Need help ? advice ? way to get prepaid galaxy S3 off roaming it stays stuck on roaming

[19673ontree]

Hello , first time Verizon user got a new S3 saturday activated it on a prepaid plan unlimited talk text 500mb data , ive had the phone a few days now and love it ! It gets SUPER GOOD signal where other phones ive had got nothing ! Anyway here is my problem it stays in DATA VOICE ROAMING LOCK you can see you have 3G and 3 or 4 bars of signal but has a triangle and roaming notification which makes the phone useless it will send and recieve text fine but you cant make a call or use a webpage or email , after hours and hours of online with Verizon and a lot of google it appears that they locked these phones in roaming on purpose and if you get a phone on a contract it will be unlocked which is correct because I have a verizon tablet from work and it works perfect , my question is can ANYBODY tell me a way to unlock this phone off roaming ? Id pay verizon a fee ? Or ? They said on tech support they will unlock it on a post paid plan after ive had it 6 months ? Happy to get any help thanks

[vzw_customer_support · Accepted solution]

19673ontree,

Thank you so much for reaching out to us today. I want to make sure that you are able to use your device no matter where you go. Since this device is a prepaid phone we would not have any access to those accounts or troubleshooting steps. You can always get a hold of prepaid team by calling 888-294-6804. They would be able to further assist you with the issues we are facing.

KevinR_VZW
Follow us on Twitter @VZWSupport

[19673ontree]

Yea I stayed on the phone with verizon tech for hours I first thought it was a problem with the phone and they could just turn someting on abd fix it but they cant or are not allowed to , im not giving up this is a great phone somebody will know how to fix this ,

[19673ontree]

Well for anyone reading this here is how it is ,

In 2012 the galaxy S3 came out and from what I can tell it worked great you could buy a prepaid card and use the phone ,,,,,, fast forward a couple of years verizon wants everyone on a contract so they locked the S3's and maybe others in roaming ,,,,,,, all that hours on the phone with tech support will get you is WE CAN TRANSFER YOU TO OUR CANTRACT PLAN  PHONE TECH THEY CAN SELL YOU A PHONE AND 2 YR CONTRACT AND YOUR PHONE WILL WORK !

VERIZON has super strong signal here in the area where I live but on prepaid its useless because the roaming lock blocks all calls and data ,,,

I have to have a phone that works and so I have no choice but to get a contract phone I ordered one last nite ,,

If anyone at verizon is reading this my personal opinion on this is if you are not going to unlock the prepaid phones so people WORKING PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT MILLION AIRES can use them them STOP SELLING THEM !

[Jkiel]

I have also experienced this issue and have found some resolution to it.   After speaking with a manager of a store (mind you 3 hours one way travel to get there)  for 1.5 hours and coming up with a myriad of solutions that cost me,  the customer, more money,   I can now send and receive calls in roaming areas but data still doesn't work.   The solutions were 1. Replace the phone with an identical phone - problem was I already had two identical phones experiencing the same problem.   2.  Purchase a network extender that runs off the Internet - problem is that this is my additional $250 cost when version is showing coverage in my area.   3.  Go to a contract phone - problem is i paid $250 for each for my phone and vzw would pay my $100 for trade in.   The phones are six months old.   It is not a problem with a specific phone but the software incorporated into the phone is flawed and needs a fix.   A contract phone would increase my monthly payments and not fix the problem where vzw is offering a product and a service that doesn't work.  

Since vzw is selling a product and a series that doesn't work in roaming situations but advertises they do,  this is at least a management concern and at worst will be taken to the BBB if not resolved.   Worst case scenario though is that there is a potential huge liability here for verizon.   If there is a life threatening event and the limitation of roaming cell service causes a death because emergency personnel cannot be contacted... Well I sure wouldn't want to be the defense attorney in that case