The Burning Question
Verizon Wireless this weekend confirmed to PhoneNews.com one of the most burning questions that many tech-focused users have wanted to know, since Verizon launched the LTE network.
And, that’s if their unlimited, grandfathered smartphone data plans are at risk, if customers move use their LTE SIM card in something other than a smartphone.
For those that don’t know, the SIM card is the little card inside most phones out there. It contains your subscriber access information, primarily your cell phone account number. Verizon recently began using SIM cards with the launch of its 4G LTE network. Carriers typically prefer customers not tinkering with the cards themselves though, leaving that task typically to the controlling hands of your local wireless store.
It has been no secret in the tinkering forums on the web, that you can drop an LTE SIM card from Verizon Wireless into devices other than smartphones. Users have pulled off SIM card swaps on devices like the Novatel MiFi and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and have achieved impressive results.
Unlike smartphones, which Verizon grandfathered in unlimited data plans, all hotspot and tablet plans for 4G LTE service on Verizon Wireless have been metered.
Metered, and costly. With data plans as much as $80 per month, it would actually be cheaper to scuttle a grandfathered voice plan, and use the smartphone plan’s unlimited data feature. Hence, why people have been wondering if they can pull it off.
AT&T Causes Concern
Of course, we at PhoneNews.com weren’t going to tell everyone to go and do something like this right away. History would show those that have, in the past, got burned.
AT&T has taken actions ranging from dropping people’s grandfathered data plans (and refusing to restore them), to cutting off data service entirely. Worse, some users report dropping their SIM card into non-AT&T Smartphones (such as unlocked Symbian devices from Nokia), and getting the same treatment.
This put us in a bit of a bind, since 4G LTE launched on Verizon. Even staffers at PhoneNews.com that had coveted grandfathered data plans on Verizon were unwilling to test the waters, for fear of waking up one morning and finding that unlimited data plan, replaced with a 2 GB data plan.
The FCC comes to the rescue…
As we noted in our precursor article on the new LTE iPad’s capability to use Smartphone SIM cards, Verizon (and following suit, AT&T), both agreed to a term in the FCC’s auctioning of new (C-Block) 700 MHz spectrum. Both carriers were interested in the spectrum, specifically for use on LTE deployments. And the FCC knew it.
Essentially, at the request of the public, and companies like Google, the FCC imposed rules that require 700 MHz license holders to not retaliate against subscriber device changes, of any kind. You get to keep the same plan, regardless of what kind of device it sits in.
The plight to get an answer…
We have tried for months to get Verizon to tackle this one. Seriously, it wasn’t an easy task. And we have no hard feelings with Verizon Wireless for not wanting to answer this question. We don’t like that the feds imposed these terms, either. We were hoping for market competition to achieve that.
Unfortunately, T-Mobile instead chose more onerous throttling terms, followed by AT&T. This leaves only Sprint, and grandfathered Verizon LTE customers, with truly unlimited data.
After several communications with Verizon’s press team, they did give us a truly straight-up answer… and here it is:
The SIM holds the detail of your data plan. If you move it to another device, you will be charged for the service you use. If you have an unlimited SIM and it fits another device, you can use it and you will pay for the service plan associated with the SIM.
Even we were surprised by the clarity of Verizon’s confirmation. This means Verizon is well aware that they cannot touch your grandfathered smartphone data plan, just because you chose to move it to a LTE MiFi or LTE iPad (which also acts as a portable hotspot).
SIM vs micro-SIM
Verizon Wireless did also ask us to remind customers that in order to use a micro-SIM device, you may need a micro-SIM. Many in the Internet community have found that GSM micro-SIM cutters (hailed in with iPhone 4 and iPad) also work with Verizon’s LTE SIM cards. Of course, Verizon Wireless would prefer you go to a store and have your SIM card swapped out for a micro-SIM if you need to do a replacement. It’s free of charge, too.
Examples show the potential…
Let’s say a family has four lines of service. The three additional lines have a $20 add-a-line fee, and the customer pays for $29.99 grandfathered unlimited data on each. That’s a total of $50 per shared line of service.
Verizon Wireless asks for $50 for 5 GB of metered 4G LTE data. If you use more than 5 GB of data per month, it’s cheaper to forward your calls to a prepaid phone, and pop the SIM card into an iPad or Novatel MiFi.
Even more obvious is that customers paying for that problematic mobile hotspot data add-on, an additional $30 per month, don’t seem to need to anymore. The plan was only offered to folks that specifically had a grandfathered data plan on an LTE smartphone… but seriously, why bother? At a savings of $360 per year, dropping that feature will pay for the cost of an LTE iPad on Verizon within a two-year contract cycle.
And, both the MiFi and iPad device provide the exact same features, albeit at the cost of convergence.
With voice-only plans at bargain prices, offerings like Page Plus Cellular will let you recycle your older Verizon 3G smartphone as a great voice-only device, and let your Smartphone SIM live on inside that iPad. Meanwhile, call forwarding will help you transition to your new number.
One really important note… You cannot keep your grandfathered data plan on Verizon and port your number to another provider. Like your number, your grandfathered data plan will go away from Verizon.
Throttling is the future, sadly
We are already aware of impending plans to throttle LTE data on Verizon Wireless. Hence, we’re not letting the cat out of the bag by telling folks this. Even if massive numbers of customers started using their Smartphone SIMs as MiFi dedicated Internet connections, the days of several-hundred-gigabyte data sessions on Verizon Wireless (and Sprint, too) are numbered.
The timing centers around shared data plans, and their rollout. Verizon is not going to scorn loyal customers like AT&T did. Instead, data plans on Verizon will have pooled throttling limits. For example, if Verizon imposes a 5 GB throttling limit, similar to AT&T’s revised limits, it will likely be account wide. Continuing the example, if you have four lines of service, the entire family will enjoy 20 GB of unthrottled LTE data per month. This will dramatically reduce the number of throttling events, while keeping Quality of Service and customer satisfaction high.
Conclusions, inveitable fallout
Some will love us for writing this… especially those who have been paying Verizon money all these years, and have those grandfathered plans. Some at Verizon Wireless may be running for the aspirin. And some that have known about this technique for awhile will be a bit ticked we’re sharing it with everyone.
But, we’re here to inform, and answer people’s burning questions. A ton of people have asked us to get to the bottom of this one, and that’s what we did. Keeping the carriers honest is one of our most important duties at PhoneNews.com.
We look forward to seeing market competition push up the levels of throttling and data caps, so that stories like these will be read years down the road as 21st Century relics of an era where data offerings didn’t meet consumer demand.
Because, seriously… if you pay for Internet on your PC at home, you wouldn’t expect to pay extra to use your iPod touch over Wi-Fi. The fact that carriers want to charge so much for tablet data, Sony PlayStation Vita data, and eventually watch phone data… and not even offer to bundle these services… simply underscores the lengths people will go to in order to enforce their grandfathering rights/privileges.
Please see the following quote from Verizon above:
“The SIM holds the detail of your data plan. If you move it to another device, you will be charged for the service you use. If you have an unlimited SIM and it fits another device, you can use it and you will pay for the service plan associated with the SIM.”
However, can someone get confirmation from Verizon that this idea will work in reverse? In other words, will a data-only SIM card from an LTE iPad work in a Verizon LTE smartphone? This would allow the option to have a smartphone with a $30/month data-only plan and no voice service.
Jon,
Yes, you can do this. Some users had issues when LTE launched on Verizon with the workflow you describe, but it was due to server-side issues on Verizon’s end.
MiFi and Tablet SIM cards will work in smartphones, the discounted pricing on iPad SIMs will also work inside a smartphone.
[...] HSPA+ data for $30 per month. After which, the plan throttles customers to 2G speeds.Similar to our recent Verizon Wireless LTE SIM-swapping coverage, T-Mobile appears to be permitting this special plan to work in tablets and portable hotspot [...]
Is the key statement from vzw (Your sim holds the detail…) published by vzw anywhere independently? Or does it only exist in your article?
Can you provide a link to the text of the relevant FCC 700mh rules?
Mark, Verizon provided those statements exclusively to PhoneNews.com, as we have been the only major member of the mobile media to pursue this story.
The FCC did have a human-grade explanation of the Open Access C-Block provisions, but unfortunately they took it offline: http://www.fcc.gov/073107/700mhz_news_release_073107.pdf
Thanks, Chris , for clarifying.
Concern is that without any independent statement from vzw, they very well might later just re-spin this as a “misunderstanding” and jerk my unlimited plan anyway.
Not to in any wzy diminish what you’ve accomplished — great work !
Our understanding is that Verizon has sent a memo to employees affirming the statements they gave to us. We aren’t officially confirming that, since we don’t have the memo in-hand, but we have been told by VZW employees that such a memo is now on their Intranet.
I really doubt Verizon would about-face. They will either throttle unlimited data plans (very likely) or challenge the FCC mandate in court (possible, but less likely).
[...] to PhoneNews.com that the use of unlimited, grandfathered smartphone data plans on iPad was officially permitted, as well as on other LTE tablets, laptops, and portable hotspots.EmailPrintTwitterPosted in Apple, [...]
[...] 4G LTE smartphones, as many of those with such plans are able to take advantage of such features as unlimited mobile hotspot access on the new iPad as well as on LTE mobile hotspots. With this latest move, Verizon looks to stamp that out as soon [...]
I think your summary of the FCC position is a bit vague, and because of that, might be a bit misleading. It is not true that just any phone can be used. The companies have reserved the right to limit connection to only those phones they have tested and “certified” to be compatible with their network. Of course, they got the FCC to agree with this limitation under the guise of having to ensure their network is safe from any potential harm. Of course, any exact same model of phone (tablet) that the company sells is automatically “certified”. If really only comes to light if you want to use something else.
So, you can’t simply slap an LTE SIM card into just any kind of device you want, assume immunity from the FCC. There are limits.
[...] affected or dropped by doing this. We go in-depth with Verizon’s subsequent statements, in a follow-up article. [...]
[...] on Verizon Wireless proper continue to enjoy truly unlimited, unthrottled 4G LTE data, even on alternative devices. 3G smartphone owners (again, such as iPhone 4/4S) have faced throttling, but only when the Verizon [...]
Thanks for this write up
Josh,
Currently, the only LTE devices that work with Verizon are Verizon-certified.
I am not aware of any LTE devices out there that are not Verizon certified, and are compatible with Verizon’s bands and specific implementation of LTE.
If there are any out there, please let me know!
This article was already pretty long due to the amount of topics needing to be covered, I didn’t want to further confuse it with “what ifs” that don’t exist yet. Thanks for writing in though, you do raise great points.
Hey everybody. I had a question regarding Verizon LTE on the iPad. I have a Galaxy Nexus with a plan on Verizon and I have put it in my iPad 3 a few times and it has mostly worked. When I first got the iPad, I was able to connect to LTE (even at my house which my GNexus will only connect to 3G!). More recently I pop the SIM card in and it will connect to Verizon but only on 3G. I know that 4G is available in the area I was in as I was in 4G on my phone, shut it down, popped in SIM card, epic LTE fail.
Any thoughts? Could this be related to the carrier settings update? I haven’t connected my iPad in quite some time, could it be related?
Mike,
Did you install the carrier settings update? If not connect your iPad over USB to iTunes and make sure it is installed. It’s possible not having the update could be causing your connection issues.
We had no problems with SIM swapping smartphone-to-iPad after applying the carrier settings update. In fact, it resolved the issues that we were having.
How do I retrieve text messages sent to the old number – now being used in new iPad?
Can I go back and forth (same SIM) between the phone and non-phone devices and have the phone portion work when it’s back in the phone? Or, will putting the SIM in a non-phone permanently “disable” the phone service?
In other words, I want to use the SIM in a data-only device some of the time and in a smartphone device at other times..
Bob, you can switch the SIM “back and forth” between phone and non-phone devices.
The phone service simply won’t be functional while in a non-phone device. We suggest enabling call forwarding from your phone, before transferring your SIM to a tablet, laptop, or portable hotspot.
You can then disable call forwarding when the SIM card is returned to your smartphone,
Many readers forward calls to a Page Plus prepaid phone, since Page Plus accepts Verizon 3G devices, and uses Verizon’s 3G network for voice calls, so they enjoy the same coverage and call quality.
As a quick follow-up, a CNET article claims that using data-only SIM cards (from tablet/hotspot plans) do not work in smartphones.
Our experience differs. After a few minutes for the device to provision, we had no problem using data-only plans and SIM cards inside of smartphones. Keep in mind however, that Verizon Wireless charges $.25/minute for using a data-only plan in a smartphone when making/receiving voice phone calls.
Of course, you can avoid that charge by using a VoIP service like Skype or Google Voice with an app like Groove IP.
But to be clear, data-only SIM cards do work in 4G LTE smartphones on Verizon. Just give it more than 30 seconds to start working.
Many are interested in this as a means to ditch the cost of a voice plan, and use an iPad/tablet data-only plan with a Verizon LTE smartphone. It’s not a bad idea, especially if you don’t have a grandfathered unlimited data plan.
P.S. If for some reason your account cannot provision data/voice services after a SIM swap, always give it an hour for any internal provisioning changes that are needed to take effect. If it still doesn’t work, call Verizon technical support. Believe it or not, Verizon will help you in these cases, as they are required to by the FCC open access conditions.
My Verizon iPhone 4s works just fine for voice and data without the sim in it. Can’t I just put the sim in a 4G LTE iPad without it affecting my phone or will that disable my phone at that time?
Brad,
The iPhone 4S SIM card is not an LTE SIM card. It is only for international roaming (a GSM SIM). You would have to upgrade to iPhone 5, which has an LTE SIM card. Then, you could insert that LTE SIM card into a Verizon iPad 3/4/Mini and it would work.
You will have to buy the iPhone 5 used, or pay full retail price however, to keep your unlimited data plan.
And yes, Verizon added that requirement just to deter people from doing what you want to do.
Can anyone let me know if they have tried the sim swap recently without any problem from VZW?
Romayne,
Works just fine. Had my Smartphone/Unlimited/LTE SIM in both Verizon tablets and hotspots this past week.
Thanks for the article.
I have successfully put an iPad Mini SIM in an iPhone 5. The iPad Mini is on a data-only Verizon Share Everything plan. The iPhone 5 is on a separate Verizon Share Everything plan.
Everything seems to work great for me when using the iPad SIM in the iPhone 5 except for the Personal Hotspot feature. When trying to use the Personal Hotspot on the iPhone 5, I am told I need to contact Verizon. The same SIM card in the iPad Mini has a Personal Hotspot that works just fine.
Is there a known workaround to this?
Verizon’s tablet plans/devices do not check for a tethering plan. Verizon sees tablets as data cards, essentially, so they do not program their tablets to check for a tethering plan, and basically let them tether for free. Since all tablets are intended to be on metered data plans, this isn’t a big deal for Verizon.
However, when you put a tablet SIM (which doesn’t have a tethering plan) into an iPhone, the iPhone will still check for a tethering add-on/plan. This has nothing to do with the SIM card, it will do the same if you put an aircard SIM into an iPhone.
This is also why an Unlimited Data Smartphone LTE SIM will work on a tablet’s hotspot mode. The tablet does not check what plan the SIM is using, and presumes tethering is always okay.
There’s no way around this without jailbreaking your iPhone. It’s murky as to if that is legal today, the FCC claims it is so long as you aren’t on an unlimited data plan, but Verizon may dispute that.
Another option would be using an Android device that supports USB/Bluetooth tethering.
If you have a USB broadband card, I’ve noticed something. When you SIM swap from a smartphone or other device, over to a USB broadband card, the first time the card is connected, attempts to get online will fail.
I suspect that this is because the servers are reprovisioning the line internally to work with a broadband card, and don’t provision on the network properly.
Just wanted to share that so that you don’t panic when your USB card fails to connect the first go. Just take a deep breath, unplug the card, and plug it back into the computer after a few seconds. It should successfully connect on the second go-around.
Great info. I have some questions…instead of getting someone’s grandfathered unlimited data plan, I have the opportunity to get an unlimited data plan through Amerinet. It is a deal worked out b/w Amerinet and Verizon that my employer gets to offer to me as a benefit. Are all unlimited data plans created equal or is this current unlimited plan inferior to the grandfathered ones?
Will this work going from a smartphone with a standard SIM to an ipad mini (nanosim)? I have not been able to get Verizon to put my ipad mini onto my unlimited plan. I’ve already tried activating the ipad online, but I get an error stating that my current plan is not compatible with the ipad mini. Verizon reps at the corporate store also tell me that my ipad is not compatible with my unlimited 4G data/phone plan; however, according to this article, it seems that the FCC ruling requires Verizon to allow me to switch from my phone to my ipad (and back again). What is the magic phrase I need to say to get the Verizon rep to allow me to activate my ipad’s SIM on my existing line, or is the only option cutting my standard SIM?
Jesse,
Your situation is complicated because the devices you want to swap with are of different SIM card types.
My suggestion would be to purchase a used MiFi 4510L (~$40 on eBay) which has a standard SIM card slot, and connect your iPad mini to that.
Or, purchase a smartphone that uses a nano SIM such as iPhone 5. Your standard SIM would then be replaced by Verizon with a nano SIM. This path is Verizon’s official solution that they provided to us.
Some will suggest you cut the SIM card and/or use SIM conversion tools. We do not recommend this as we have seen SIM slots permanently damaged by them.
Ive just picked up a Verizon® Novatel Wireless® MiFi® 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot from a friend for really cheap. Which is why im looking at this site.
So i can take the sim card out of my htc rezound, which has unlimited data, and insert it on the mifi? The mifi will give out internet up to 5 devices.
I can do this and Verizon can not touch my plan, alter it, or cancel it?
My unlimited data is safe if i take out the sim from phone and put it in mifi or tablet?
Of course, i understand, as long as its the same size sim, no additional steps are needed.
oh, also, if this is the case, that it will work. What about for a zoom tablet?
If I were to use zoom tablet, can i tether from the tablet to other devices and not incur extra charges?
thanks
The XOOM with an LTE module should provide mobile hotspot at no additional charge. Verizon tablets with 4G LTE offer hotspot without requiring a tethering plan, even when an unlimited data SIM card is inserted.
Be careful though as many Motorola XOOM units were not upgraded to 4G LTE, and only have a 3G CDMA radio. Motorola is no longer providing the free 4G LTE upgrades. Also, all Verizon XOOM tablets have the SIM card slot… you need to specifically check to make sure a 4G LTE radio card was installed. You can check this in device settings, as XOOM LTE units have updated firmware that distinguishes them.
[...] Verizon would do. This is an aged article but I have found nothing about them changing their policy Verizon Affirms Unlimited Smartphone SIM Card Usage in Hotspots, Tablets, LTE iPad | PhoneNews.com My concern is more so how to buy this device than if the SIM will work as I have stated. At this [...]