Sprint and Verizon iPhone 4s: do they have SIM cards? Is the Sprint really unlocked for GSM?

[Winston]

That the Sprint and Verizon iPhone 4s models will have SIM cards for GSM roaming was mentioned a couple of weeks ago, but I haven't seen a confirmation from anyone who has one of these phones.
http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1...sg-1241874

Does the Sprint iPhone 4s come unlocked for GSM use with another carrier's micro SIM card? Does the Verizon iPhone 4s come with a SIM card, but initially locked to Verizon for SIM use? Any further word on Verizon's willingness to do a SIM unlock?

Has anyone tried the Sprint or Verizon iPhone 4s with a non-carrier-of-origin SIM card?


- Winston

[JoeH]

My son got a 4S last week to use on Verizon, and yes it has a SIM card. No further word on unlocking that I have seen.

[bhaveshp]

Yes, Verizon will unlock the GSM side for International use only if you've been a customer for 60+ days.

Step-by-step instructions here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1250863

I think I'll give this a shot with my wife's phone right now.

[Winston]

The MacRumors thread on unlocking Verizon makes it sound like you may have to connect the phone either to a computer that has iTunes or the internet via WiFi when you switch from Verizon to a foreign SIM card. After that you can switch among foreign SIM cards with no further trouble if you need to. But if you go back to Verizon you'll have to have the non-mobile phone connection to swap to the SIM again.

There is also a question about being able to leave a foreign SIM card in the phone and being able to switch easily back and forth from Verizon CDMA and the foreign SIM (which would be handy for someone traveling from the US abroad regularly).

Verizon does not offer a full unlock, as AT&T and (US) T-Mobile SIM still don't work after the unlocking. It's not clear whether a Canadian SIM would work or not.


- W