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I am looking for an Android phone that I can use in the US (preferably Verizon) and switch out the SIM card so that I can use it in Costa Rica with their local service (ICE).

Does the Verizon Droid allow this?

If I unlock the phone, can I still use it on Verizon with their SIM card, and swap the card out for Costa Rica's SIM cared when I am there? Or... once unlocked, is it not possible to use it with Verizon?

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closed as too localized by Diago♦ Jan 9 at 11:56
This question would only be relevant to a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation that is not generally applicable to the worldwide audience of the internet.

5 Answers

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Android phones are like other mobile phones in that they can be SIM-locked to a particular carrier or be unlocked and allow any SIM.

Whether the phone you get will be SIM-locked will depend on who you buy it from. Even if you do buy a SIM-locked phone some carriers will unlock them for you.

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If I unlock the phone, can I still use it on Verizon with their SIM card, and swap the card out for Costa Rica's SIM cared when I am there? Or... once unlocked, is it not possible to use it with Verizon? – jason Nov 18 at 15:31
Once it's unlocked you can use it with any carrier you like. Just make sure you buy a phone which supports the band your carrier uses. In Europe everyone uses GSM so it's pretty easy but I gather in the US it's a little more complicated. – Dave Webb Nov 18 at 16:33
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Verizon is CDMA, and ICE looks to be GSM, so you'd need a different service than Verizon in the states in order to use the same phone.

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If you buy the Android Developer Phone 1 or 2, they are definitely SIM-unlocked. It requires registering as a Google developer, and you won't get paid apps (officially).

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As DHayes mentioned, Verizon is CDMA and doesn't use SIM cards. So you cannot use Verizon in the US. If you really want the Droid, the Motorola Milestone is the GSM version (currently released in a few countries in Europe). Another factor to consider is that the 3G frequencies used in the US differ from most of the rest of the world. AT&T uses 850 and 1900 MHz. T-Mobile uses 1700 MHz. So if you want 3G compatibility in Costa Rica and the US, make sure the handset has those in addition to the Costa Rican frequencies.

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While the CDMA spec allows for something much like SIM cards, Verizon doesn't use that part of the specification.

ICE is GSM, right? You will need to figure out which frequencies it uses and make sure you get a phone that supports those bands. A "quad band" phone will most definitely work (supports all 4 frequencies in use) but they tend to be expensive, so do your research.

I can't find the site that allows you to do frequency lookups by carrier/country but you should be able to find this with a little web-search-fu.

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