T mobile monthly prepaid?

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Bman123

Supreme [H]ardness
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Dec 19, 2007
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Can I just buy a t mo phone off craigslist and use it on the monthly pre paid t mo service? I like the $30 a month plan, unlimited data, unlimited text and 100 minutes a month. I dont do much talking on the phone and t mo has better service in my area then sprint does.

If anyone can lend some info I would appreciate it. All the phones t mo sells for pre paid that are worth a crap are super expensive.
 
I used T-Mobile (tristate area) for a year or so, then found Virgin Mobile. Switched, I have better reception, speeds, etc. but really it depends on your area I guess.

Also, I found that talking to T-Mobile support included a TON of sales attempts (to the point where I had to say "LOOK, I know it's YOUR JOB, but I'm NOT BUYING ANYTHING ELSE" very firmly), while nobody on Virgin Mobile support has ever tried to sell me anything. That's just my experience though.
 
Virgin is owned by Sprint and consequently uses their network, so unfortunately that doesn't help the OP.

And any decent new phone on prepaid is going to be costly because it's not being subsidized like those available on contract are.
 
i love my prepaid tmo plan, $30/mo for 1500 talk/text on my dumbphone. cant have anything with a camera at my work so smartphones are out, otherwise id get that same plan you want. i used to switch out the sim card to/from my first gen iphone every day and that worked great. didnt really use the iphone for much other than making calls so i stopped, but yes any att/tmo phone with a sim card will work fine. :)
 
I use T-Mobile's 'Monthly 4G' (was on the $15 Unl Txt, 10¢/min, will be on the $60 Talk/Text/2GB), and I bought a Samsung Exhibit II 4G on Friday, and I love it!

I would've bought a used Android phone off of ebay/CL, but I felt that $189 for a $349 phone (Exhibit II 4G) wasn't a bad idea. I picked mine up the only one of the umpteen Walmarts in my city that had the phone in stock.

My other choices would have been the StraightTalk LG Optimus Q or Galaxy Precedent, but since ST uses Sprint's network for those two, and because Sprint sucks absolute balls, I stayed with T-Mobile.
 
I found a sidekick 4g for $65 locally from a friend and just wanted to make sure I can just buy that phone and use it. The pre paid phones are so damn expensive if you want a decent phone
 
Bman123 said:
I found a sidekick 4g for $65 locally from a friend and just wanted to make sure I can just buy that phone and use it. The pre paid phones are so damn expensive if you want a decent phone
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I got an LG Optimus V for ~$70 on sale ($100 new on Amazon), and it does *everything* I need. That is - phone calls, texting, web browsing, simple photographs (have a real camera for anything I need good pictures of), 3G tethering, and email. It even does gaming absolutely fine, although I never have time or a reason to game on my phone.

If you need more than that, well, you're not looking for a normal phone.
 
The $30/month plan is only available on activation--they say.

I think you have to buy a new phone to get started on it officially. But if it's your first experience with T-Mobile, I'm sure you can get in contact with a supervisor who can change it for you. That's what I did.
 
fattypants said:
The $30/month plan is only available on activation--they say.

I think you have to buy a new phone to get started on it officially. But if it's your first experience with T-Mobile, I'm sure you can get in contact with a supervisor who can change it for you. That's what I did.
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Its supposed to be a new line to get the $30/mo plan. Not necessarily a new phone. Just to be specific.
 
i dont even think it has to be a new plan. i was an existing monthly contract customer for about 2 years and then switched to monthly prepaid about a year ago (no fees :)). they just activated the new $30/mo prepaid plan on the sim card i was already using in my iphone and dumbphone. never even had an interruption in service i think.
 
They said it would work, I have to pay $25 for a activation with the sim card then the first month ($30) up front to start the monthly 4g plan
 
I was finally able to get tThe Exhibit II 4G set up today after receiving it from Walmart.com last night. The only problem is that the Sim card and the IMEI would come up as invalid. The Tmobile tech rep called it a "cold Sim". Near as we could figure is the kit from Walmart.com had not register it's scan-through with their database to release the Sim serial number and the phone's IMEI. Tmobile store gave me a Sim(mad props there). We used the default for the IMEI and I was good to go.
My suggestion is to buy the sim card and plan in store when the phones are out of stock and set up the plan on the Sim saying you are having it shipped. Either that or get Tmobile support to switch the phone for you to the plan. Default =1s
 
I am getting the phone on monday so I cant turn it on until tuesday, I already have a rom downloaded on my pc for it and everything.
 
Just talked to a t mo rep online and this is what they said. I can order the sim for $1.99 online and get free shipping which is 3-4 business days or pay $11.99 and have the sim card on tuesday shipped overnight to me.

They said if I go to a t mo store they will charge me $10 for the sim then another $20 to activate it.

I wonder if any of the mom and pop shops in my area would sell me a sim for $10 then I can just activate it online and pay for my pre paid plan
 
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I probably should have included this above. There is one big negative to the T-Mobile online process and pre-paid in general. They have the worst customer service I have ever encountered for their pre-paid customers. You get routed to whatever off shore phone bank they are currently using while normal plan customers get US based service during business hours.. You have to fight through horrible wait times, scripted replies and sale upgrade pitches if you ever have to call them. I have a grandfathered family plan that is full of lines and could not be changed without being pushed into newer plans with higher cost and less features, so I added a phone for my grandmother via pre-paid using the 1000 minutes for $100 option. The minutes last a year so it really is a nice plan for people who rarely use their phone. Anyway, I once had to call to fix a problem with her voice mail and it was bar none the single worst experience I have ever had with any customer service department much less from a company of their size. The savings are probably worth it considering how infrequently you would actually need help, but if you do, you will wonder why you opted for pre-paid. Just so no one thinks I am throwing them under the bus, I actually love my service and their in store reps are 1000x more useful than the idiots I had to deal with when I was with Verizon.

also since we are talking phone providers,here is my rant// "Mr Prav we are sorry your last phone broke outside of warranty but because you have been a loyal Verizon customer for 12 years, we would like to give you $50 off the phone of your choice and lock you into a 2 year plan." Please ignore the fact that we charge $100 more for that phone then our counterparts and they would give it to you for free and that you have been a customer so long you shouldn't have to sign another agreement in the first place. "Just think of it as the benefit of being with Verizon for so long and how much we value your patronage". I truly have no idea how Verizon survives. They must have far superior service in certain areas. Either that or most of their customers are lazy and don't want to deal with switching providers. Highest pricing, terrible phone upgrade bonuses since they neutered "new every two" and last to get new products, sign me up Verizon!
 
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Got another question. Once I get the plan all working on the sidekick 4g can I get a different t mobile phone and just pop the sim card into and everything work the way it did before? Just wondering as I tend to not hold onto phones for a long time maybe a couple of months
 
Yes. Your SIM card can be swapped repeatedly between compatible devices. A few devices like Blackberry with device specific data plans don't play nice with others but phone to phone isn't a problem.

from TMO site:The SIM card is the brain of a digital phone. It is a card that comes with T-Mobile phones, featuring a computer microchip. You can easily insert the card into the phone or transfer it into other phones, retaining your phone book and personalized service information.
NOTE: A non T-Mobile phone needs to be an unlocked GSM phone in order to work with a T-Mobile SIM card on the T-Mobile network.
 
I have to get a sd card since it didn't come with one but I have already rooted it and I am looking for roms. Have my cwm file on my pc already just waiting for my sd card so I can install that. Wish the support for this phone wasn't dead already. A nice aosp rom like cm7 would do wonders on this phone.

The keyboard feels very nice and texting is a breeze on it. Web surfing on my 12mbps wifi is nice and fast, no real noticeable lag switching home screens or when in the app drawer. Reminds me of my old fascinte since it is basically the same hardware inside.

Over all I am pretty happy with this phone so far. Just have to find a nice debloated quick rom, install cwm and the voodoo lag fix and I will be good to go for quite some time with this phone. Waiting on my sim activation kit to come in the mail from t mobile. I ordered it there, thanks for the link btw. Waiting on the sim will give me time to find a decent deal on a sd card since I did the free shipping and should get my sim by Friday.
 
If you have amazon prime and aren't too picky about the cards speed you can get a mSD card for stupid cheap from amazon.
 
I picked up this plan for my wife's phone a few days ago and am a bit disappointed in the "4G" speeds on T-Mobile's network. I've yet to clock more than .9Mbps down and .4Mbps up. The connection doesn't seem capable of supporting VOIP calls over GrooveIP, either, which was my whole plan for the whole only having 100 minutes of talk time thing.

I guess I shouldn't complain about sub-Mb speeds at $30 a month, but enh.
 
GLSauron said:
If you have amazon prime and aren't too picky about the cards speed you can get a mSD card for stupid cheap from amazon.
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I have a free trial of prime right now actually. What card would you suggest? I have never been good at picking out sd cards for cameras and stuff. I know it is just a micro sd card but I dont know what brand or class to get for a phone.
 
Headcase_Fargone said:
I picked up this plan for my wife's phone a few days ago and am a bit disappointed in the "4G" speeds on T-Mobile's network. I've yet to clock more than .9Mbps down and .4Mbps up. The connection doesn't seem capable of supporting VOIP calls over GrooveIP, either, which was my whole plan for the whole only having 100 minutes of talk time thing.

I guess I shouldn't complain about sub-Mb speeds at $30 a month, but enh.
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I will know soon as I get my sim card I am guessing it will be tomorrow since it just arrived at my local post office today. I will let you know how my speed is
 
Personally, I use a Samsung Dart that I got from T-Mobile. I unlocked it myself, so that I can use Pure TalkUSA, which has a $10 prepaid plan for 100 minutes per month that rollover. I use Google Voice with GrooveIP ($3.99/1 time charge) to do any of my calling (send and receive) within range of Wifi -- which is quite often these days -- and all of those calls are free. So essentially, I pay $10/month for cell phone service, and it works out great.

If you need cellular data, it seems that the $35 Virgin deal or the $30 T-Mobile deal are the best things going -- that I've seen anyhow.
 
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I ordered a 8gb class 4 sd card for $7 with free 2 day shipping. Should be here by Friday. Waiting on my sim card still. I won't put it in til Friday when I get my sd card because i want to put cwm and a rom on here before I start my service.

I get erribe sprint coverage where I live, I tried virgin mobile once and I ended up selling it because my 3g speed was pathetic, under 500kbps all the time
 
Bman123 said:
I get erribe sprint coverage where I live, I tried virgin mobile once and I ended up selling it because my 3g speed was pathetic, under 500kbps all the time
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Sounds like my experience with Sprint in the Houston area. I'm ready to get rid of them but with my wife getting such low speeds on TMobile I may end up ponying up the monthly cash for a Verizon account when the S3 comes out. I was really looking forward to a $30 a month cell phone bill too, heh...
 
I dont know for sure what speeds I will get with t mobile at my house. The coverage map shows excellent coverage in my area but at the same time so did sprint LOL.
 
Bman123 said:
I dont know for sure what speeds I will get with t mobile at my house. The coverage map shows excellent coverage in my area but at the same time so did sprint LOL.
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Same here. Sprint's data network is just terrible everywhere. I've had no complaints as far as voice with them, but I rarely talk on my phone. T-Mobile's data is probably hit or miss, so you might be fine. Houston's networks might all be crowded for all I know.
 
The Exhibit II is a good phone I got it rooted it and flashed a new rom. I have the $30 a month plan 100 min unlimited talk and text. no contract. The funny thing is I held off on a smartphone because I thought I had to pay $60 -$80 a month but now I am only paying $5 more than my vonage phone. Nice!!
 
bj79 said:
The Exhibit II is a good phone I got it rooted it and flashed a new rom. I have the $30 a month plan 100 min unlimited talk and text. no contract. The funny thing is I held off on a smartphone because I thought I had to pay $60 -$80 a month but now I am only paying $5 more than my vonage phone. Nice!!
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I'm actually really impressed with the Exhibit for a $200 phone. UI navigation and general app responsiveness is faster than my Evo 4G in most cases, and that phone was king shit not even two years ago.
 
Yeah, really nice for 200. XDA forum has hack for a custom splash to replace Samsung boot logo. Really good Dev support because it's a cheap, decent phone for modding.
 
Got my sim card yesterday activated it no problem online. Ran speed test app from my couch and got
89ms ping, 4mbps down and 1.5mbps upload
My verizon 3g was only 400-500kbps down and 250 kbps upload with ping around 150ms

So far really liking the phone. Installed a 8 gb class 4 sd card, rooted it, installed clockwork mod, did the voodoo lag fix and installed gingerclone v2. The phone runs nice and smooth for me I have no complaints at all. Now I just need to figure out how to set up google voice so I can call out on this sucker for free since the plan only has 100 minutes lol...
 
Any way, looks like there is an ICS custom port for the Exhibit II 4g here.
Still experimental because it's targeted at CM9 Kang which has bugs, but they are getting there. Lack of camera functionality is a deal breaker for me.
 
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