Anyone else had an issue activating an unlocked galaxy phone on verizon??

[AC Question]

So i purchased an unlocked phone for the first time. I am the second owner. It was purchased directly from samsung by original owner and they then used it on Sprint for 2-3 months so right now upon startup it shows the Sprint logo. I verified with Verizon customer service before purchasing that i would be able to activate the device and was told that yes i could but i had wait until the device's IMEI number was put into the Verizon database since it wasnt currently in due to it being unlocked directly from samsung. So i say "ok how long will that take?" And i was told 1-3 business days. This was saturday. I call back sunday an was told same but that it should probably be activation ready by monday after which was 24 hours. Well monday comes and still get "invalid sim" when i put my nano sim from my iphone into the galaxy. I called back and got a friendly customer sevice rep who tells me that the form still says "in progress" but tells me he can do something to get it to activate. Well thats nice and all but i told him id rather wait til the esn number is in the databae so when i put in my sim card it will wipe out the sprint stuff and convert to verizon or however the heck it does that. So i give one more day and low and behold tuesday comes and still nothing. So i call back and get the same answer that its still in progress and that department has closed for the day. Then i asked for a manager and he tells me the SAME THING AGAIN. By now im getting heated cuz it is now been 3 days since i purchased this phone and its still just a paperweight. His suggestion was a new card from a verizon store activated in a different phone and then swap it into the new phone. I told him that was no different than what i was trying to do since the sim card in my iphone was the exact same type of card. He tells me ill just have to wait. I told him i was gonna contact corporate about this cuz somebody would be screwed if their phone crapped out in the middle of the night or they were long ways from home and their only option was an unlocked phone. Has anyone else had this issue??

 

[dpham00]

It sounds like this is the Sprint version, which won't work on Verizon, AFAIK. However you said that it is being unlocked directly from Samsung which is interesting because typically Samsung won't unlock phones directly.

 

[dgwyn]

Why wouldnt it work since they are both CDMA?...theyve already said it would activate once it has been added in the system. Im just not understanding what is taking so long. And i thought the purpose of an unlocked phone was so it would accept any sim card.

 

[dpham00]

Why wouldnt it work since they are both CDMA?...theyve already said it would activate once it has been added in the system. Im just not understanding what is taking so long. And i thought the purpose of an unlocked phone was so it would accept any sim card.

Unlocked means it would accept any sim yes. Whether or not the network is compatible(either fully or partially) is a different story. And CDMA carriers need to white list imei.

Specifically for Verizon, if it has band 13 lte then it should work without being white listed with an active sim. But on a device without band 13 LTE such as the phone you bought, then the imei needs to be white listed. Why it takes long.. This is Verizon. It took me many months and many phone calls and escalation to executive Relations just to get a refund on a phone i purchased. Many, many broken promises. So it doesn't really surprise me.

 

[dgwyn]

The phone is currently white listed but it still shows as "invalid esn" under verizon. Im calling them later tonite and if i dont get some answers or the phone activated them im just going to get a refund for it or resell it.