I purchased the Google Fi version from the Google store because the store website said it's unlocked. I tried to add the phone to Verizon but every person that I have spoken to at Verizon keeps tellling me that the phone is not compatiable and when I speak with Verzion tech support, they say pretty much the same thing. It's bullshit created from the top down. They tell all their employees that it's not compatible by displaying an error message when trying to add the IMEI number. The simple fix is to add my phone's IMEI number to their network but they constantly refuse to do so and blame Google for incompatiability. Tech support told me that they stopped adding IMEI numbers a few years back from individuals and proceeded to say that it's Google's fault for not sending Verizon the IMEI number.

Verizon is a piece of shit and I wish I could kick them in the balls.

Switching my Note 9 sim to the Pixel 5a gives me access to internet, sending text, and calls but texting can not be received.

I want to buy the Pixel 5a for my mom, and she has Verizon. I've done some research but I can't figure out a clear answer on how difficult it is to get it to work. She doesn't even need the 5g to work, just 4g LTE. I just want to know if it's as easy as putting her current SIM card into the pixel.

Just got my 5a working on Verizon. It took a lot of trial and error and web searching to get it up and running. It's so new, Verizon's internal documentation doesn't cover how to provision it yet and not all the Tier 1 support reps know about it. There are three steps that you can't do on the web. A human will get involved at some point.

To set it up:

1. Make sure your plan includes "5G Nationwide." This is the plan that supports the sub-6 LTE band that 5G uses. The "5G Ultrawide" plan won't work. That's for the mm-wave band, which this phone doesn't have. If you have a 4G plan maybe, maybe they'll tell you before you provision but not if you try to SIM swap, without human intervention, which you can't do anyway (see below).

2. Turn off "Chat Features" in Google Messages on your old phone before you turn it off. Maybe this should be step minus one.

3. DONT use your old SIM card. 4G SIMs don't work, and some 5G SIMs don't either (see CDMA-less below). Don't use any SIM card, actually, use the eSIM.

4. Call Verizon and get them to email you a QR code for the eSIM. When you do, be sure to use IEMI2. That's a TWO. The second IEMI number. The number of the count shall be two. Thou shalt not count to one, excepting to count to two. Three is right out. If I could read, I could have avoided a lot of pain at this step. For reference only, IEMI1 (that's a one if your font can't distinguish "I" and "1") is for the physical SIM slot, which if you followed step (3) you're not using.

5. Make sure they set it up as a "CDMA-less" device. This is the killer mystery undocumented step. Ask for it by name. This may require special Tier 2 support sorcery, but my support person knew how to do this without transferring me. If you don't do this, your text messages will pile up in the ether and return to you in a flood when you finally get it provisioned correctly. The state of setting up messages from here depends on your app. The important thing is to make sure no other messaging app is still lurking as you somewhere.

6. If you must use a SIM, be sure to get a new 5G SIM, not the 4G SIM or an old 5G SIM. The only reason to go this route is if you don't want to wait on hold forever to get one emailed to you. Even then, they must know this new SIM is bound for a CDMA-less device.

One more edit: your phone may need a restart for all this to work. After I did the CDMA-free trick, messages worked but phone calls quit. A power-off-power-on made everything work again.

Someday, Verizon may automate the process of generating eSIM QR codes. We can all hope.

I made 5/6ths of these mistakes over the weekend. Enjoy.

--SRF

hi, everyone! this might seem like a really stupid question but i am really not knowledge when it comes to purchasing phones at all (I only buy a new one every several years when it starts to crap out) so I'm hoping someone might help me.

right now, I have a pixel 2 and because I've had it since release, the battery is starting to go. Im wanting to buy the new pixel 5a but I keep hearing how it's only available as "unlocked" and won't be available to purchase at my carrier, which is Verizon. I've always bought/upgraded my phones actually at the verizon store and I'm not familiar how the process would go in updating to the pixel 5a since it's only available as unlocked. Would I just preorder it through the Google store and take it to Verizon to be activated? Or would I take my sim card from my current phone, a pixel 2, and put it into the 5a? I guess I'm just looking for someone to explain this to me in the simplest way possible. I live in the United States if that helps!

thank you so much in advance!

Just got my 5a working on Verizon. It took a lot of trial and error and web searching to get it up and running. It's so new, Verizon's internal documentation doesn't cover how to provision it yet and not all the Tier 1 support reps know about it. There are three steps that you can't do on the web. A human will get involved at some point.

To set it up:

1. Make sure your plan includes "5G Nationwide." This is the plan that supports the sub-6 LTE band that 5G uses. The "5G Ultrawide" plan won't work. That's for the mm-wave band, which this phone doesn't have. If you have a 4G plan maybe, maybe they'll tell you before you provision but not if you try to SIM swap, without human intervention, which you can't do anyway (see below).

2. Turn off "Chat Features" in Google Messages on your old phone before you turn it off. Maybe this should be step minus one.

3. DONT use your old SIM card. 4G SIMs don't work, and some 5G SIMs don't either (see CDMA-less below). Don't use any SIM card, actually, use the eSIM.

4. Call Verizon and get them to email you a QR code for the eSIM. When you do, be sure to use IEMI2. That's a TWO. The second IEMI number. The number of the count shall be two. Thou shalt not count to one, excepting to count to two. Three is right out. If I could read, I could have avoided a lot of pain at this step. For reference only, IEMI1 (that's a one if your font can't distinguish "I" and "1") is for the physical SIM slot, which if you followed step (3) you're not using.

5. Make sure they set it up as a "CDMA-less" device. This is the killer mystery undocumented step. Ask for it by name. This may require special Tier 2 support sorcery, but my support person knew how to do this without transferring me. If you don't do this, your text messages will pile up in the ether and return to you in a flood when you finally get it provisioned correctly. The state of setting up messages from here depends on your app. The important thing is to make sure no other messaging app is still lurking as you somewhere.

6. If you must use a SIM, be sure to get a new 5G SIM, not the 4G SIM or an old 5G SIM. The only reason to go this route is if you don't want to wait on hold forever to get one emailed to you. Even then, they must know this new SIM is bound for a CDMA-less device.

One more edit: your phone may need a restart for all this to work. After I did the CDMA-free trick, messages worked but phone calls quit. A power-off-power-on made everything work again.

Someday, Verizon may automate the process of generating eSIM QR codes. We can all hope.

I made 5/6ths of these mistakes over the weekend. Enjoy.

--SRF

Has anyone with a 5a and using a physical sim for Verizon got their service fully working?

I have my eSIM setup for Google Fi and have used the physical for Verizon (work number). Used this setup no problem previously in my 3a. I can get Verizon data working but calls and text are not.

I have a pixel 5a from Fi but I would have thought it should be the same as the unlocked version.

There are issues with this phone and verizon. Mine will not activate on any verizon or verizon mvno. The IMEI is not whitelisted. Not sure if that is just the Fi ones.

From this thread it appears that newer pixels now require CDMA-less for verizon

https://www.reddit.com/r/pixel_phones/comments/pe48j1/pixel_5a_5g_on_verizon_save_yourself_a_few_hours/

Which can be problematic for some mvnos as they are not set up for this.

So visible works fine but I get no 5g for some reason (get 5g with the same sim and my pixel 5 and im not in an uwb area). My us mobile super LTE sim didn't receive incoming texts - typical non cdma-less behavior( but customer support had to add CDMA-less to my line). My total wireless sim won't work at all in the phone. All these were already activated sims as I cannot activate a new line.

Just be aware that there may be issues if you plan to use this on verizon or verizon mvnos.

I just received my Pixel 5a and it does not seem to work correctly with my Verizon plan. It does everything perfect except receive text messages. All other functions are fine. I talked to both tier 1 and tier 2 Verizon support and also just go back from a Verizon store. None of them had any idea why I was not receiving text messages. They said they could not locate my IMEI number and suggested the phone was locked. I reminded them that I was speaking to them on the Pixel 5a and only one thing did not work. I hate to cancel my plan as nothing comes close in price (15GB for $35 a month, I would probably need to double the price). I may see if Google has an answer but I am not optimistic.

Has anyone successfully activated their 5a on Verizon? Just tried eSIM and they say the phone doesn't exist... Edit- Just received a text on my VZW line that my pixel esim is ready to be activated...I'll update shortly.

I've been trying to find the answer to this for awhile, but I seem to be hitting roadblocks. I know I can buy it unlocked through the Google Store, but ideally I would like to buy it through Verizon and pay for it monthly. (I know the Google Store offers something similar, but I'd rather not open credit to do so).

I have a little bit of a dilemma now. I've been rocking the Pixel 2 with T-Mobile for a few years now and even put in a new battery in it last year to give it another year or so of life so my plan was to get the Pixel 5a so I can enjoy T-Mobile's 5G and keep the Pixel 2 as a backup. The plan was to use it in case the 5a ever needed service (my current backup phone is the Nexus 5..yea.) or since the phone is still fully functional for things like a long bike ride in the Texas heat where even in a covered bag, the heat, GPS running, music playing, etc. would heat up the phone real nice (part of the reason for the battery replacement mentioned above).

Well, after the yet latest T-Mobile data breach, this time worse than previous times and not being happy with T-Mobile's response, along with having poor signals indoors, I decided to move on to Verizon.

From my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, the Pixel 5a supports sub 6 GHz bands so in theory, the 5a would do nicely on both T-Mobile and Verizon's Mid-Bands as T-Mobile uses 2.5 GHz N41 and Verizon uses 2.3 GHz N40 frequencies and it would leave out both carriers' mmwave bands. The problem with that is (and again for god's sake correct me if I'm wrong) T-Mobile makes use of their mid-bands a lot more than Verizon who relies more on their mmwave would benefit more from having a mmwave capable phone.

To be honest, I care more about having signals inside buildings and from what I've read, mmwave isn't made for that and is more for outdoors so would I miss much if I didn't have it? Is Verizon's 5G still pretty decent on the Pixel 5a? If they ever come out with a Verizon 5a the way they did the the 4a, would that work with T-Mobile in case I go back to them in the future?

*edit*

A. thanks for the downvotes...I had no idea that the sub couldn't be bothered with such trivial questions.

B. I guess I may have been overthinking things since pretty much all of the carriers now have a sub-6 GHz band for the meat and potatoes of 5G coverage and their mmwave is just a gimmick for a dick measuring contest in stadiums.

https://support.google.com/pixelphone/answer/10082009?p=networkinfo&visit_id=637651993004163732-1347353513&rd=1#certified_carriers_table

Just trying to answer the simple question in the title, but the above reference did not make sense to me.

My Pixel 3 XL on Verizon is time for an Upgrade. Looking to Upgrade. The front has some minor cracks from a drop. Would you upgrade to the to the Pixel 5?

My Pixel 5A used to work beautifully on USMobile, a Verizon MVNO, using Warp 5G.

Two days ago the Pixel 5A motherboard broke and had to repair it (under extended warranty). With the new motherboard, it looks like the new IMEI is not compatible with Warp 5G anymore (I guess they must have used a Pixel 5A FI Motherboard?), and Verizon BYOD checker says the device is not compatible.

Anybody knows ways to fix this?

Is there any difference between them? How long would I have to wait for the Verizon version to be unlocked?

Title says it all. I've had zero luck trying to get Verizon or Tracfone (an MVNO) to activate my unlocked Pixel 5 on their network. The IMEI (#1 the physical sim) reports as incompatible on their network. A store clerk sent a "DMD" request to add my IMEI but it was denied with no explanation.

I previously tried activating a sim with a different phone then inserting it into my pixel, but calls lead to "we have detected that you are using a different device..."

Searching through reddit, various pixels have had this issue but I don't see a concrete solution.

Thanks!

I'm seriously thinking of purchasing a Pixel 5a from Google Fi.

I am also wondering if this phone will pass Verizon's IMEI test, and if this phone will work well with a Verizon (and/or Tracfone-Verizon) SIM.

Anyone have experience with using a Google Fi Pixel 5a on Verizon?

Hey there,

So I just upgraded from a 3a to a Pixel 5a, which got delivered yesterday. I set it up, copied all my apps/info, switched over my Verizon sim card, and everything is working except the messaging app. Texts are not coming in; I don't know if they're going out or not. I've tried deleting the carrier services app, connecting to chat features, ensuring that messages is the default SMS app. I went into the Verizon store and they told me to give it a few hours. It's the next day and still nothing. I also tried to switch to a new 5G sim card that they gave me, but the activation won't work online.

Any help would be extremely appreciated. I'm pulling my hair out here.