Help Moving to ATT: Current status of RMHD on ATT?

[Marc_G]

Hi everyone,

I'm moving from Verizon to ATT due to poor signal quality where I work. I'm willing to pay ~$150 early termination fee which is what I would owe if I quit the contract today ($350 minus [20 months times $10 / month]).

Originally I thought I would require a new phone but now it seems that people have managed to use move their RMHD over to ATT, with the limitation that the phone doesn't have all the bands needed to take full advantage of LTE. But it does have the GSM and HSPA+.

My question is: What's the current status of "what's needed to do this?"

There have been lots of moving pieces in the 19 months I've had the phone. The original requirement for carriers to unlock phones on request expired, then came back after negotiations. I believe the current agreement is that they must unlock AT THE END of the contract. Does paying off early termination equate to end of the contract, for unlocking, or can Verizon shaft me until the original contract termination date?

Also, if VZ doesn't unlock me, is it still possible to unlock the phone? I know there apparently used to be an unlock procedure, in the 4.1.2 days, but with all the OS upgrades since then, and increased lockdown on bootloader / rooting, will my completely stock, never rooted, OTA Updated Kit Kat 4.4.2 system be unlocked by the procedure from a year or so ago?

When I visited ATT they were very welcoming and told me as long as the phone had a SIM card and at least GSM bands, I could use it (albeit with some restrictions due to missing LTE bands), but I have a concern they weren't delving into the details to get to a final answer.

Can someone summarize what is really required at this point to migrate a stock Verizon Razr Maxx HD, currently in Kit Kat 4.4.2, to be used by ATT?

Maybe it's just a phone call to Verizon?

Marc

 

[Rukbat]

Does paying off early termination equate to end of the contract, for unlocking, or can Verizon shaft me until the original contract termination date?

They can string you along with all sorts of excuses ("it will take 2 days to get the code for you". "Who are you? We have no record of your having asked for an unlock code." That sort of thing.) It's not exactly "not giving you the unlock code", but the end of the spear you get isn't the sharp one.

Also, if VZ doesn't unlock me, is it still possible to unlock the phone? I know there apparently used to be an unlock procedure, in the 4.1.2 days, but with all the OS upgrades since then, and increased lockdown on bootloader / rooting, will my completely stock, never rooted, OTA Updated Kit Kat 4.4.2 system be unlocked by the procedure from a year or so ago?

The procedure is still the same. You put in the AT&T SIM, the phone asks for the unlock code. You put the code in. The phone is unlocked. Getting the code? You'd have to find someone on ebay who sells you the actual code, not someone who rips you off with a fake code.

When I visited ATT they were very welcoming and told me as long as the phone had a SIM card and at least GSM bands, I could use it (albeit with some restrictions due to missing LTE bands), but I have a concern they weren't delving into the details to get to a final answer.

If the phone has a GSM radio,m you can use it. As you said, you may not get high speed data. You may not get data at all (unless you consider crawling with 2G "getting data". But you will get boice and text.

Can someone summarize what is really required at this point to migrate a stock Verizon Razr Maxx HD, currently in Kit Kat 4.4.2, to be used by ATT?

Maybe it's just a phone call to Verizon?

Or a visit to a Verizon company store. The fact that they have no signal due to a change in the location you need signal may make some clerk or store manager make th effort to unlock the phone once you've paid the ETF. (I've actually heard of one case in which the manager was able to get the ETF waived.) Face to face usually works better - if you approach it with the attitude of "I know they can't do this, but I'll ask for the sympathy vote anyway". The worst that can happen is that you pay the ETF and don't get the unlock code from them (for a year or two).

If I were you, I'd sell the phone (it's still worth good money) and buy an AT&T phone. Then you know you get all the bands, so you get LTE data everywhere. Between what you can get for your phone on Swappa and what you can buy a good used AT&T phone there, it shouldn't cost you too much.

 

[Marc_G]

So, I was all excited and mentally shifting to "buy a Moto X for ATT" and had even been to the MotoMaker site to see how I would customize it, then doing research I found that it doesn't have a multicolor notification LED. This is an absolute dealbreaker for me. Moto X is out of the running. I hated that it didn't have HDMI out or a micro SD slot, but I could forgive those deficiencies, but I use LiteFlow to control the light and it's a major part of how I use the phone.

Now looking into other phones. And into using my RMHD some more...

 

[Marc_G]

My question is: What's the current status of "what's needed to do this?"

...
Also, if VZ doesn't unlock me, is it still possible to unlock the phone? I know there apparently used to be an unlock procedure, in the 4.1.2 days, but with all the OS upgrades since then, and increased lockdown on bootloader / rooting, will my completely stock, never rooted, OTA Updated Kit Kat 4.4.2 system be unlocked by the procedure from a year or so ago?

If the phone has a GSM radio,m you can use it. As you said, you may not get high speed data. You may not get data at all (unless you consider crawling with 2G "getting data". But you will get boice and text.

If I could get my phone unlocked, I could do voice / sms via 3G/GSM plus HSPA+ data, which for my purposes would be fine. In practice, in most places, it's not quite as fast as the current 4GLTE but it's substantially faster than plain 3G data speeds, which actually are largely fine for most of my usage. I'm near wifi at home, and at work I need consistent data but not much of it. I'm working, after all.... not surfing the web a lot. I just need to know my email will make it through, my forum usage on breaks will be smooth... that sort of thing.

There "was" (and maybe still is) a procedure to hack the phone to unlock it... anybody know if the procedure still works (without root) now that we're on Kit Kat?

Marc

PS: I looked into an S4, which I suppose is now the frontrunner if I decide to buy a new phone, but it doesn't seem to have 3G. So, I'm worried that when I travel on highways and such that tend to be non-4G, will I have problems?

 

[Marc_G]

After an extensive discussion with folks at the ATT store, including someone who had personally attempted to get an RMHD working on their network, I'm giving up. The person told me they were never able to get it working despite everything "should" be OK.

I'm not up for that much hassle so I've bought an S4 for now, and will switch my wife and I over to ATT once the S4 shows up (I got it off of Swappa, mint condition supposedly, ~$100 cheaper than buying through ATT). Looks like I can get a fair amount on Swappa for my RMHD.

There are things I don't like about the S4 but it will do until something I like better comes along. I really wish the "X+1" or whatever they call the next Moto X variant will have a multicolor LED. Not sure why they left that off the X!

Marc

 

[EliC]

then doing research I found that it doesn't have a multicolor notification LED. This is an absolute dealbreaker for me.

The Moto X uses its OLED screen for live/active notification, so it doesn't need a separate LED notification. Since its OLED it can light up only the pixels required and uses minimal battery life.

 

[Marc_G]

Thanks. I didn't understand that wrinkle in my decision process. I had figured since it uses the screen it must be a battery-sucker. But perhaps not. I will keep my eye on this. I can always sell the S4 I bought and get an X or next gen later...

Thanks
Marc