lumia icon unlocked

[ByeVanno]

so i read somewhere that somebody used an unlocked lumia icon on Tmobile and i'm just wondering how i thought the icon was CDMA for verizon or has CDMA changed and you use a sim card or what? I haven't seen a phone of that type for about 12 years and i'm just wondering

 

[xandros9]

Many of Verizon's phones are world phones, meaning they have both CDMA and GSM radios and relevant equipment onboard to help facilitate use abroad since GSM networks are so much more common outside the US.

 

[anon(7901790)]

Verizon started offering "unlocked" world phones once it started rolling out its LTE network. LTE is a direct descendent of GSM and requires a SIM card. Therefore, it made sense to offer unlocked phones. Yes, Verizon's 3G network is still CDMA, and I predict in about 5-10 years, that Verizon will no longer offer CDMA phones as it (and other carriers) transition completely to data only networks. By that time all phones will essentially be VOIP phones and there will no longer be separate data and voice networks.

Now with that being said, the Icon seems to play ok on both AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks with some fiddling (there are several threads here). However, it doesn't play nicely with Sprint.

 

[Dreamspell]

My Icon works perfectly (voice and data) with a Digicel SIM in Grenada, in the Caribbean.

 

[ByeVanno]

oh, okay thanks guys.

 

[hopmedic]

Verizon started offering "unlocked" world phones once it started rolling out its LTE network. LTE is a direct descendent of GSM and requires a SIM card. Therefore, it made sense to offer unlocked phones.

And it fits in with the rule that came with their LTE band:
[INFO]
47 CFR 27.16 - Network access requirements for Block C in the 746-757 and 776-787 MHz bands. | LII / Legal Information Institute

(e) Handset locking prohibited. No licensee may disable features on handsets it provides to customers, to the extent such features are compliant with the licensee's standards pursuant to paragraph (b)of this section, nor configure handsets it provides to prohibit use of such handsets on other providers' networks.

[/INFO]

Yes, Verizon's 3G network is still CDMA, and I predict in about 5-10 years, that Verizon will no longer offer CDMA phones as it (and other carriers) transition completely to data only networks. By that time all phones will essentially be VOIP phones and there will no longer be separate data and voice networks.

Actually, VOIP is coming sooner. By the end of this year, it looks like. And if I remember right (though I could be confusing this with other news, since it's been a while), the 928 and the Icon are both VoLTE capable.
Verizon committed to VoLTE with HD Voice in 2014 - FierceWirelessTech

Now with that being said, the Icon seems to play ok on both AT&T's and T-Mobile's networks with some fiddling (there are several threads here). However, it doesn't play nicely with Sprint.

They won't work on Sprint, because Sprint is a CDMA carrier, and there is no easy way to convert the phones between the two carriers. I've read some threads here that stated that there was a problem with MMS on ATT that could not be overcome, but I've put StraightTalk ATT SIM cards in two Lumia 822s for my step-daughter, and it works in those. I've not seen LTE work on it, but where we live, I wouldn't expect it, as ATT's coverage where I live is pathetic. My step-daughter may get LTE where she lives, but she's so tech-savvy (tongue in cheek) that I'm not going to try to get her to tell me if LTE works. HSPA+ is good enough for her, even if that's all she gets.