Okay, so I bought a blackberry tour for verizon on ebay. It came with a chip in it that says Vodafone, VERIZON WIRELESS. So, my question is, what is it? I know it is what enables the "world" part of the world phone but does this mean the phone was unlocked? Does every single tour come with this vodafone chip?
Verizon is sending me a new, different tour today because my curve was messed up. I simply bought the one on ebay just in case Verizon chose to not send me the Tour..(they gave me a 2 week waiting period for a response on whether I would receive a new phone or not). But since theyre sending me the tour, I will now be selling the one I bought. I'm wondering if i should keep this chip (since I'll be selling the ebay one back on ebay..)
Is this chip specific to each phone? Will I have no use for it if I keep it? Will the phone not function properly without it? So many questions..
That chip is the SIM card. Each Tour comes with one. If you are using the Tour on Verizon, the SIM card is inactive. You can remove it and nothing will happen. You only need the SIM if you choose to unlock the Tour and use it on a GSM carrier, either in North America or in Europe.
You only need to unlock the Tour if you are going to put in a SIM card *other than the Vodafone SIM that came in your Tour. My US VZW Tour came with a Vodafone/Verizon SIM. They all do.
If you want to use the Tour out of the US, you can add the VZW Global plan and use the supplied Vodafone SIM, no unlocking is required.
Unlocking your Tour is only necessary if you want to use a local SIM in the country you are in. Or a US T-Mobile or AT&T SIM.
The Tour VZW is shipping you will have a Vodafone/Verizon SIM included. i suggest leaving the other SIM in the Tour you are selling. You don't need two SIMS.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
They come with Vodafone sim cards because they prefer you to use their parent company overseas. But any gsm carriers sim card will work once unlocked. Let us know if you need it unlocked.
