[bignewfie]

so it's dead. Rice didn't work.. of course the Verizon Asurion coverage excludes drowning so no help there and the red light is firmly on. Don't have the big $ to buy new, looking on the net and can get one around $100.

Question is what do I need to know other than it works? the old days they had to be coded to a region, carrier, etc. is that still the case and how can I get around it?

thanks in advance for any help!

[gordol]

So far as I know, they are still carrier locked, but should not be region locked. Other than making sure that it's a Verizon branded model, try to get the MEID of the device and then contact Verizon to make sure it's not been reported as lost/stolen. Those are (should be) locked out of the system, and be unable to be (re)activated.