Verizon's 4G LTE SIM in the wild

It's still baking our noodles to think about a Verizon device using a SIM on American soil -- but sure enough, those cards allegedly set up in Big Red's systems are floating around in the wild. What you're looking at here is a SIM that will slot into Verizon's LTE-enabled 4G devices when they launch later this year (hence the big "4G" logo on there), and yes, they look just like the SIMs you've been using for the last two decades on carriers around the world. The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems.

[Thanks, RWN]

Verizon's 4G LTE SIM in the wild

[weinerschnitzelboy Posted Jul 19th 2010 3:08AM]

Since when did verizon use sim cards? I always wanted to get an unlocked verizon phone.

[Plothole Posted Jul 19th 2010 7:44AM]

@weinerschnitzelboy
Your standard Verizon CDMA phone doesn't use a SIM card. Their new LTE network will though.

[EagleyeSmith Posted Jul 19th 2010 3:14AM]

Yea, Verizon getting SIM cards for the next generation network. Thats pretty kick ass. I personally think that ALL carriers should be GSM and have all the same frequencies. You want to talk about competition and the best phone/network winning. You do that, I guarantee you'll really figure out who's really the best Carrier in the U. S. of A.

[d0ug Posted Jul 19th 2010 5:21AM]

@EagleyeSmith maybe we'll finally have swapable SIM cards when everyone other than sprint is LTE, but a guarantee that it will be worse than the clusterfuck that is the 3G UMTS/HSPA networks here in the US. There isnt a single phone in the world that is capable of working on both ATT and TMO's 3G networks. every LTE provider will likely have their own differing radio bands we'll probably never see a phone that supports every band, i mean really why would VZ sell you a phone that you can cancel contract and jump over to TMO or ATT and use it?

Maybe an overseas market will develop with phones that support all the bands and we can import them like happened with GSM. but i don't know if that will happen either, its not happening yet with UMTS/HSPA, there are only a few countries that use the same UMTS/HSPA band as ATT Australia comes to mind. AFAIK no other country uses TMO's split 1700/2100 band. I remember reading that some S. American countries may use the 1700/2100 bands but i dont know if there is yet any deployment down there, and by the time there is we will have probably already moved full bore into LTE, so why import old tech?

[d0ug Posted Jul 19th 2010 5:30AM]

@EagleyeSmith Also the fact that there are SIM cards is sitll no guarantee that you can just swap phones as you please. Nextel's iDen network uses SIM cards. You can pretty much swap the SIM card into another phone and resume service, but being someone that administers my company's nextel account I will tell you especially with the iDen blackberries that they will work for a short period of time and then for no rhyme or reason the blackberries will loose service if you swap the SIM into another blackberry without notifying Nextel. This also is not a BES server activation issue, the swapped blackberries all get properly reactivated on BES

You HAVE to call into Sprint/Nextel every time you swap the SIM into a new device and give them the updated IMEI of the device to guarantee that your service suddenly wont stop working months down the road.

[uzerzero Posted Jul 19th 2010 5:44AM]

I never thought I'd hear the words "Verizon" and "SIM card" in the same sentence, with the exception of "Why the hell doesn't Verizon use SIM cards when the rest of the civilized world does?"

[Dylbot Posted Jul 19th 2010 5:48AM]

Here's hoping this is the start of the demise of CDMA, because it's that fucker that's stopping me from getting an Evo 4G here in the UK. The Desire is a good phone and all but looks-wise, the Evo is in a different class.

[d0ug Posted Jul 19th 2010 6:03AM]

@Dylbot CDMA wasn't your only reason for not being able to import an EVO, is there even a WiMax network in operation in the UK?

[Dylbot Posted Jul 19th 2010 6:18AM]

@d0ug Well, there's that too. There are (apparently) LTE trials currently in effect, though, so here's hoping that it catches on, and we don't get left out in the cold for future devices.

Still, I'd have taken a 3G version any day.

[Sin City Posted Jul 19th 2010 8:46AM]

Verizon is keeping CDMA till 2018, their LTE can't over voice yet, and Sprint is completely replacing their core network. Why is that I keep seeing CDMA is dead? Because of a leak sim card? I've already stated that Sprint will use either TD-LTE or FDD-LTE in the future, and that they are already looking for contracts for it, but shrugs I guess.

[Matt da Brat Posted Jul 19th 2010 8:46AM]

Cost? Data caps?

[JoshuaNJ Posted Jul 19th 2010 8:50AM]

I'm confused. Is LTE based on GSM, or something new entirely? I just keep thinking about the possibilities of using a T-Mobile or AT&T SIM in a Verizon phone.

[scorpeo Posted Jul 19th 2010 12:23PM]

@JoshuaNJ, yes it is, the LTE 700Mhz standard which will be used by Verizon and At&t is from the GSM cloth: http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/lte.htm

[Nn4458 Posted Jul 19th 2010 8:57AM]

That sim card looks huge.

[Dwillycom Posted Jul 19th 2010 8:58AM]

What's ur email I'll send u some real world results that I got through speedtest.net application... 5-6mb's down, and steady 1mb up

[Inspector Gadget80 Posted Jul 19th 2010 9:48AM]

Looks like AT&T is really really falling behind in technology. seriously. Just wish I was on Verizon right now. Would be the first to get their first 4G phone. First Sprint now Verizon.

[mcon25 Posted Jul 19th 2010 1:56PM]

There's no iPhone going to Verizon, this is a full size SIM card & the new iPhone uses a micro-SIM. Why would they make a special iPhone for Verizon?! Too bad, in a year (or less) from now all the Droidheads devices will be out of date.

[Plothole Posted Jul 19th 2010 6:24PM]

@mcon25
No, it's a mini-SIM. Which really just has to be trimmed down further to make it a micro-SIM.

Uh lets see... Verizon is the largest carrier in the United States. Do you really think Apple is just going to ignore all those potential new customers forever?

[pnyboy27 Posted Jul 19th 2010 4:03PM]

now verizon will buy out t-mobile! i can see it now