Don just got an iPhone from Verizon and doesn't know if he needs the SIM chip. The chatroom says that the SIM chip is for the LTE data plan.
Verizon also sells phones that can be used all over the world and the SIM port is for that purpose.
Bob wants to know where the best place to get a SIM card is for his Sprint iPhone when he's in Europe. Leo says that Sprint uses CDMA, not GSM, which is what's required for a SIM card. However, the iPhone 5 is a world phone, meaning it has both CDMA and GSM options. With Sprint, however, the GSM slot is locked. He could go to Sprint and explain to them that he's going to Europe and ask if they'll unlock it. Then he could buy a local SIM while he's in Europe. The chatroom says that if he's a customer in good standing, Sprint should unlock it.
Pronav bought an iPhone 5 on Sprint, but hears that Verizon iPhone’s comes unlocked. Would the Sprint iPhone 5 be unlocked as well, since it’s the same phone? Leo says no. Verizon chose on their own to unlock the iPhones that come through them. Leo believes that going forward, this will likely become the norm though. Will he be able to use his Sprint phone on another service when his contract is over? An eager rep at Verizon may be able to do it by unlocking it with software.
Yoni is traveling over seas and he wants to know if he could forward his Virgin Mobile calls to Thailand. Leo says that Yoni's CDMA phone won't work in Thailand at all. So he recommends buying an unlocked, GSM phone that has a SIM card and then buy a local phone. Leo's first recommendation was to use Google Voice for forwarding the calls, but it won't work to overseas numbers, it is US-only. For this reason, it may be worth contacting Virgin Mobile to see if they have a world phone.
Leo says that there's a good chance he won't be able to use it all. It's a CDMA phone, and most cell networks overseas use GSM technology. If he upgraded to the iPhone 5, he'd have no problem. The Verizon iPhone 5 comes unlocked and is a world phone, so Eric could buy a local SIM card and use data locally.
Estin has a friend who lives in a rural area and cell service is spotty at best. The only provider that has any coverage is US Cellular, and he is wondering if it's possible to get an unlocked iPhone for use on that network. Leo says since that network is CDMA, it won't be possible to do it. If he was in a GSM carrier's area, he could get an unlocked iPhone, put in the SIM card for that carrier, and he could use the phone. But since CDMA phones don't take SIM cards, they need to be programmed for use with the carrier. It's not even possible to get an unlocked CDMA phone anyway.
