Unlocking my G3 - Will it still work on original carrier?

[brewzer]

I have a funky situation. I worked at a corporation that paid for my cell phone. A few weeks ago my product got bought by a partner company who in turn offered me a job at the same position. I accepted but their cell phone policy is different in that they pay you $70/month and if there's anything left over you keep it. I am currently the only user on AT&T so I am going to switch to VZW. Here's my question...

I have a new VZW SIM card. If I use it to unlock my phone can I still put my AT&T SIM card back in it and use it on the AT&T network until I get signed up for VZW service?

I am trying to port my G3 over to VZW so I can upgrade to the G4. I can't wait past this week to sign up for my own account so my only option as I see it is to unlock my G3 and then upgrade to the G4 once it released. If there are any other options I have to get theG4 on VZW please let me know but keep this in mind...I have to sign up for VZW this week.

Thanks

 

[Fred Wilson2]

Several points here:
- First, if you unlocked the phone, that simply "unlocks" the carrier firmware lock so that the phone will accept any GSM SIM, even AT&T's still. Now, if the phone will work on another GSM network is another question, the "unlocked" code simply makes the phone so that it will accept any SIM.
- Regarding moving to Verizon, they (Verizon) have a long history of not allowing any non-Verizon branded phone (with the exceptions of the Google unlocked phones) onto their network, so this may present a problem, porting the AT&T G3 over to Verizon. Have you talked to Verizon yet ?
Also, Verizon is a CDMA/GSM mixed network. The AT&T G3 does not have the CDMA radio, so that may or may not be a problem also.
Even if Verizon allows the port for you, you will NOT get LTE speeds on the AT&T G3 running on Verizon because the AT&T G3 does not have the LTE band(s) that Verizon uses.

You're best bet is to simply stay with AT&T and upgrade with them. AT&T will be getting the G4.
I"m not sure that "because everyone else is on Verizon" is a good and certainly not the most cost effective reason to switch.
What, specifically, is the problem with staying with AT&T ?

Fred

 

[brewzer]

Fred, thanks for your response. I didn't realize VZW wouldn't allow another carrier's phone on their network, but I understand why they wouldn't want to. My friend is the manager at the local VZW store and she said she didn't know if it would work or not if we tried to port my G3 over. I asked a different VZW store and they didn't know either.

My best friend is the manager at the AT&T store here and they have been way better than Sprint, but VZW has the best coverage and they're the only carrier I haven't tried yet so I was going to give them a shot. It is starting to look like I will have to stick with AT&T or use a G6 and if those are my two choices I will still with AT&T most likely.

 

[Fred Wilson2]

I have and unlocked, International G3 (model 855) and I'm using it on AT&T with no problems at all. I travel a fair amount to Asia so I always buy unlocked, International phones for myself. When I'm in Asia, I simply get a SIM card from a local provider and use that during my duration there.
I was with Verizon years ago, but switched to AT&T when I started traveling and have been very happy with AT&T.
I'm not a Verizon fan at all. Everyone seems to complain that Verizon is always the last carrier to push out new updates, and even with that, they often are messed up. Read this forum to see how badly Verizon screwed up their Lollipop release for the G3



Fred