Using the 5 internationally

[roykirk]

I have an unlocked iPhone 5 that I plan on using while I'm out of the country for several weeks. I'm just going to buy a local SIM card and change it out. What I don't understand is where to find programming options to tell the iPhone 5 to use the SIM card instead of the normal CDMA network it uses with Verizon. All I can find is SIM card pin settings and the ability to turn off "international CDMA." With other phones I've owned over the years, there were settings to use only GSM, select the network I wanted to use, etc. Maybe this isn't necessary with the 5, but I don't want to get out of the country and have to spend hours trying to get it to work.

 

[KevinJS]

I'll attempt to answer this one, but I'm really grasping at straws. If I'm wrong, someone will probably shoot me down in flames.

From what I understand, the Verizon phone uses proprietary technology that is incompatible with other systems. Europe, I know for a fact, uses GSM, so if that's where you going, I doubt your phone will work at all.

Over to those that actually know something. I didn't want your post to go totally unanswered, is all.

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Hope this answers your question, or at least gets you a few more accurate answers. I'll delete your other thread now, since it asks the same question, and contains a heap of forbidden external links!

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[roykirk]

My understanding from a fair amount of research today is that Verizon iPhone 5 works just fine on GSM systems if you have a compatible SIM card installed and an unlocked iPhone (and as most of us know, Verizon iPhone 5s all come GSM unlocked). What I can't find is how you tell your phone that you want it to use the SIM card and not CDMA. If it's a simple matter of installing the SIM card and the phone does the rest, that's cool. Just hoping somebody can confirm that so I don't go bonkers trying to figure it out once I get there.

 

[KevinJS]

OK, well hang tough, and hopefully someone will come along with some answers. Which countries are you visiting, by the way. That may help if someone has experience in the countries of interest to you.

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[Silverado8405]

Just a thought, have you tried putting a domestic SIM card in your phone to see what happens? May shed some light on the subject, may not.


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[roykirk]

Kevin - I'll be in Spain and Italy. Silverado - That's a good idea. Unfortunately since I don't use GSM at home I don't have a domestic SIM card to try. I might try asking around a few friends to see if anyone has anything I could try.