IPhone 4S verizon unlocked for overseas use without roaming

Question

I am planning to get a new iPhone 4S in the United States. I travel to India once every two years. I heard that Verizon would let it's subscribers unlock the iPhone 4S after 60 days with good standing. This would allow verizon subscribers to use a local micro-SIM number overseas to avoid Verizon roaming fees.
To confirm this, I recently spoke with one of the Verizon customer rep that handles the international dept. She confirmed that this is true. She said Verizon would unlock the iPhone 4S like I have heard and that the unlocked iPhone 4S from Verizon would work only in places like Europe where there are only GSM carriers. In country like India, where there are CDMA and GSM carriers, the unlocked iPhone 4S with it's current software capability would identify the CDMA carriers first and would ignore the GSM carriers. And thus the unlock becomes useless there and I would end up roaming with my Verizon number instead of the local SIM number there.
Any one heard of this?

Answer 1

Hey Guys,
I just returned from my trip to India on Jan 12, 2012. I am going to detail out my experience here so everyone has a clear understanding.
I bought the Verizon iPhone 4s 16GB Black on Oct. 14, 2011. When I bought this phone, it was considered "locked." I was able to use my phone in India with a prepaid SIM card from Airtel and Vodafone. Here are the following steps I perfromed.
1. Call Verizon's global group to "unlock" the phone for you. It should be noted that this does not fully "unlock" the phone; the phone still needs to be "unbricked." The "unbricking" process only takes place once you insert a foreign SIM.
2. Purchase a foreign SIM. In India, I purchased one SIM from Airtel at the airport and another from Vodafone at a later time. To purchase SIMs in India, one must present the following: (a) copy of passport, (b) passport sized color photo, (c) verifiable local address -- hotel addresses are acceptable.
3. Assure the SIM you are purchasing is microSIM or purchase a SIM card cutter. http://www.amazon.com/Cutter-Micro-Adapters-Apple-iPhone/dp/B0045XR5IS/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&qid=1326893468&sr=8-1
4. Insert foreign SIM into iPhone 4s. To "unbrick" the phone, you will need access to wireless or your laptop with iTunes. I used the wifi on my phone to "unbrick" and activate my phone. I had no issues with this process. I did not lose any data.
5. On the top left you will see the carrier. The phone will default to the carrier of SIM card.
My prepaid SIM worked perfectly throughout India (voice and data). I travelled the following cities: Delhi, Patna, Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Jaipur, Agra, and Goa. On my return to USA, I used my Indian SIM in Zurich (defaulted to local carrier -- Orange?) to make a call to my family members. Finally when I arrived to USA, my Indian SIM defaulted to T-Mobile as the carrier.
At the end, when I inserted my Verizon SIM, the carrier defaulted to Verizon. This whole process was pretty painless and saved me a bunch of money. If you guys have any questions let me know.