Verizon to enable global GSM roaming on some devices

It has been rumoured for a while that Verizon would enable a global setting on some of their handsets and this has just been confirmed by the American telco. Global GSM roaming will be enabled on the Motorola Droid 4, Droid RAZR, Droid RAZR Maxx and the HTC Rezound through an upcoming software update.

“After the software update, customers will be able to take their smartphone overseas and use voice service in more than 220 countries and receive data in more than 205 countries.”

The chipsets found within the plastic boundaries of these phones have been capable of GSM and CDMA connectivity all along, it is just now that Verizon has decided to allow this functionality. Verizon has not yet released pricing details for roaming rates but don't expect them to come cheap.

Don't get too excited hoping that these phones will know work on your local carrier outside of Verizon; chances are they are locked to Verizon's network (we could be wrong however). However, it was recently announced that the Motorola RAZR Maxx is coming to Europe, while you are better off purchasing the HTC One X over the Rezound. So it isn't as if you are left with no other options.

KitGuru says: It makes us wonder why this functionality was only just enabled – roughly 6 months after some of these phones were first available.

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