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vahidanwari
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Unlocking 4S for international GSM use.

I have put an international SIM card on a verizon iphone 4s. I spoke with the customer care and they said that they have unlocked my phone for international gsm use. but when i insert the sim it is not detecting the network,

PS I cant see the "International CDMA" option.

iPhone 4S, iOS 5.1.1

Posted on Jun 29, 2012 1:17 PM

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vahidanwari

Q: Unlocking 4S for international GSM use.

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  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Jun 29, 2012 1:20 PM in response to vahidanwari
    Level 9 (54,010 points)
    Desktops
    Jun 29, 2012 1:20 PM in response to vahidanwari

    Verizon iPhone only does CDMA. It doesn't have transmitter or receiver for GSM.

     

    Allan

  • by KiltedTim,

    KiltedTim KiltedTim Jun 29, 2012 1:31 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 9 (56,295 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 29, 2012 1:31 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    Um... yes, it does. That's why they call it a world phone. 

     

    To the OP. Did you have them unlock it BEFORE you left the US? If not, there is no way for them to communicate with the phone to actually unlock the SIM slot (I don't believe any restore with iTunes is necessary for the Verizon 4S, but I could be wrong on that... If so, you need to plug it in to iTunes and restore it to complete the unlock).

  • by vahidanwari,

    vahidanwari vahidanwari Jun 29, 2012 1:33 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2012 1:33 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    the iphone 4s has both CDMA and GSM. They said they will unlock it for international GSM use (so i when i go abroad i can use any gsm network from that country by putting a micro simcard in the slot)

    It wont work with a local GSM carrier (AT&T, T-mobile)

     

    They said when i insert the non-US sim and connect the phone to itunes i will get a message to activate the phone. i did that and i got the activate message, but by mistake i pressed the home button.

    When i tried removing and inserting the sim card again it did not work.

    I even tried restarting the phone.

    I can call Verizon customer care, but i will again have to explain the whole thing to them (this is a company connection, and some other details that make my case a bit complicated.) i will have to be transferred to verizon customer care via a third party that handles our phone connections.

    Thought i would get a quicker response over here.

     

    Thanks

  • by vahidanwari,

    vahidanwari vahidanwari Jun 29, 2012 1:34 PM in response to KiltedTim
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 29, 2012 1:34 PM in response to KiltedTim

    please read below, you posted before i replied.

    I am still in the US, but they also assured me that even if i go back home (India) i can still activate it from there (they said the activation is done via itunes)

     

    Thanks for the quick responses.

  • by iPhone_Warrior,

    iPhone_Warrior iPhone_Warrior Jun 29, 2012 3:14 PM in response to vahidanwari
    Level 3 (660 points)
    Jun 29, 2012 3:14 PM in response to vahidanwari

    vahidanwari wrote:

    It wont work with a local GSM carrier (AT&T, T-mobile)

     

    They said when i insert the non-US sim

    There is your answer. Verizon unlocked your phone for int'l carriers. AT&T, T-mobile are US carriers.

    All you can do is wait till you get home to try it.

  • by Lawrence Finch,

    Lawrence Finch Lawrence Finch Jun 30, 2012 7:44 AM in response to iPhone_Warrior
    Level 8 (38,236 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 30, 2012 7:44 AM in response to iPhone_Warrior

    Note also that if there is a CDMA provider the phone will use it as roaming on Verizon, even though the phone is unlocked for GSM carriers. India does have some CDMA carriers.