Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. The main difference is that a GSM phone will usually need a sim-card to be inserted to connect to the network. CDMA cell phones sometimes have the sim-card built in to them, but it all depends on the age and brand on the phone. The general rule is that a CDMA phone wont work on a GSM network, and vice versa—they run on different frequencies. Assuming the CDMA phone was not designed originally to support GSM, this is not possible. The cellular chipsets and algorithms for each technology is quite different. Having said that, in the US, some older CDMA phones from Verizon and Sprint had 2G GSM available for their travelers when overseas.

1. Cdma To Gsm Conversion

Hi Folks,

I see past discussions about CDMA-GSM phone conversion, but the posts either confound compatibility w/locking (not the same issue), &/or go the other way, converting GSM to CDMA, &/or are old and possibly outdated. My q:

I'm considering buying a Virgin Mobile iPhone. VM requires 1 year activation on their network before they'll provide an unlock code. But even after the phone is unlocked, the concern is whether it will be, or can be converted to be, fully compatible on GSM carriers.

VM uses CDMA. I want to switch an unlocked VM phone to TMobile, which uses GSM, I believe. Aren't iPhones built to handle both CDMA and GSM? AND, is LTE a newer type of network that supercedes this distinction? Q's:

1) Will phone purchased from a CDMA carrier such as Virgin Mobile be able to be converted to use on GSM provider such as TMobile?

2) Will there be a firmware or other intervention necessary after unlocking?

3) If so, would it be up to Virgin Mobile, or Apple to do this? And how would one proceed?

4) Is this concern obsolete with newer iPhone models that operate on LTE network?

Thanks in advance! /update-epg-on-openbox-v8s-scrambled.html.

Posted on Nov 27, 2016 11:51 AM

Cdma To Gsm Conversion