General question about SIM cards/switching phones

Just a general question here, as the title states.

Since I've always been on verizon, and have had my first ever blackberry or any smartphone since I got the Storm in Nov. 08.(so i have never used the SIM card system) But I was wondering if I went out and bought for instance a Blackberry 8900 or a Bold(with NO contract, or no SIM card in it, nothing), would I beable to go to Verizon, but my Storm SIM card in the other phone, and just use that phone on my plan?

How does all that stuff work?

thanks in advance for any answers.

You can have a sim card and take out your sim card and switch it to another phone. GSM are phones with sim card slots and CDMA are phone that don't have sim card slots. As I was saying.. You can switch your sim card through other GSM phones. For example. An AT&T phone has an AT&T sim card. And u decide to get another AT&T phone and switch sim cards. You can do that. But if you have for instance a phone that is locked to rogers (canadian provider) then you cannot do it. You must unlock that phone? Meaning you can put any sim card in there and it would work (very useful when travelling)

Ps. Your plan is in your sim card. So when you switch phone with your sim card. Your plan doesn't change what so ever so u still use the plan that you are currently on. Hope this helps :)

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Oh ok, makes sense. thanks!

So basically, if I wanted to get an 8900 or a Bold, I would have to unlock it, but if I got a Verizon Cuver 83XX, I wouldn't have to do anything except switch the SIM card.

If I did get a Bold or 8900, would Verizon unlock it for me, or is it illegal or something?

Originally Posted by SaMaster14

Oh ok, makes sense. thanks!

So basically, if I wanted to get an 8900 or a Bold, I would have to unlock it, but if I got a Verizon Cuver 83XX, I wouldn't have to do anything except switch the SIM card.

If I did get a Bold or 8900, would Verizon unlock it for me, or is it illegal or something?

You cannot use a Bold or an 8900 on Verizon. They're two totally different technologies. The Bold and 8900 run on GSM technology, which uses SIM cards. The Verizon phones run on CDMA frequencies, which do not use SIM cards at all. So you would be unable to use a GSM phone on a CDMA network.

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Originally Posted by a_silent_song

You cannot use a Bold or an 8900 on Verizon. They're two totally different technologies. The Bold and 8900 run on GSM technology, which uses SIM cards. The Verizon phones run on CDMA frequencies, which do not use SIM cards at all. So you would be unable to use a GSM phone on a CDMA network.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

The storm and curve on verizon have sim cards and I know for a fact the storm has gsm capabilities. So why couldn't I use a bold or 8900 ok verizon?

Originally Posted by SaMaster14

The storm and curve on verizon have sim cards and I know for a fact the storm has gsm capabilities. So why couldn't I use a bold or 8900 ok verizon?

Because they operate on different frequencies. The SIM slots on Verizon phones are for overseas use, which runs on a different GSM frequency from the GSM phones in the States. I can't remember the numbers offhand, but I do know they're different frequencies.

Originally Posted by SaMaster14

The storm and curve on verizon have sim cards and I know for a fact the storm has gsm capabilities. So why couldn't I use a bold or 8900 ok verizon?

The Storm is not using the SIM card for domestic use.