Why is it so hard to find a phone that will work on CDMA networks?

[JoeAceJR]

I am on Verizon plan with my family, and I desperately need a new phone for Instacart. My price budget for a new phone is $300 to $450 for a nice mid to high end phone with tons of storage, tons of ram, and tons of CPU cores, and big.LITTLE technology. I am NOT going to  buy a  phone directly from Verizon, its either hot garbage or overpriced for what it is.

The reason I made this post is because it is SO HARD to find phones on Newegg or Amazon that WILL WORK with CDMA networks. I spent a few hours looking on Newegg and Amazon for phones that WILL WORK with Verizon. I am going to move over to Mint Mobile soon afterwards I get my new phone. I want to keep my phone number.

So how do I find a phone that will work with Verizon for a few months before switching to Mint, or could I just get a new phone and switch to Mint mobile right away?

 

 

[Bombastinator]

The Verizon network is or used to be unusual.  It works well in rural areas because the use (used?) a different type of transceiver with greater range so they could put up fewer towers.  CDMA compatible may not be enough.

[JoeAceJR]

16 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

The Verizon network is or used to be unusual.  It works well in rural areas because the use (used?) a different type of transceiver with greater range so they could put up fewer towers.  CDMA compatible may not be enough.

So how do I find a phone that is compatible with Verizon when its so hard to look for a CDMA compatible phone on Newegg/Amazon? Do I even need a CDMA phone to use Verizon? Do the listed bands just need to match with Verizons bands?

[Bombastinator]

Finding a used version phone would be one way.  Newegg seems to me to be a weird place to look for phones.  I’m likely out of touch though.  My move would be to ask version what phones will work. 

[Donut417]

13 hours ago, JoeAceJR said:

So how do I find a phone that is compatible with Verizon when its so hard to look for a CDMA compatible phone on Newegg/Amazon?

Thas because CDMA is kinda a dead tech. Most places in Europe are all GSM. There are very few countries besides the US that are CDMA. To be clear, CDMA is the 3G network, because LTE is based on a GSM standard. Verizon is slated to shut down its 3G network soon ish. The only other major CDMA provider in the US is Sprint and T Mobile owns them and will likely shut down their network at some time to make way for 5G. 

 

Another thing is how security is handled on CDMA. Unlike GSM that uses a SIM card, CDMA networks the carrier has to do some type of authorization to it. As a result, that limits the phones. Yes I know Verizon devices have SIM cards, but that's literally due to the LTE radio, and they only started having SIM cards when LTE was deployed. I know they have become more relaxed when it comes to BYOD. 

 

Look for used Verizon devices. If you can live without 3G, you might be able to find devices that will solely work on the 4G network. I know my mom's Galaxy S7 which was a Verizon phone was able to work on the TMobile network, Im sure some devices out there have support for Verizon, you just might have to look a bit harder, or have limited network support. 

[Guest]

On 7/23/2020 at 8:20 AM, JoeAceJR said:

I am on Verizon plan with my family, and I desperately need a new phone for Instacart. My price budget for a new phone is $300 to $450 for a nice mid to high end phone with tons of storage, tons of ram, and tons of CPU cores, and big.LITTLE technology. I am NOT going to  buy a  phone directly from Verizon, its either hot garbage or overpriced for what it is.

The reason I made this post is because it is SO HARD to find phones on Newegg or Amazon that WILL WORK with CDMA networks. I spent a few hours looking on Newegg and Amazon for phones that WILL WORK with Verizon. I am going to move over to Mint Mobile soon afterwards I get my new phone. I want to keep my phone number.

So how do I find a phone that will work with Verizon for a few months before switching to Mint, or could I just get a new phone and switch to Mint mobile right away?

 

 

I bought a phone new from the manufacturer (Google) and activated on Verizon without issue, and I was with T-Mobile beforehand with the same device. Worked great on either carrier. So I'd recommend finding a phone you like and hitting up a Best Buy or something to purchase it, that way you can get a compatible phone without the Verizon premium or just buy direct and unlocked from them.

[JoeAceJR]

On 7/23/2020 at 11:01 PM, Donut417 said:

Thas because CDMA is kinda a dead tech. Most places in Europe are all GSM. There are very few countries besides the US that are CDMA. To be clear, CDMA is the 3G network, because LTE is based on a GSM standard. Verizon is slated to shut down its 3G network soon ish. The only other major CDMA provider in the US is Sprint and T Mobile owns them and will likely shut down their network at some time to make way for 5G. 

 

Another thing is how security is handled on CDMA. Unlike GSM that uses a SIM card, CDMA networks the carrier has to do some type of authorization to it. As a result, that limits the phones. Yes I know Verizon devices have SIM cards, but that's literally due to the LTE radio, and they only started having SIM cards when LTE was deployed. I know they have become more relaxed when it comes to BYOD. 

 

Look for used Verizon devices. If you can live without 3G, you might be able to find devices that will solely work on the 4G network. I know my mom's Galaxy S7 which was a Verizon phone was able to work on the TMobile network, Im sure some devices out there have support for Verizon, you just might have to look a bit harder, or have limited network support. 

So essentially I can buy any high end phone I want and just pop my sim card in it and it will work? As long as the sim card fits?

[Donut417]

9 minutes ago, JoeAceJR said:

So essentially I can buy any high end phone I want and just pop my sim card in it and it will work? As long as the sim card fits?

Its not about the SIM card 100%, as providers can provide any sim you need that will fit. Its about the radios. If the radios support the bands that your provider supports then you should be good. With the understanding that certain things might not work. Such as 3G. The best way to check is the model number. Keep in mind that for example a Galaxy S10 might have multiple model numbers. You need that detailed model number. Putting that in to Google should pull up band support. 

[JoeAceJR]

4 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

Its not about the SIM card 100%, as providers can provide any sim you need that will fit. Its about the radios. If the radios support the bands that your provider supports then you should be good. With the understanding that certain things might not work. Such as 3G. The best way to check is the model number. Keep in mind that for example a Galaxy S10 might have multiple model numbers. You need that detailed model number. Putting that in to Google should pull up band support. 

So Verizon uses 2, 4, 5, 13, 46, 48, and 66  for their 4g lte network , just looked it up. The main ones are 2, 4, 13, and 66. These are the bands that the phone I am looking at supports on 4g. 

 

B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B20(800), B26(850), B28(700), B66(AWS-3)
TD B38(2600), B40(2300), B41(2500)

 

If I had to guess, the B just stands for band,  so I can safely ignore the B? In any case, bands 46 and 48 are  missing from my phone. That shouldnt be an issue right? Since they arent the main bands on Verizon?

[Donut417]

11 minutes ago, JoeAceJR said:

So Verizon uses 2, 4, 5, 13, 46, 48, and 66  for their 4g lte network , just looked it up. The main ones are 2, 4, 13, and 66. These are the bands that the phone I am looking at supports on 4g. 

 

B1(2100), B2(1900), B3(1800), B4(AWS), B5(850), B7(2600), B8(900), B12(700), B13(700), B17(700), B20(800), B26(850), B28(700), B66(AWS-3)
TD B38(2600), B40(2300), B41(2500)

 

If I had to guess, the B just stands for band,  so I can safely ignore the B? In any case, bands 46 and 48 are  missing from my phone. That shouldnt be an issue right? Since they arent the main bands on Verizon?

https://www.verizon.com/onedp/byod?kbid=121565#/

 

Verizon has a BYOB page. They might confirm with the device will work well. Worth a shot. But with how it works on most providers, it should be as simple as using the correct SIM card ( correct size) with the device that has the right radios. And yes the B means bands.