Does my phone need rooted?

[RoseGold]

I purchased a Homtom S9 from GearBest. It said it was compatible with the Verizon network, but I took it to Verizon and they said it was not compatible. I brought it home and tried to activate it myself and I couldn't do it either. I'm pretty sure I was putting in the right Device ID, but I'm not positive because I wasn't able to follow the steps exactly as outlined on the Verizon website. In the settings menu under Status I went to IMEI information. There were two numbers that looked as though they would qualify as the Device ID. They were labelled IMEI (Slot 1) and IMEI (Slot 2), but they both said my device was not compatible.

Does this mean I need to root my phone?

I've never done it before, but I usually figure things out on my own using Google or YouTube, but I can't find anything that can root this device. I've tried KingRoot, but it failed several times and I get the message that they need more requests for the phone (I think it's on 7). I have tried to do it from my PC as well, but I can't find the driver for my phone. I can find other HomToms, but not this one.

The phone got good reviews, but I can't find anything from anyone about Verizon specifically.

 

[mikedt]

This phone will not work with Verizon, in fact I don't think the Homtom is compatible with any US carrier networks at all. It just doesn't have the North American bands and modes.

So only thing you can do is return it to Gearbest for a refund. No imported dual-SIM China phones sold cheap online are Verizon compatible, that's it.

Verizon requires a phone to have an MEID{Mobile Equipment ID) to activate, because it's a CDMA network, cheapo dual-SIM phones from China don't have CDMA and no MEID. And they won't activate and work with Sprint either.

For information, it's only CDMA(Verizon and Sprint) compatible phones that have an MEID.

A dual-SIM Homtom will only have IMEIs.

 

[svim]

Rooting your phone won't allow you to magically make your phone compatible with Verizon's network, there are hardware issues involved so altering a software-relative aspect won't help you.