Verizon S4. CDMA but uses SIM card?

[kyrax1213]

My understanding was that Verizon uses CDMA, and CDMA phones don't need a SIM card to do voice, text and 3G. After I found out that the Verizon S4 uses a SIM card, I was somewhat confused. I did a little research and people said the SIM card was necessary for LTE data service. Learning that, I thought the SIM card was only necessary for LTE and the S4 can still do voice and text without it. Then recently, my friend got a Verizon S4 and I told him to try making a call with the SIM taken out and it did not work. What's going on here? If Verizon phones needed a SIM card to do voice and text, are they still a company that uses CDMA (or both CDMA and GSM?)

 

[Someone Somewhere]

IIRC, it's a dummy SIM that basically says 'Go look at the CDMA info'.

Way to test it would be to swap the SIMs between two CDMA/LTE handsets.

 

[nike18mn]

My understanding was that Verizon uses CDMA, and CDMA phones don't need a SIM card to do voice, text and 3G. After I found out that the Verizon S4 uses a SIM card, I was somewhat confused. I did a little research and people said the SIM card was necessary for LTE data service. Learning that, I thought the SIM card was only necessary for LTE and the S4 can still do voice and text without it. Then recently, my friend got a Verizon S4 and I told him to try making a call with the SIM taken out and it did not work. What's going on here? If Verizon phones needed a SIM card to do voice and text, are they still a company that uses CDMA (or both CDMA and GSM?)

4G LTE Phones are not CDMA Enabled anymore. Verizon did away with CDMA on 4G LTE phones. If your phone has a Sim Card Slot, Verizon uses that sim card to enable LTE. CDMA Technology is way too old to handle LTE Speeds. This is why Verizon bought the GSM Spectrum and starting using SIm Cards for their LTE Phones. All 4G phones are still CDMA which you can not swap out of the account.

Verizon is more competing with AT&T and the mobility of swapping phones. All you need is a working Sim Card from Verizon and it can work on any Verizon Sim Card Based phone. This means you can swap out phones as long you have a working Sim Card. Same Concept as AT&T. The only thing you CAN"T DO is use a AT&T Sim Base Phone on a Verizon Sim Card.

CDMA does not have the technology available or will it ever have LTE. So Verizon had to dip into the Sim Card Technology.

The news has been going around and has been confirmed. I sold my Verizon Tablet on Ebay and was not swapped out of my account. The guy was able to activate the device on the network without needing me to swap out the tablet.

All it needs is a working Sim Card. Verizon is going to do away with CDMA soon. Sprint will follow next. They are expecting Verizon to do away with CDMA all together in the next couple of years. They are predicting in 2020 after getting rid of all of their old CDMA phones that are still active.