Can any of the Carriers offer any cellphone model?

Hey guys. I am new here. Looks like an interesting forum, and you guys seem pretty knowledgeable. So therefor, I have a question

I don't know a heck of alot about cellphones. I used to have Unicell, and they sucked, so I switched to verizon wireless, which I love. I have a motorolla camera phone.

Anyways, I noticed that there are literally TONS of cellphones and cellphone models out there. I was wondering if all of the popular carriers offer all of the cellphones with thier plans? For example, say I went with T-Mobile, or Cingular, or Verizon Wireless (which I have now), and so on, could I also buy ANY cellphone out there for any of the carrier plans, and any model as well?

Or does each carrier only support certain brands/models of phones??

Thanks a million for any help on this. It is greatly appreciated.

On Verizon, you can only use Verizon phones. There are two types of carriers, GSM and CDMA. The CDMA carriers (Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel) have their phones made specifically for their network. You can't get phones to work on their network unless it is branded with their name. Any GSM carriers (Cingular, T-Mobile) can use any unlocked GSM phone. Hope that helps.