The problem in America is that there are two cellular technologies - CDmA and GSM. Unfortunately the two are not compatible, except for the few phones than have radios for both (the iPhone comes to mind and I know that Verizon has offered "global" phones over the years). Of the national carriers, Verizon and Sprint use CDMA while AT&T and T-Mobile use GSM. To compound the problem, AT&T and T-Mobile don't use the same frequencies but that's more of a problem with cellular data (3G, 4G, LTE) than voice. Straight Talk is GSM (I think they use AT&T's network). Unless your Verizon CMDA phone has a GSM SIM card slot, it's not going to work. This post was edited by mike_kaiser on Thu, Jul 18, 13 at 1:44

T, you're still not getting what I'm saying. lol. WiFi Adapter. Many older (and not so old) computers cannot access WiFi because they simply are not equipped to receive signals from WF routers. You buy an adapter to instantly receive signals from the WiFi router. I have 4 PC's, business and personal. Three of them are new, the other one is 11 years old. Works great, but it won't access the Internet because of not having the WiFi signal stuff already in it. It worked great with DSL. WiFi...no Internet. Hence, a WiFi adaptor is needed. It's no big deal, just a little adapter is all. Look it up.

Ability to receive OTA (Over-The-Air) broadcasts is based on things in addition to distance. I live about 60 miles E of NYC, and can receive most, but not all broadcast channels from there (I even sometimes get reception from a station in NJ!). In most areas now, there are no longer any low-band VHF stations (channels 2-6), but many UHF stations. So I got a high-band VHF antenna and a UHF antenna and mounted them on a 20 foot mast. I also got the best preamp I could find for under $200. I put this assembly on my west-facing deck and ran an RG6 cable into the house where the other half of the preamp and the TV are located. This setup works pretty well, although sometimes the sound drops out, but I can live with that. I intended to move this to the roof, but that's 40 feet off the ground and I'm scared to climb up there! (Remember, that after the digital conversion of broadcast stations, most changed their frequencies. In the NYC area, all the high-band stations stayed where they were, but the low band ones, including CBS, NBC, and Fox, all changed their broadcast frequencies to ones in the UHF band, but kept their old channel numbers in their logos. Modern digital TVs will search for all stations and display the old station numbers, even though they are using the new ones).

My word choice of smart wasn't to automatically label non family plan accounts as "dummy" choices. I'm not swimming in money, I'm simply expounding that verizon and ATT are the MOST expensive choices and to help alleviate the cost of said service, I feel its smart to be on a family plan, get 10 people on it. Beat the system. To have service alone by yourself on either company can easily be 100 dollars plus. Now that you mention your age, I suppose I don't need to explain costs of service further, as most of what I said is common sense, and I think there is a miscommunication that has happened here. My attempt to pass along my knowledge combined with some opinions must have been misinterpreted. I don't know much about prepaid service, never had a need for it. I never liked the options or prices or service based on the little I looked over. For any non prepaid...there is not roaming to worry about while traveling in the states. What do you mean by security products kenjwy. Where I live sprint service and tmobile are terrible, and everyone who has them will admit it. They are on it solely for the price. I don't travel much. I don't know much about project fi. I think verizon is a greedy bastard like ATT. I actually don't like them either, or ATT, but their service along with ATT is superior in my city, san antonio. tx, and most of the country for that matter. I don't see losing data for a tiny part of a trip until the next cell tower is in range, on the times I did go out of town for work, as a big deal. Dead zones are dead zones. Ham radios and cb radios are good for emergencies, emergency kits, and basic prepper skills and equipment, and of course having a firearm and knife. Everyone knows about the split of CDMA/GSM though. Age is not as relevant because everyone in the USA owns a phone, rich or poor, and people have them younger and younger now, and they upgrade and /or switch carriers all the time. Impossible to not come across compatibility issues, locked/unlocked issues, etc...I can't even imagine people who have phones that are over 3 years old. I don't know any. I'll have to test out my claims on verizon being unlocked. My brother has ATT. I'll try out his sim card in my blackberry priv. His POS att Apple phone should work on my verizon service. My wifes samsung s8 plus should do nicely anywhere also. I think verizon labels which phones are global capable..but the true spec sheet is available elsewhere. I intend to get a GSM unlocked NON CDMA phone when I upgrade next. I'm awaiting the note 8 release but I'm very hesitant to jump to the samsung bandwagon or sway from my blackberry roots. I hear the note 8 will exceed 1000. Those are really the only two phones in my sights, Key one or note 8. There is a possibility that the note 8 CDMA might hold all the gSM bands and the CDMA....but I have no doubt that the GSM will NOT have CDMA possibility. So if thats the case...similar GSM bands and CDMA then it makes sense to get the note 8 CDMA. On the Keyone , because more knowledge is known, I'm comfortable with the bands of the GSM version and lack of CDMA. CDMA is supposed to use more battery life I read somewhere....and I don't like verizon's bloatware and other junk put on. I'm very excited at the possibility of using strictly 4g and getting better battery life. I can't remember the last time my phone was not getting 4g reception here. Perhaps in buildings it may have switched without me noticing..and then also in rural areas or highways as you probably encounter in your endeavors...kenjwy Anyway, sorry if you were offended kenjwy...maybe it was the LOL start of my first message. Bottomline, is i merely assumed you didn't know much about wireless service based on what you wrote and also on the idea that you like sprint, and you made GSM and CDMA sound so black and white, when in my opinion...it couldn't be further from the truth. CDMA is heading out and isn't that important. ATT does very well without it, tmobile is making a great effort, without it. And its probably used less than 5 percent of the time for those of us with current phone on verizon using sim cards. With samsung and apple dominating the usa .....more than likely the majority are global phones/sim cards/and thus using GSM predominately.