Swapping Verizon SIM Cards

Jim1348 · Feb 3, 2015

I did a search here, but I could not find the definitive answer. Now that Verizon smartphones are SIM based, can I pretty much swap Verizon SIMs without any risks? For example, say I get a post-paid Verizon SIM card for a post-paid Verizon phone, but decide to later insert it into a pre-paid Verizon phone, will it work?

AZgl1500 · Feb 4, 2015

dunno about swapping them to a different phone and it working. I suspect it won't always work.

I do know that I was going to do exactly that with a new S5 and use the SIM card from the S4 mini it was replacing and Verizon told me NO, leave the SIM card in the phone it came with, it is supporting the features of that specific phone.
She made a couple of changes on the VZW database and told me to power up the new S5 (old S4 turned off now) and it immediately came up and was running w/o any of the old time consuming programming issues of past phone activations.

She also said the instant that the S5 activated on my account, their system automatically disabled the SIM on the S4. We mailed that S4 back to Verizon free of charge. Been with VZW 20+ years and they might be a tad more expensive than the others, but you just cannot beat their Customer Service and their Coverage Area maps.

CyHawk · Feb 4, 2015

No. I just switched from post paid to pre-paid. If you are on post paid you can switch phones all you want as long as the phone takes the same size sim. On Pre-paid, each phone must have it's own sim. An issue that I am running into. It's a pain in the a@@ to switch phones on pre-paid, you have to call into CS or there is a *number to call.

AZgl1500 · Feb 4, 2015

Ummm, horses of a different color I see.... most of my phones have been purchased "on contract" which really does not bother me at all, I have not switched carriers since I finally wised up and signed on with Verizon 20+ years ago.
____________________________________
2 ea. Verizon Galaxy S5, KK 4.4.4, ART
MyPhoneExplorer saves your tailbone
Nova Prime, Textra, Blue Mail, Qi wireless equipped
I refuse to install LolliFLOP
Data and WiFi have been permanently turned OFF until VZW fixes this mess.

ATTspecialist · Mar 10, 2015

Yes, it will work. as long as you own the phone it must be allowed even different provider. Only need to call cs. If the phone is not cdma so the can put custom apn

Lars · May 7, 2015

The answer is sort of. Obviously sim cards of different size don't really swap though you can cut them down. The latest 4G models have a secure element SIM. Earlier phones don't have or support a secure element SIM such as the Razr HD and earlier. Google Wallet bypasses the secure element SIM btw. But generally SIM cards can be swapped around or you can call CS. You may find problems with just swapping sims. You may get the effect where you can't hear the other person or they can't hear you. Sounds crazy but then you have to call CS and have them reinitialize the provisioning. I had this from swapping some cards between two Maxx's.

Where other SIMs are concerned, VZW phones can use foreign sim cards outside the USA without needing a SIM unlock. Certain earlier 4G phones could be hacked to allow ATT & Tmob. Late model VZW phones are completely sim unlocked but are flakey on other LTE carriers.

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Swapping Verizon SIM Cards

Jim1348

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