[Verizon Droid Incredible 2] vedf:
GSM Confirmed Working

I'm currently visiting our neighbors up north, so I had a wild idea to try getting a foreign SIM card (mostly to alleviate parental concerns without pissing out $$).

My Experience

My city of choice is Montreal and I believe the only networks that support the phone are Fido/Rogers (which are same company I believe). They're the only carriers that still support GSM/EDGE as other carriers use LTE and different bands of HSPA/CDMA.

Costs:

1. Fido SIM card: $10

2. Prepaid plan minimum load: $10

My plan: Pay by the day Unlimited Incoming (they have 3 different Pay by the day plans currently). I am entitled to unlimited incoming local calls and incoming SMS, all for $1/day. I also added on a $5 data plan which allows for 60MB over 1 week. My hotel has wifi and it's 2G so I'm not exactly going to torrent here...

I first tested out my phone with a SIM to make sure it was actually compatible. My phone attempted to sync, so I triggered carrier SMS saying that I did not have a data plan, with a link to add one (this is key). I did this at a kiosk that unfortunately did not sell prepaid plans, so I went to another location.

The representative here told me that data requires a prepaid monthly plan and is not compatible with pay per day plans. I was nearly convinced to buy a prepaid monthly plan ($25), with a SIM card ($10). PLUS, I would have to call in to get data added ($5), since the kiosk apparently does not have the option to add data. With tax, this was over 40 USD.

I went with a SIM card, pay by the day plan, and minimum load of $10. With tax, about 23 USD.

I went back to hotel, hopped on wifi, got Fido APN settings, and went to the link in the SMS that the carrier originally sent me when I was at first kiosk testing out the SIM card (you can also trigger the SMS by trying to browse the web). Went to link and was able to purchase the $5/wk/60MB plan with the money I had loaded in.

So for 23 USD, I can get 5 days of incoming voice/text ($1/day) and 60 MB data allowance. Better than over 40 USD for the 3 nights I'm staying here.

How to Set Up GSM

1. First, you have to unlock your phone so that you can use other carriers. Go to Settings > Mobile Networks > Network Mode, and select "GSM only". Reboot your phone.

2. Dial *#06# or looking at your Settings > Phone Info to find your IMEI. When you're on CDMA, you can only get MEID (which is also the number inscribed behind your battery).

3. Either call up Verizon or buy an unlock service from a site/eBay to get a MEP, which allows for you to SIM unlock. I bought a service from eBay for $4 as I did not want to deal with Verizon and I am not a primary account holder. Either way, you need to provide your 15 digit decimal IMEI for the MEP.

4. Unfortunately, I could not figure out how to SIM unlock from this ROM. Make sure your recovery works. Make a NAND backup.

5. Flash a stock ROM. I used andyBONESTOCK. Go to Settings > Security > Disable SIM card lock. Enter in your MEP. You should get a confirmation that your SIM is unlocked. Your phone will reboot. SIM unlocks are permanent.

6. Restore your NAND. Make sure you're in GSM Only network mode.

7. Insert foreign SIM (make sure you insert the right way, else you will get "No SIM card detected" error). Make sure you get a carrier that works with the phone (look up phone specs on HTC's website to see what bands the phone supports. Cross check with carrier networks.)

8. You should see the new carrier on the notification pull down. Your signal icon will not be roaming.

9. For mms/data, make sure you have the correct APN for the carrier.

It's a wall of text, but hopefully this helps someone.