Samsung S5 in BAJA

I think the ruling went that if you rent/lease a phone, like a 3 or 5 year contract that includes a phone, it can be locked. If you own the phone, they are required to unlock the phone and you can use any carrier. This was just in the last 12 to 18 months and there is no appeal process.

This is all very confusing. The article I cited says the 4G Verizon phones are unlocked but my local Verizon store told me that they are locked. I would find someone with a different carrier with a sim card and borrow it and insert it into your phone and see it it asks for a code when powered on.

Alternatively try a sim card in Mexico and see if it works. If not, buy a cheap phone and use it there. There are stores in Europe that provide cheap phones for visitors and maybe the same is true in Mexico.

Let us know what you find out about locked/unlocked Verizon phones.

Let me restate this so it is clearer: The S5 IS a GSM phone, I will suspend my Verizon contract when I go to Baja. I want to put a Mexican Tel co Sim in the phone to use there (I have done this in many countries with other phones)

All I want to know is: Does the S5 ship unlocked or do I need the unlock code.

and if anyone has done that I'd like to hear from them.

The posts on several sites including the Android users site is split about 2/3 - 1/3 in that the S5 Verizon labeled phone ships unlocked.

That is all I am trying to verify.

I will not be using Verizon in Mexico, And if the phone is GSM as the S5 is then it will work with the Mex sim card...if it is unlocked.

Thanks for all the replies but I still need to hear from someone who is using a Verizon S5 in Mex.

Verizon does not have good coverage in MX. If you are moving around get Telcel. If you are staying in one area use whatever works best.

Verizon says my S5 will work in Mexico using their plan. But maybe you want to use a Mexican carrier directly.

keelhauler1 wrote:
If you had Verizon it is a CDMA phone. Both Telcel & Movistar are GSM network. So unless your S5 can work on GSM a sim card won't work. It has nothing to do with Android.

My S5 is a GSM capable and worked in Europe, just not with a local sim card.

Here is an article about this:

http://www.cnet.com/news/confused-about-locked-vs-unlocked-phones-ask-maggie-explains/

If you had Verizon it is a CDMA phone. Both Telcel & Movistar are GSM network. So unless your S5 can work on GSM a sim card won't work. It has nothing to do with Android.

When I traveled to Europe last Spring I was told that my S5 was locked and could only be unlocked when the contract was up. I was also told that while it could be unlocked after the contract that it was nearly impossible to get Verizon to do so.