network technology found in iPhone 4S's sold by their competitors.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-575...ng-the-iphone/

[moto94536]

yea. My brother have BlackBerry Bold from verizon. The phone have gsm quad band. I buy unlock codes for $7 online, and unlocked it..

He is using T-Mobile Sim card on the bold.

So it is possible.

[chrisf8657]

yea. My brother have BlackBerry Bold from verizon. The phone have gsm quad band. I buy unlock codes for $7 online, and unlocked it..

He is using T-Mobile Sim card on the bold.

So it is possible.

On some other phones, yes, but not any Droid phones I.e. the RAZR.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[kbman]

Actually, the Droid Bionic works very well on ATT or T Mobile in the US.

It is the only one of the current Motorola global capable devices that has a fully band unlocked radio for domestic GSM carriers.

[BuffaloTF]

The Rezound works on AT&T or T-Mo but needs a fully deodexed ROM to make it ignore the CDMA radio and operate GSM only.

So does the Razr, Razr Maxx, Bionic and Droid 4... but they have that painful bootloader to get by... It isn't the easiest thing to ROM, but it's possible. There are instructions on XDA. These are from before the radios were turned on in their respective updates, so they have a step that activates the radios... not sure if that is even needed.

...I'm actually wondering if this is their next policy to get chopped down -- Upper C Block rules, from what I can tell, require that the phones be unlocked... unless that's changed with their settlement? I honestly am unsure here...

[i0wnj00]

...I'm actually wondering if this is their next policy to get chopped down -- Upper C Block rules, from what I can tell, require that the phones be unlocked... unless that's changed with their settlement? I honestly am unsure here...

Verizon Wireless may try to skirt the conditions for use and purchase of the Upper C Block, but they can't simply ignore it (for too long). I think the recent settlement only referred to third party apps found on Google Play and elsewhere. The best Verizon Wireless can do is to stonewall on updates to unlock the radios, which it may or may not have a legitimate reason do so.

[timvideo]

I think currently the only situations Verizon GSM capable phones can go into GSM is during EMERGENCY mode unless otherwise modified.

[CharlesH]

Unlocked GSM is supposed to be universally compatible with all GSM networks. It's not like it can't be done. Don't know what Verizon's problem is.

Verizon LTE ipad has unlocked GSM functionality.

There is SIM locking and there is country code locking. The usual "unlocking" is the former, which removes the restriction that only SIMs from a particular provider can be used.

The country code lock looks at the country code on the SIM, and rejects it meets certain criteria (like being associated with a North American carrier). This locking is typically difficult to break. This is what is used to prevent Verizon iPhones from being with at&t SIMs. When it is unlocked (by the first definition), you can still use, say, a European SIM, and roam onto at&t (and pay big $$).

[moto94536]

hi kbman, I check out phonearena.com . motorola droid bionic doesn't have gsm band technology. how did you manage to get working with att sim card?

[BuffaloTF]

hi kbman, I check out phonearena.com . motorola droid bionic doesn't have gsm band technology. how did you manage to get working with att sim card?

It does have quad-band GSM and tri-band HSPA (14). It uses the same radio baseband as used in the iPhone 4/4S, the Qualcomm MDM6600.

Phone Arena likely still has the older info pre-dating when this was discovered in a teardown, and enabled in a later update.

[kbman]

I am not sure what information they have on phonearena.com, but the Bionic has the same radio chip set as the Razr, Maxx and Droid4 and the iPhone 4s for that matter, which is a Qualcomm MDM6600 and is a fully global capable radio. VZW had them disable the GSM/WCDMA functions in the radio firmware for all of them when they were released. Back in February, it was discovered that all that is needed to re enable the global functions is a simple edit to the NVM for the band configuration and everything works. This allows all of these models to have international GSM/WCDMA service, but as CharlesH stated above there is an additional lockout on the MCC/MNC that prevents using them on domestic GSM carriers like ATT and T Mobile.

For unknown reasons, this lockout was not implemented on the Bionic, which has a different board despite sharing virtually the same hardware as the other models.
The Bionic is also not on the list of devices that were officially stated to be getting a firmware update to enable global roaming services.
Due to this anomaly, the Bionic works perfectly with domestic GSM carriers as well as international carriers on all of the Gingerbread 2.3.x firmware builds.

With the ICS releases for the Razr/Maxx and D4, they enabled global services using the same 8 byte string in NV_RF_BC_CONFIG_I that we used to enable it on the GB builds. They have also, again for unknown reasons, implemented the MCC lock on the leaked ICS test builds for the Bionic, perhaps due to the fact that it became known to work openly on domestic carriers under GB.

All of these changes have been leading up to the new policies that we are seeing as a result of the 700mHz C Block regulations and seemingly are just a series of stalling tactics by VZW while they figure out the best way to extract revenue and maintain control under a new set of rules in a new paradigm of device interoperability among all the networks.

The bottom line is that it's a very simple matter to enable the global services on any of these models that are designed to support it and we should soon see firmware updates for all of them that will allow full use on domestic GSM carriers, as per the C Block regulations.

If you are interested in technical details and instructions we should probably do that in a different thread.