Questions about ditching Verizon for T-mobile

[Torque Effect]

Ok a few months ago I switched to Verizon, but I am quickly finding it way too expensive for what I am getting (2GB of data for $75), and I am constantly conserving my data because I don't want to blow through all my data and have to shut it off to avoid a $15 overage charge for a measly extra 500MB, and with how fast the LTE is that isn't hard to do.

Now onto the point.

My question is, to get T-Mobile to pay my ETF, do I HAVE to buy a phone from them? Or can I just bring my own? Because I would rather not pay $60 for a crap flip phone just to steal the sim card from it.

Because what I plan to do is send in my old Virgin Mobile phone that is on their list of eligible trade-ins, and keep my LG G2 from Verizon, and was going to flash the T-Mobile G2 rom to it, and just drop the T-Mobile SIM into it.
Before anyone say "ITS A CDMA PHONE IT WON'T WORK" All Verizon phones are unlocked and global ready out of the box, so all current Verizon phones can work on GSM networks. I actually don't have to flash the T-Mobile rom to it, but if I want to get it to work on their LTE network, and have wifi calling, I need to.

 

[Crashdamage]

I'm pretty sure you have to buy a phone to get the ETF buyout. You should talk to T-Mobile to be sure exactly what the rules are. An 'eligible device' for trade-in could mean anything on their eligible list, such as your old Virgin phone, or it could mean a device on the list *that also is the one you are under contract for*. IOW, T-Mobile may, understandably, want to get in trade the phone they are paying off for you.

If you want T-Mobile's WiFi calling, which is pretty cool, you must have a T-Mobile phone. Or a Nexus 6.

I've never heard of Verizon selling an unlocked phone, or unlocking one before the contract is paid in full.

Also, I wouldn't count on successfully flashing a T-Mobile ROM, but I'm not gonna say it's impossible, either. And if I were you I'd do some careful checking of data bands compatibility.

 

[Torque Effect]

I'm pretty sure you have to buy a phone to get the ETF buyout. You should talk to T-Mobile to be sure exactly what the rules are. An 'eligible device' for trade-in could mean anything on their eligible list, such as your old Virgin phone, or it could mean a device on the list *that also is the one you are under contract for*. IOW, T-Mobile may, understandably, want to get in trade the phone they are paying off for you.

If you want T-Mobile's WiFi calling, which is pretty cool, you must have a T-Mobile phone. Or a Nexus 6.

I've never heard of Verizon selling an unlocked phone, or unlocking one before the contract is paid in full.

Also, I wouldn't count on successfully flashing a T-Mobile ROM, but I'm not gonna say it's impossible, either. And if I were you I'd do some careful checking of data bands compatibility.

I've already done the research about flashing a Verizon G2 to make it into a Tmobile G2 over on the XDA forums. It is possible.

Further research says that all 4G LTE phones from Verizon are unlocked. Which makes sense because Verizon is a CDMA network, and LTE runs on GSM and requires a SIM card. So phones without LTE couldn't possibly be unlocked to work on GSM networks because they just don't have the hardware to even function off of CDMA.

But like you said, it does look like you have to buy a phone. But luckily they have a used POS android for $30 that uses a micro-sim.

Nothing in their terms for them paying off the ETF does it say that it has to be the phone being traded in has to be under the contract they are paying off.

 

[jhawkkw]

One thing you might want to consider is that the Verizon LG G2, doesn't support T-Mobile band 4 HSPA frequency. So if you go to an area without LTE, you might be stuck on EDGE signal.