Global Phone?

Anybody tried a SIM card with this app yet? I would love to be able to voice and text in NON verizon countries

I'm pretty confident that it's not that easy,but if you're willing to get under the hood it can be done. Some people have had success with the method referred to in post #6.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums
 
If you use a verizon sim, make sure to disable data, some countries can exceed $20,000 per GB(no that is not a typo).

Data rates are usually posted in kb or mb for international use. For domestic, typically it is in gb. For reference :

1,024 kb = 1mb
1,024mb = 1gb

Rates are posted at Verizon's website

Global Services

Also, for phones that Verizon classifies as global phones, you can call Verizon and they will unlock it. I have done so with several phones in the past.
 
Verizon doesn't classify this one as a global phone. "The Galaxy S III i535 4G LTE - 16GB Blue will not work for one or more of the selected countries or services. Here are your options:"

$20.48/MB for Germany. definitely keeping that off.

- - - Updated - - -

Verizon doesn't classify this one as a global phone. "The Galaxy S III i535 4G LTE - 16GB Blue will not work for one or more of the selected countries or services. Here are your options:"

$20.48/MB for Germany. definitely keeping that off.
 
I had no luck getting my s3 unlocked for overseas. Got a global loaner clamshell, $19.99 flat fee to bring the minute rate to $.99 / min in Iceland. Synced all my contacts, used my existing number. Just remember to de activate before 14 days or unlimited data goes bye bye

Sent from my SCH-I535
 
Verizon doesn't classify this one as a global phone. "The Galaxy S III i535 4G LTE - 16GB Blue will not work for one or more of the selected countries or services. Here are your options:"

$20.48/MB for Germany. definitely keeping that off.

- - - Updated - - -

Verizon doesn't classify this one as a global phone. "The Galaxy S III i535 4G LTE - 16GB Blue will not work for one or more of the selected countries or services. Here are your options:"

$20.48/MB for Germany. definitely keeping that off.


Have a great trip!
 
an update. Been through Amsterdam, North Germany and am now in Munich (where the rain is making Oktoberfest a little tough)

Played with the Phone Info app but couldn't get it to recognize. Won't even update the time zone. got a pop up about a unsupported service or soemthing from Verizon. Additionally, being on a setting other than th basic LTE/CDMA/EvDo seems to mess with my WiFi connection. made it drop out a ton. Tried the same in Germany after Amsterdam, and still no luck. same stuff. when I lick menu-select phone band that way, the com.android.phone process dies.

I've been using Google Talk/Calling mostly for when I need it. It's not really a huge deal. who uses this thing for phone calls anyway? hah.
 
an update. Been through Amsterdam, North Germany and am now in Munich (where the rain is making Oktoberfest a little tough)

Played with the Phone Info app but couldn't get it to recognize. Won't even update the time zone. got a pop up about a unsupported service or soemthing from Verizon. Additionally, being on a setting other than th basic LTE/CDMA/EvDo seems to mess with my WiFi connection. made it drop out a ton. Tried the same in Germany after Amsterdam, and still no luck. same stuff. when I lick menu-select phone band that way, the com.android.phone process dies.

I've been using Google Talk/Calling mostly for when I need it. It's not really a huge deal. who uses this thing for phone calls anyway? hah.

Any thoughts on this?
 
an update. Been through Amsterdam, North Germany and am now in Munich (where the rain is making Oktoberfest a little tough)

Played with the Phone Info app but couldn't get it to recognize. Won't even update the time zone. got a pop up about a unsupported service or soemthing from Verizon. Additionally, being on a setting other than th basic LTE/CDMA/EvDo seems to mess with my WiFi connection. made it drop out a ton. Tried the same in Germany after Amsterdam, and still no luck. same stuff. when I lick menu-select phone band that way, the com.android.phone process dies.

I've been using Google Talk/Calling mostly for when I need it. It's not really a huge deal. who uses this thing for phone calls anyway? hah.

Odd. I don't think I made any calls from Munich as I was only there for a day, but I clearly remember the "Welcome to Germany" text from Verizon and seeing that I was on the Vodafone.de network. I definitely made calls from Spain, Italy and Greece, and I used plenty of wifi while set on "Global" or one of the other GSM settings without any problems. My phone was only about a week old at the time and was completely stock and unrooted.

Hopefully you'll manage to enjoy Oktoberfest even without a cell signal.

:beer::D:beer: Prost!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums
 
Been wondering about this myself. Verizon said there's an update coming, yet the new iPhone 5 they're selling is GSM and HSPA+ unlocked? It's just not right...
 
From what I can tell it is still locked. The radio is in there, but in typical Verizon fashion, they claim a need to make the customer wait. As usual, I think XDA offers a solution for now. I'm going to Europe in a couple months and would like to bring this with me.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
 
From what I can tell it is still locked. The radio is in there, but in typical Verizon fashion, they claim a need to make the customer wait. As usual, I think XDA offers a solution for now. I'm going to Europe in a couple months and would like to bring this with me.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

Your right, The hardware is there but the software to enable the use of the GSM radio is not. Version a big :(

XDA does offer a solution but for me I love the way my s3 is and I do not want to root it
 
Odd. I don't think I made any calls from Munich as I was only there for a day, but I clearly remember the "Welcome to Germany" text from Verizon and seeing that I was on the Vodafone.de network. I definitely made calls from Spain, Italy and Greece, and I used plenty of wifi while set on "Global" or one of the other GSM settings without any problems. My phone was only about a week old at the time and was completely stock and unrooted.

Hopefully you'll manage to enjoy Oktoberfest even without a cell signal.

:beer::D:beer: Prost!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums

I'm rooted. I don't see why that'd have made a difference though. Really no luck anywhere in Europe.

curious how you made the network change. Did you click menu and "select radio band" (which crashes my phone process) or just change the drop down under device info? (which just didn't work for me other than the one 'unsupported network' message I got once in a while when on LTE/GSM/WCDMA in the dropdown. )
 
I'm rooted. I don't see why that'd have made a difference though. Really no luck anywhere in Europe.

curious how you made the network change. Did you click menu and "select radio band" (which crashes my phone process) or just change the drop down under device info? (which just didn't work for me other than the one 'unsupported network' message I got once in a while when on LTE/GSM/WCDMA in the dropdown. )

I don't think being rooted would make a difference, either, but it clearly wasn't necessary to make it work for me. I just used the drop down menu under Device Information. The "select radio band" method you described crashes my phone as well. I didn't use the LTE/GSM/WCDMA option, though. I used either GSM Only, GSM Auto, or Global. I kept switching in an effort to get data working, but as I recall I could get on the voice network using any of those options.

Did you contact Verizon ahead of time to enable international use? I believe I did that through the website before I purchased the worthless international data plan they sold me. Not sure if that would have made the difference.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Android Central Forums
 
A prepaid global SIM card is for those who is thinking of using his mobile overseas and do not want to pay the huge roaming charges by taking their GSM mobile along with them. Now, you can buy the SIM card before you leave home and also rent the GSM mobile that will work all over the world. international SIM
 
Did you contact Verizon ahead of time to enable international use? I believe I did that through the website before I purchased the worthless international data plan they sold me. Not sure if that would have made the difference.

That's probably it. I'd called them to try to see if there was anything they could do, and they basically said no, buy a Global phone or something and didn't do anything to my phone. Tricky of them to unlock something that doesn't work unless you utilize this app but gladly accept your money for a plan. bleh.

---------- Post Merged at 03:28 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 03:28 PM ----------

Did you contact Verizon ahead of time to enable international use? I believe I did that through the website before I purchased the worthless international data plan they sold me. Not sure if that would have made the difference.

That's probably it. I'd called them to try to see if there was anything they could do, and they basically said no, buy a Global phone or something and didn't do anything to my phone. Tricky of them to unlock something that doesn't work unless you utilize this app but gladly accept your money for a plan. bleh.
 
I used the work around posted on xda with my SGS3 for Italy. It's really not that hard, just follow the instructions word for word.

If you read that xfda post carefully, however, the workaround was initially used and tested only for data (or at least it was at the time - I think there has been an update and shortcut process posted since) and you do need a rooted phone. I just got back from a lengthy trip in Italy and the xda process worked great, EXCEPT, the Phone Info app also crashed my phone process. I never was able to make more then a few phone calls because I kept getting the pop-up "the application com.android.phone has stopped working." When I got back to the U.S. and reinserted my Verizon SIM, my phone still did not work and I had to do a factory reset (thank goodness of CWM Recovery!) and then my phone was back to normal.

I never tried a reset and reboot while in Italy, it may have worked, I don't know.

When in Italy, I ended up going with the provider Wind. I just bought a prepaid micro sim card with $5 starter phone calls (reloadable) and unlimited data for 30 days. It was around $30 USD. (I also tried TIM but the rep kept trying to get my phone to read their "tester" SIM card which it wouldn't do. She would not let me have my phone back with the tester SIM in it to work with the Phone Info app and just refused to sell me service.)

The Wind rep did tell me that within 24 hours I would be on their network but it actually took exactly 24 hours which was a little frustrating. Once onboard, I tried several of the Phone Info settings including WCDMA preferred, GSM only, WCDMA only, and Global. None of the WCDMA options worked at all. The GSM and Global options worked fine but there was a lot of network toggling between 3G and HSPA+ to the point it kind of drove me nuts.

Data was all I was concerned about because I really needed GPS and Google maps for all the driving we were doing. Also email connections were vital to my business while I was gone. For my purposes, this worked very well (I was not interested in spending my precious vacation time glued to my tablet or phone).

In my many trips to Europe I have found that WiFi is not reliable and absolutely needed a full time, consistent data connection. Even in the many 4 and 5 star hotels and resorts we stayed at on this trip that provided free WiFi to every guest with a personal log in, WiFi connections were very frustrating. I traveled with 3 other friends with a multitude of devices (both apple and android) and none of us could ever get a reliable WiFi connection for longer than about 15 minutes. My friends were very committed to their internet time and were upset most of the trip due to bad connections, dead spots, unexplained session time outs, etc.

With my unlimited data from Wind (and a rooted phone) I was able to put up a hotspot a few times with FoxFi. Worked great.

I hope this information helps any of you that are looking to use your SGS3 abroad even though Verizon has and continues to refuse to make good on its "global" update advertising. It is such a great device I could not imagine leaving home without it! (It also ended up being my camera of choice out of 4 that I took with me, including over my Sony DSLR.)
 

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