Dumb question regarding iphone4

One Red Seat

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Oct 30, 2003
1,221
Guilderland, NY
Pardon my ignorance but......my son lost his iPhone 6 & is currently without a phone. He is away so, that is problematic. I have an old iPhone 4 that I want to give him. I have & the 4 was purchased when I had AT&T. My son is on wife's Verizon plan. I know newer iPhones can be activated using the provider of one's choice but, is that true of an older phone like the 4? Can this phone that was previously active on AT&T now be activated on Verizon? Thank you
 

Bailey10

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Jul 6, 2013
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Check the terms of your contract with AT&T. I purchased an iPhone 4 as a part of plan with them a long time ago and was able to have my phoned unlocked for use abroad with other carriers after a certain amount of time that was stated in the contract.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Dec 4, 2005
19,615
Portsmouth, NH
It's not an issue of unlocking.

In the US, Sprint and Verizon use CDMA technology for their networks. ATT and T Mobile use GSM. The only way to cross systems is LTE technology, which the iPhone 4 won't have.

Unless I'm mistaken - and I might be, I'm not the most tech savvy guy - he can't do it. Someone may very well correct me tho.
 

One Red Seat

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Oct 30, 2003
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Guilderland, NY
Went to Apple to night & before purchasing new phone, I asked about converting the 4 and they said it can't be done. Appreciate all the responses
 

SumnerH

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Jul 18, 2005
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Alexandria, VA
It's not an issue of unlocking.

In the US, Sprint and Verizon use CDMA technology for their networks. ATT and T Mobile use GSM. The only way to cross systems is LTE technology, which the iPhone 4 won't have.

Unless I'm mistaken - and I might be, I'm not the most tech savvy guy - he can't do it. Someone may very well correct me tho.
There are plenty of phones out there that do both GSM and CDMA (eg all the Google Fi phones which use both Sprint and T Mobile). I think at least some iPhones do that as well (the 4s I believe, and the A1429 version of the 5).
 

mt8thsw9th

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Jul 17, 2005
17,120
Brooklyn
All Verizon iPhones since the 4S are GSM and CDMA; the 4 was CDMA-only.

Regardless, phones are carrier locked within the US (assuming you bought one for a specific carrier). You're free to use any carrier overseas.