I have two iPhone 4s phones, one personal VZW and and AT&T for work. I understand that the 5s has both CDMA and GSM radios in every phone. If I bought and unlocked 5s would I be able to activate teh CDMA radio with VZW and install an AT&T sim and switch at will between carriers? I DO NOT want to have to carry two phones with me.
Thanks!
The GSM portion of the Verizon iPhone 5S is unlocked. You need to purchase the iPhone 5S activated with Verizon to do what you want to do, not purchasing an unlocked GSM iPhone 5S from an Apple Store.
You can also use the iPhone's Call Forwarding feature forwarding your personal Verizon iPhone to your AT&T business iPhone. I have a personal iPhone 5S activated with AT&T and a business iPhone 5 activated with T-Mobile and I forward my personal iPhone to my business iPhone M-F.
mleeber wrote:
If I bought and unlocked 5s would I be able to activate teh CDMA radio with VZW and install an AT&T sim and switch at will between carriers? I DO NOT want to have to carry two phones with me.
Another reason that wouldn't work is that, in order to put the AT&T SIM in, you'd need to take the Verizon SIM out. Allan's suggestion of using call forwarding is much simpler than juggling SIM cards. It's what I've done for ages.
I also use Google Voice's voice mail for both of my phone numbers, giving me a unified voicemail box. That takes a bit of setting up and means you access your VM through the Google Voice app but once it's done it's easy to manage.
If I buy the 5s from VZW will they not have it SIM locked?
I thought about forwarding my personal phone but that means I am buring personal minutes and business minutes for the duration for a forwarded call. I may try it... Will txts get forwarded too???
Thanks!
mleeber wrote:
I thought about forwarding my personal phone but that means I am buring personal minutes and business minutes for the duration for a forwarded call. I may try it... Will txts get forwarded too???
Yes, you will be using minutes on both plans. However, most of Verizon's plans (don't know about AT&T) now include unlimited minutes. No, texts aren't forwarded.
Indeed I would have to take the VZW SIM out but US CDMA does not use the SIM. I have taken the SIM out of my 4s and used the phone like normal, CDMA keys off the harware ESN which is embedded in the phone's chipset.
It is my understanding that the SIM in a VZW phone is only to allow use of GSM towers in Europe (900 or 950MHz I think, cant remember). Many CDMA phones have a GSM radio but they operate on different frequencies than the AT&T/T-Mobile US based equipment. This was done to prevent exactly what I want to do.
It is a shame that VZW has the best coverage and call quality and AT&T/T-Mobile has the most modern and convenient technology!!!
I did sign up for Google voice but I hate to count on that to plug a gap, not sure where the whole google empire is going as it relates to free services like google voice. Besides...not sure I trust them with their liberal privacy policy.
Looks like I may have to go with the forward option.
Thanks!
Answer to the first question is no. As already provided, the GSM portion of an iPhone 5S activated with Verizon is unlocked for international and domestic use.
I don't believe call forwarding uses double the call minutes for the phone being forwarded and the phone being forwarded to, and texts will not be forwarded but you can add your personal phone number to your business iPhone for iMessage and vice-versa if you activated iMessage with the same Apple ID on each iPhone. This is what I did and I receive iMessages sent to either phone number on each iPhone.
Keeping up with the nano-SIM cards constantly having to swap them out - the Verizon iPhone requires the included SIM card being inserted to use the iPhone with Verizon.
mleeber wrote:
Indeed I would have to take the VZW SIM out but US CDMA does not use the SIM. I have taken the SIM out of my 4s and used the phone like normal, CDMA keys off the harware ESN which is embedded in the phone's chipset.
All Verizon 4G LTE phones require a SIM in order to function. Your iPhone 4S is a 3G phone and didn't require a SIM domestically. The 5 and the 5S can't be activated without the Verizon SIM.
Allan Sampson wrote:
I don't believe call forwarding uses double the call minutes for the phone being forwarded and the phone being forwarded to
I don't know about AT&T but with Verizon, if you forward a call from one Verizon phone to another, you use minutes on both numbers. At least, that was true the last time I checked.
Well that is a bummer! It also explains why I do not need a SIM in my VZW 4s.
Thanks!
You're right. It couldn't be any other way when forwarding a call.
So...how robust is Google Voice? I guess the other option is to move to a GV number and put both phones in the hunt group. Knowing my luck GV will become fee based as soon I do this. It would avoid the double dipping on the minutes though.
I don't use GV that much (except for the voicemail). However, I know people who do. As long as you're in the U.S., it should work fine. You can group your contacts by work or personal, have different voicemail greetings by group, You can control which phones ring when. People can also text you on that number and you can set it up so those texts come to your phone as SMS. It might be worth looking at.
Best of luck.
Can an iPhone 5s use both GSM and CDMA carriers?
