Is the Verizon iPhone 7 compatible with Straight Talk's Verizon LTE Network?

I realized, after posting the above post, that it would have been clearer if I had written "CDMA iPhone 7" instead of "Verizon iPhone 7."

It also would have been clearer had I written "Straight Talk's Verizon-based network" instead of "Straight Talk's Verizon network."

UPDATE:

I stopped by the Apple store this morning, and got an IMEI number from a brand new, not-yet-activated-or-registered CDMA iPhone 7, from an Apple store employee. I gave that number to a Straight Talk representative. At first, she said that the IMEI was coming up in her system as not-yet-activated-or-registered, and therefore wasn't eligible for their Bring Your Own Phone program.

When I explained the situation, however, she said there is a workaround: She said if I bring the phone to my local Walmart, they can marry the SIM card to the serial number, using their WARP system. She did not know what WARP stands for. According to http://blog.walmart.com/innovation/20140505/smartphone-activation-made-easier-wi th-simplexity-technology, it seems to stand for Simplexity's "Wireless Activation Retail Platform," which Walmart acquired in mid-2014. She said that if the Walmart employee isn't able to do this, I can call Straight Talk, and they can make it happen. She said that once that marriage has occurred, they can then activate the phone with Straight Talk.

She said it's also important that I get a special type of SIM called a SOMM (SIM out multi-mode)—which is necessary for the 6/6S/7 iPhones—rather than a standard Straight Talk SIM.

When I called back and spoke to a second Straight Talk representative, she confirmed what the first representative had told me.

They both told me that this is a "new process" that they haven't actually seen done before, not only because the process is new, but also because it's such an unusual situation (i.e., most Bring Your Own Phone customers bring phones that have already been activated/registered with another carrier), but they are confident that it will work.

Is anyone able to explain the whole "marry the Sim card to the serial number" process, in plain English, so that I can understand this situation better?

Fingers crossed that it actually works!

UPDATE:

It worked.

I'm not exactly sure how, because getting it to work involved at least a dozen calls the Straight Talk, and a couple of trips to Walmart. But in the end, it worked. My new iPhone 7 works perfectly on Straight Talk's Verizon network.

Key points:

• Despite what multiple Straight Talk representatives told me, using Walmart's WARP system was both unnecessary and impossible. When the Walmart wireless salesperson tried to register my phone using WARP, they received unresolvable error messages, presumably because I didn't buy the phone from Walmart. Even scanning the box with the proper UPC code didn't help, because WARP didn't recognize it as a valid UPC.

• I did not need a "special" SIM card from Walmart. However, I can't tell you whether I needed a "special" SIM card or not, because I ended up having a SIM card mailed to me from Straight Talk (for free), and I don't know whether that SIM card was "special." Why did Straight Talk mail me a SIM card? Because I bought a regular SIM card from Walmart, and a Straight Talk representative mistakenly associated that SIM card with my old phone, rather than my new phone—which took hours to discover, and turned out to be irreversible. That may explain why I ended up spending over a dozen hours, on multiple days—between visiting Walmart and calling Straight Talk—getting it set up, rather than doing it in a few minutes. However, I'm not certain that that was the only problem. When I suggested to one of the many Straight Talk representatives to whom I spoke that I just buy another regular SIM card from Walmart—or get one of their "special" SOMM SIM cards, which they keep behind the desk for new iPhones, and don't sell independently, but gave me for free, out of pity—she said that either way, she couldn't guarantee that the SIM would be compatible with the phone. The only way to guarantee compatibility was for her to mail me one.

My advice to anyone trying to use an iPhone 7 on Straight Talk's Verizon network:

• Don't let them tell you the CDMA iPhone 7 isn't compatible with Straight Talk's Verizon network. It is. Tell them you know someone (i.e., me) who got it to work.

• Once you have the phone in hand, call Straight Talk, and ask them to mail you a compatible SIM. If they tell you to just buy one from Walmart, tell them you've been told by someone who went through this that that person was told by a Straight Talk representative that it's not clear whether the SIMs they sell at Walmart are compatible with the iPhone 7.

• If they tell you you need to activate the phone using Walmart's WARP system, tell them they are mistaken, because you know someone (i.e., me) who got a new CDMA iPhone 7 activated without Walmart's WARP system, and besides, WARP was not able to register the phone.

• Be prepared to get a different answer from every Straight Talk and Walmart representative you speak to, and be prepared to spend hours on the phone with Straight Talk or at Walmart.

If you do end up trying a SIM card from Walmart—either a regular one from the packet, or the special iPhone one they keep behind the counter for new iPhones—please let us know in this thread whether it works. (I would like to know, for if and when I buy another iPhone, in the future, whether I can just get one from Walmart—and if so, which one I need to get—or whether I need to wait for Straight Talk to mail me one.)