Putting my monthly plan SIM card in a prepaid phone?

[DennisGauge]

Can I take the SIM card out of my Verizon Galaxy S4 and put it in a prepaid Verizon Galaxy S4 from Walmart?

[SuzyQ · Accepted solution]

Reading through discussions, it's unclear.  3G devices on prepaid have a 6 month active requirement before they can be used on post-paid accounts.  4G may or may not have that restriction. See:

Re: Can I use the prepaid Mote E on my postpaid Verizon account?

Re: About Buying Prepaid Phone While on Postpaid Plan

[DennisGauge]

I agree with you on the unclear part.

As I understand things, the 3G phones don't have SIM cards, and as such are "hard coded" and easily tracked as prepaid phones.

4G phones like my S4 have SIM cards, which is what identifies the phone number and plan type to Verizon. According to Verizon I can just slap my SIM card into any other 4G Verizon phone and hit the ground running.

My concern is if they somehow lobotomized the prepaid S4's. I don't know why they would though. It's "free money" for them if I don't use the prepaid SIM so I don't know what the problem would be.

Choices right now are make payments on a new S6, take my chances on a used S4 off ebay, or take a shot at a "new" S4 off the prepaid rack at Walmart.