International use without Verizon

[blueswitch]

Ok so my work pays for my cell. I have an Incredible 2 that work pays the Verizon bill on. I'm leaving my job and going to be working/traveling in Hong Kong and then S.E. Asia and China. My work in Hong Kong says I need a phone for work..so I either have to take this Incredible 2 over there or buy a phone in Hong Kong. My current work says they'll let me keep the phone for $100. My question is with the verizon service being cut off on it....can I take this phone to Asia and buy a SIM and be good? Or will it not quite work that smoothly? The thing is I probably won't want to use this phone when I return to the US because of Verizon's data caps now, so if it's not going to work in Asia I don't want to spend the $100.

[travisn000]

i don't know for sure if that phone has a sim card, but generally speaking you have to get the carrier (verizon) to unlock the sim slot on any "global" phone before a sim from another carrier can be used on it. There is also the issue of having access to the correct radio frequencies for the Hong Kong carrier... My guess is that you would be better off buying when you get there.

..somewhat related (FYI), TBH just released a CWR flashable zip to unlock additional frequencies on the droid pro and droid 2 global...

TBH US GSM Band Unlock for Droid 2 Global and Pro Update.zip Public Release

[nikecar]

i don't know for sure if that phone has a sim card, but generally speaking you have to get the carrier (verizon) to unlock the sim slot on any "global" phone before a sim from another carrier can be used on it. There is also the issue of having access to the correct radio frequencies for the Hong Kong carrier... My guess is that you would be better off buying when you get there.

..somewhat related (FYI), TBH just released a CWR flashable zip to unlock additional frequencies on the droid pro and droid 2 global...

TBH US GSM Band Unlock for Droid 2 Global and Pro Update.zip Public Release

It does have a sim card. how long will you be over there? If its for a long period, might just be better to get one there instead of paying higher roaming fees or international rates.

Sent from someplace, and with something that you need not worry about.

[blueswitch]

Yeah I know it has a sim because it is a world phone...I didn't know if it would be locked down or not in some way. I'll be there for 8 months in total. I just don't know what kind of phone options I'll have over there for what kind of prices and it would be nice to keep running Android.

[goffredo]

Keep the phone.

Call Verizon Global Services and have them walk you through a SIM Unlock (free).

When you get to your destination, buy a SIM from a local carrier that is local to where you plan to be. That way you aren't roaming when you use the voice & data, and you will have a local phone number so that other people in your destination area can simply make a local call to your cell phone. See PrePaidGSM: Hong Kong for example.

Done!

Keep the SIM when you get back to the states! Most carriers will keep the SIM card 'active' for a year or so, so if you go back, you can just buy more time for it and you get to keep the phone number, like you had never left.