Can I buy a used or unlocked phone for my plan with Verizon, or is this a right given only to those blessed with GSM carriers?
Verizon uses CDMA, and only very few other carriers use this technology. I think only Sprint, Alltel, and Amp’ed have phones that also run on the CDMA network. You also have to register your phone’s ESN (or IMEI, or other identifying code) with Verizon, and they can refuse to activate your phone. There is no such thing as an “unlocked” CDMA phone, because it is up to the carrier (Verizon) to allow you onto their network. I’m also on Verizon and I’ve done the same thing (got my phone wet), and I bought a prepaid Verizon phone and activated it on my account. The packaging says that you cannot but I didn’t run into any problems when I switched ESNs online. The phone was cheap, $50, and sometimes they have RAZRs for $100. Some people on HowardForums have purchased CDMA phones from other carriers and successfully activated them on Verizon, either because they were identical phones to Verizon’s own offerings, or after changing the firmware. The main benefits of this are the lack of the stand
You can activate used or unlocked phones on Verizon but make sure that they are Verizon branded. There are reports (source Howardforums) that Verizon will only activate “Whitelisted” phones i.e phones from Verizon itself. Earlier you could get phones from Sprint and activate on Verizon but no more.
“Several times on Craigslist, I’ve bought someone else’s used Verizon phone” That’s a different story entirely. Not even close. A used Verizon phone would be SOC locked to Verizon. All you’re doing is changing the MIN/ESN pairing. You can buy a used Verizon phone and switch it. That works. It’s not an “unlocked” phone, though.
If I understand your question correctly, you can buy a used phone and have your current number transferred to it as long as that phone was previously used on the Verizon network. Then the question of locked vs. unlocked doesn’t enter into it. I’ve done this with U.S. Cellular, which is also a CDMA carrier. Sorry if you already knew this and are specifically looking to use a phone sold by another carrier.
