Will an "unlocked" 950XL work on Verizon?

[to_be_announced]

I don't have any loyalty to ATT or Verizon for their service, but I do like that ATT does get the good phones and that I can just pull the sim at any time and insert it in another phone.

I've done this on Verizon multiple times. Pulled my sim out of my old phone and put in a different phone I bought off of Ebay on multiple occasions.

 

[objectiveD]

Just to add some perspective, there are not millions of Windows Phone users on Verizon. WP has about 5.7 million users in the US (April ComScore numbers). Verizon has about 12 percent of those users which means about 700,000 users. Also since in the US about 43% of phone sales are high end phones, you really are talking about 300k potential customers. Given how poorly high end Windows phones have historically done on Verizon the number is probably quite a bit smaller than that.

I really want one of these phones myself but it looks like I will have to hang onto my Icon for a while yet.

 

[NOLATechy]

That might be because you are comparing Apples (no pun intended) to oranges. I have a Windows Phone and my roommate has an iPhone. We are both on Verizon wireless and in our house I always have 5 bars on my Windows phone, yet my roommate only gets 3 or 4 bars on the iPhone most of the time. Perhaps the difference isn't the network, but the radios in the devices. Microsoft pays a great deal of attention to their antennas, as stated in the Windows 10 event in New York, unlike Apple (remember antenna-gate?).

 

[objectiveD]

How many of the 300,000 VZW Windows Phones are in household plans like mine? When I walk my household plan from VZW over to ATT to get my 950, along with it will come three iPhones that belong to other family members in my plan.

As I understand the way Apple contracts its unit sales to the carriers, the carriers have to guaranty a minimum number of handsets purchases from Apple with whatever arrangements the carrier and Apple negotiate for that minimum guaranty (i.e. marketing cost sharing, price discounts, etc.). Thus the pressure of the carriers to push iPhone sales wherever they can. I am sure ATT will gladly take on four new customers because they could work it out with MS to provide the updated flagship at its release. I could see that 300,000 subscriber number being quite a bit larger if all the loyal VZW WP subscribers express there feelings in the same manner. My guess is that phone tradeins/resale will more than offset my breakup costs with VZW.

 

[maevinj]

That might be because you are comparing Apples (no pun intended) to oranges. I have a Windows Phone and my roommate has an iPhone. We are both on Verizon wireless and in our house I always have 5 bars on my Windows phone, yet my roommate only gets 3 or 4 bars on the iPhone most of the time. Perhaps the difference isn't the network, but the radios in the devices. Microsoft pays a great deal of attention to their antennas, as stated in the Windows 10 event in New York, unlike Apple (remember antenna-gate?).

This. I just sold my iPhone 6+ and reverted back to my 928. I get better coverage on the 928. Which makes me feel like a fool for complaining about Verizon's coverage in my area going down the drain..

 

[MikeSo]

Actually, no they can't - by law. As part of spectrum buy-up, they need to allow any device that supports their technology to work on their service. If they refuse, you can report it to the FCC.

Please stop this nonsense. Verizon can shut out any phone they like. Why do you and others keep blindly repeating these lies?
And yes, I would not call it "lies" if we hadn't already had this debate (I think in this very thread!). We looked at the law. It says nothing about this. So at this point it's better to call it lies than just misinformation, since this seems to be deliberate.

And If I'm wrong, I'd be happily proven wrong and take that back. Please, any sources for this?

 

[Generalheed]

I believe Microsoft is to blame for this actually. They did specifically say that carrier exclusivity was their idea. T-mobile's CEO even said Microsoft didn't bother reaching out to them. I think if Microsoft did reach out to Verizon, they could've come to an agreement.

 

[sprtfan]

Please stop this nonsense. Verizon can shut out any phone they like. Why do you and others keep blindly repeating these lies?
And yes, I would not call it "lies" if we hadn't already had this debate (I think in this very thread!). We looked at the law. It says nothing about this. So at this point it's better to call it lies than just misinformation, since this seems to be deliberate.

And If I'm wrong, I'd be happily proven wrong and take that back. Please, any sources for this?

I think there is some confusion on the agreement that went along with the spectrum buy. I'm not 100% sure, but I think as part of the agreement, Verizon has to unlock their own phones to work on other networks. I don't think any part of it says that they have to allow any phone to connect to their own network but a lot of people seem to have that impression. I could be wrong, and as you said, I'd like to see any source that states that Verizon has to allow any phone to connect to their own network.

 

[TexasLabRat]

That might be because you are comparing Apples (no pun intended) to oranges. I have a Windows Phone and my roommate has an iPhone. We are both on Verizon wireless and in our house I always have 5 bars on my Windows phone, yet my roommate only gets 3 or 4 bars on the iPhone most of the time. Perhaps the difference isn't the network, but the radios in the devices. Microsoft pays a great deal of attention to their antennas, as stated in the Windows 10 event in New York, unlike Apple (remember antenna-gate?).

"bars" of coverage don't really tell the story when comparing different phones..especially from different manufacturers. The bars are just a representation of signal strength based on an arbitrary formula that each manufacturer chooses. You have to look at the actual numerical signal strength in dBm from both phones (which might or might not be possible depending on the software running on the phone and the subsequent access to debug info it provides) to actually make a determination of which phone and/or provider is giving the better signal. Not saying your wrong, but you might be "right for the wrong reason".

 

[HoosierDaddy]

How many of the 300,000 VZW Windows Phones are in household plans like mine? When I walk my household plan from VZW over to ATT to get my 950, along with it will come three iPhones that belong to other family members in my plan.

That's great as far as it goes.

But it doesn't go far enough. On judgement day, how are you going to explain looking the other way while family members lived in sin? :winktongue:

 

[maevinj]

as part of the agreement, Verizon has to unlock their own phones to work on other networks.

This needs to be stickyed because this is what the agreement with the FCC states. Verizon can't sell phones that aren't unlocked. It states nothing about them not allowing other carries phone's on their network.

 

[mjperry51]

This needs to be stickyed because this is what the agreement with the FCC states. Verizon can't sell phones that aren't unlocked. It states nothing about them not allowing other carries phone's on their network.

LTE phones. . .

 

[MikeSo]

LTE phones. . .

Their LTE spectrum is open to all phones. Their network uses CDMA for access control. Verizon is NOT required to allow any phone to be authorized for their network.

 

[Trigger1018]

Why is this still being discussed. Everything is speculation until one or both companies announce something its all misinformation. The only thing worse than no information is misinformation. Listen I want this phone as bad as any one, but I'm on Sprint so I'm screwed.

Again in a perfect world anyone and everyone who wants this should be able to use and enjoy, but in our environment that's not possible.

 

[Zalcron]

I had my nexus 6 working on Verizon when it first came out, Verizon didn't support it. everything worked just fine and there was rumor that they weren't even going to support the nexus 6 at all. it was kind of a stupid workaround I had to do. I had to get my girlfriends htc remix and put it on my account, activate a new sim on the phone, the just popped the SIM in my nexus 6 and it activated and worked flawlessly. put the htc remix back on her account with her old SIM and that was that. the same thing will go for these phones, you'll be able to use the phone as long as you have a nano SIM attached to your account already. doesn't matter if Verizon supports them or carries them, as long as they have a few of the CDMA/LTE bands or just LTE bands, it'll work.

 

[ksj1]

I'm baffled as to why anyone would want to stay on Verizon. They were caught not so long ago putting a special tracking ID in your web traffic that can't be removed and it took them 6 months before they provided a way to opt out. They claimed 3rd parties couldn't use the ID just before a 3rd party said they would be using it. And now if you access an AOL owned web site (MapQuest, Tech Crunch, Huffington Post, etc) they are using it there to build user profiles of your web browsing behavior. Sorry, those people are evil if you ask me...

 

[Mr. Brown]

Agreed...holding on to mine too and I have a new. spare in a box too just in case. The phone is still quite good, camera still near the top of phone cameras...if we can get W10 to not drain the battery down so fast, I'd be happier with the ICON for a longer term.

I really like my ICON but it get's terrible WiFi service compared to my Lumia 920 and my iPhone. I think the cell strength is worse too. Do you guys have the same problem?

 

[mjperry51]

Their LTE spectrum is open to all phones. Their network uses CDMA for access control. Verizon is NOT required to allow any phone to be authorized for their network.

That's what I meant. . .

 

[ACSPEAKERBOX]

It is a shame. Just as I was thinking of going ALL Microsoft. SMH

 

[anon(7901790)]

I was at the Microsoft Store on Monday and the rep I talked to said that it will only work on AT&T and T-Mobile. That is for both the 950 and 950XL.