[ClwTL]

there are several parts to this question. The first is that there is no offical "unlocked phone" policy with verizon wireless. you can activate any verizon wireless phone as cpe or customer provided equipment. the cpe handset has no warranty so be advised that any issues with the phone will not be covered at a vzw location. You can activate cpe handsets for free online at vzw.com in my account or pay $20 to do it in the store.

The second part of your question is the challenging part. You meantioned a cool new nokia multimedia phone. nokia has largely stopped producing phones for vzw and the ones they do have are made by a company called pantech which makes middle-grade phones but nothing super flashy. This leads me to believe you are referring to unlocked gsm phones which will never work on verizon's network due to it being cdma. the phone will never see vzw's towers and will never work.