Will iPhone 5 A1429 CDMA work in world wide gsm carriers?

Hi Ninos,

I am not sure if a CDMA phone will work in GSM networks. Has the CDMA version a Nano SIM card slot?

Greetz

Joe

Hi Ninos,

please look at this thread.

It seems like CDMA phones won't work in GSM networks and vice versa.

Sorry for that. :-(

Greetz

Joe

if you buy a factory unlocked phone, when it becomes available

you should be good to go. or you can go and have the carrier do the unlock. you need the unlock for the GSM networks.

A CDMA iPhone, locked or unlocked, does not work on a GSM network.

I must admit that I have no idea what iPhone 5 will arrive at my door on or around September 21. I got up at 3:00am and ordered from the Verizon web site, although it took me three tries to actually have the choice of an iPhone 5 for selection. When I was finally going through the right order sequence it asked if I would be using my phone "Internationally", ever? I thought, well that is certainly a possibility and as such answered "Yes". When I got to the "Plan" part of the order sequence, it had a number of "rate" choices for international use, with one of the choices being, "Pay as You Go". That is what I checked. Bottom Line is, I have no idea how this impacts the question of CDMA vs. GSM. Another fun part of my 3:00am ordering effort was that accessories were offered at the end of the order sequence. One of those choices was an Otterbox case. I ordered it. When my email came, I noted that it was a case for the iPhone 4s. Why they even offered such a choice I have no idea. Fortuantely my daughter has an iPhone 4s and can use the case. The Otterbox web site offers the iPhone 5 Defender Case as a Pre-Order with shipping on or about September 21.

There is no such thing as an "Unlocked" CDMA device. With the 4S and 5, carriers have the option of unlocked the GSM portion of the phone. Verizon and Sprint will do this for customers in good standing, but only for International GSM carriers.

The only way to get a CDMA iPhone is from a US CDMA carrier or from Apple. There will not be an "unlocked" CDMA iPhone offered as no such device exists.

If and when an unlocked iPhone 5 is offered in the US, it will most likely be the unlocked version of the AT&T model.

CDMA iphone 4S could be unlocked for world-GSM use (every network except AT&T / US T-Mobile), thus worked on Sprint/Verizon/ GSM outside USA, and yes it did have a sim tray.... but you needed an account in good standing for Sprint/Verizon to unlock it for global use.... as diesel vdub said, you cannot simply buy the Sprint/Verizon 4S model already unlocked for world-GSM, even at full price.

If you are a Verizon customer in good standing, they will unlock a 4S. Nothing has been stated about the 5 yet.

Keep in mind that and unlocked iPhone will work on any gsm network worldwide. The unique thing about the 5 is the LTE antenna and the fact that there are so many different bands being used world wide. This will NOT affect roaming on gsm networks.

As per my research so far, it is not possible to use Virizon iphone 5 (CDMA) internationally with GSM carriers. It used to be possible only with 4s as they had sort of combined both GSM and CDMA in one devise but, it seems, Apple decided not to do it w/ iphone 5. Bummer, as I too travel a lot !

dj-s wrote:

As per my research so far, it is not possible to use Virizon iphone 5 (CDMA) internationally with GSM carriers.

Then your "research" is simply wrong.

The Verizon and Sprint CDMA iPhones have GSM radios as well for use Internationally.

Not sure where you did your research... but try using Apple's website or Google next time.