Fairphone 3 on Verizon in USA

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1

Good afternoon, and thank you for looking at my question!

I am very interested in getting the Fairphone 3 and want to make sure I am able to do so currently. While I’m in the USA I have connections where getting it to me from Europe won’t be an issue.

What could be an issue is that I use Verizon for my provider. I don’t like them ethically, but it’s a family plan that saves my relatives money by bundling it together. Regardless, I would like to know what I can expect for performance on that network. I have done some preliminary research and it looks like 4G connection would be a stretch, but 3G should be more consistent.

Do my finding match with current expectations for performance? Are there other caveats I should be concerned with? If this isn’t the right phone to go with, what other options do I have to ethically get a decent cell phone(options outside of buying a used phone). Thank you again for reading my question!

2

The Fairphone 2 did not connect to Verizon at all as they use different frequency bands than in Europe - and Fairphone is only selling to the European market. So far, Fairphone 2 users appeared to have the best results with AT&T. See also this forum topic: Taking Fairphone 2 to USA.

Using https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers/verizon-wireless-united-states as source, it appears the Fairphone 3 does support the frequency bands used by Verizon, but there is a huge warning on that page that only approved devices can be used. The Fairphone 3 will probably not get approval, as it does not have an FCC certification.

3

I looks like the info from that site is a bit out of date. I found this source which looks to be up to date. Taking a look at the LTE B5 band here coverage in my next of the woods seems decentish, and B66 AWS-3 seems to be pretty darn good. Do you know if Verizon would still block the device from connecting?

4

Someone has to try. I don’t recall forum posts about the FP3 in the USA.

I don’t see any FP3 users in the topic here: Fairphone owners in the USA

Also, Verizon does not appear to have a 3G network anymore? If they do, you possibly could connect there. FP2 users were able to use 3G on AT&T.

5

Did you try this @strongthany? I’m considering going down the same path…

Crossposting:

6

I did try this, and I’ll relay what I remember from when I tried it and then conclude with what I’m currently doing that works.

VERIZON DOESN’T WORK
Unboxed Fairphone, slotted my Verizon SIM in, and powered on. It looked to show that it recognized a network, but nothing would go through. Not 4G data, not call, not text. What seems to be the issue from that is that Verizon could have it work, but they don’t accept the device on their network. Maybe they do it for security, maybe they don’t have the the right bands support that fairphone has, or maybe they just don’t want to. So that leaves with our only other option…

REJECT VERIZION, EMBRACE LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE
Okay maybe not anything, but it seems like most other providers work. If you want to spend the dosh, use AT&T or T-mobile, otherwise use a reseller that piggybacks off of their network. The choice there is on you, but I can personally attest to T-mobile working for me.

Hope this helps! Sorry for the delayed response.

7

Hi!
I wanted to thank both of your for posting on this. I am also in the US (northeastern CT) and on the brink of getting a Fairphone 3+ but had also worried about the 4G frequency issue. It’s reassuring to hear that almost everything but Verizon works. It sounds like you have both had luck with T-Mobile. Thanks for posting about that.

I’m thinking of buying it and getting it shipped from the reseller clove in the UK? Has anyone tried that?

Thanks!

8

I have not tried that, instead used the Polish information network family of my partner to get it shipped over here.

9

Thanks!

I have a ‘relative in Europe’ backup plan, myself.

:grinning:

10

Hi Nell and welcome to the forum!

The family/relative in the EU backup plan of course would be the cheapest way to come by a Fairphone.
Clove in the UK on the other hand might be faster and - just based on this forum -, there are quite a few reports of good experience with clove shipping to Canada. (Just search for Clove.)
And it seems to be the cheapest solution.

11

Thank you so much on all accounts!

12

Hello, again,
Just wanted to add that I did use Clove and my phone was delivered yesterday. Overall, it worked very well and I will be happy to talk with anyone else about delivery to the US, if they want/need.

I’m very excited. I’ve been wanting a Fairphone since Pre-Fairphone 1.

13

Hello,

good to hear that everything worked out fine!!! :smile:

And I hope you will visit this forum for sharing good news only. :+1:

14

Would love to hear if anyone tries the Fairphone 4 on Verizon…

And also, has anyone called Verizon to see what they say about this? Probably wouldn’t get real far, but like the original post, my wife and I are on a family plan with them so it’d definitely feel convenient (though I’d love to not use another massive multinational, but ya know)…

15

I am currently grappling with this a bit :grimacing: on one hand I don’t need another phone, my 3+ is still working great and I know that FP is going to provide software updates to it for a long while now. However at the same time I wouldn’t be tossing this old phone, if anything I’d be keeping it and using it for tinkering projects like running Lineage or Ubuntu touch, it being on the “spare” phone I can justify doing riskier tweaks because I still have my main one to carry me.

16

If you enter your FP3 IMEI on the verizon.com BYOD page, it says, “This device is not compatible with the Verizon network.” I did not pursue it further. I guess you could ask if they would allow you to activate even though your device is not compatible. But that seems like a stretch.

17

Hi everybody!
I am new here. Is anyone knows about Visible? They run on Verizon network, I assume probably fairphone probably not going to work with them?
I am still have Iphone, but as soon as it die I will buy fairphone through relatives/friends in Europe.

18

That would be correct, if the backbone network is on Verizon then fairphone will not work with it.