Prepaid phones - General Questions and Answers

I'm on a t-mobile plan and broke my nexus 6 the other day and I need a cheap temporary phone to use for a week until I can get a replacement.
1. Can I just buy a prepaid t-mobile phone and plug in my sim card or does it need to be unlocked?
2. I've never unlocked a phone before. How easy/cheap is it to unlock one of those walmart family prepaid phones? Is unlocking something I can do at home?

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I would look at unlocked phones on Amazon.they're are plenty of affordable options available. then just put your SIM in and turn it on.just be sure you get a phone with the right SIM slot to match the sim card you have.happy hunting....I think blu has good options as well as Alcatel.

Related

Question about phone unlocked phone contract

I have a tmobile G2 , and I am
thinking about purchasing a Galaxy
Nexus. However, the Galaxy Nexus
will only be released on Verizon,
meaning that I will have to buy an
unlocked version. If I buy an unlocked
version of the phone and put my
simcard in it, will my plan with tmobile
be transferred to that phone? My
brother told me that the plan with
tmobile is only based off the simcard,
so I can put my card in any
unlocked phone without having to
start a new contract with tmobile
because I will still have the same
number and be on the same plan. Is
that how it works? Is it as easy as
putting my simcard in the unlocked
phone and using it? I have seen some people who are buying an unlocked version talking about going with a month to month plan on it. I just want to know how exactly the sim card/contract transfer would work on the unlocked phone. Sorry if this makes me sound stupid.

[Q] Using other SIM cards in the One S

Okay... I've never had to do anything like this... but while I get great coverage from T Mobile and love my One S, I do not get any coverage where I work now (just transferred). Apparently only AT&T gets reception in the hospital I work at.
I have an Xperia Play 4G running off a gophone SIM, but I refuse to pay AT&T for those kinds of data costs. I would just use it on Red Pocket, but all I can do on the Play is root it, I'd have to pay to have any kind of bootloader or SIM unlock done and honestly I'm getting tired of screwing with that phone. It doesn't help that AT&T claims that the phone is unlockable but that Sony has the key and that Sony says AT&T has the key... oi... Things like that are why I left them years ago.
I have a bit of experience with HTC phones, having owned several. I've never had to do a SIM Unlock though, so I'm unsure if, once the bootloader is unlocked, if I can use another network's sim card or if I have to pay for a SIM unlock key for this phone too.......

Unlocked Phone and SIM card

Need a replacement phone since mine crapped out and not up for form VZW. Found an unlocked phone that I like and would allow me to upgrade to LTE. The phone doesn't have a SIM card but I assume I can get one from VZW and/or Amazon. Is anything needed to get an unlocked phone onto VZW network?

Testing Unlocked Sprint Note 5 with at&t sim

I'm heading to Europe in a month and plan on using a European sim as I don't want to deal with Sprints free slow internet and $25 a week is more than I want to spend. Sprint is telling me my phone is unlocked (and I was under that impression years ago) but I want to be absolutely sure before I leave due to issues I've heard people have with Sprint phones. When I do the UICC unlock (with the Sprint sim still in), the phone tells me it can only be used with Sprint and to contact them. I called Sprint and they told me it is saying that because the Sprint sim is in the phone and the phone will work when another sim is added. I want to test my phone with my friend's at&t sim card. I really don't know squat about sim cards considering I've been a Sprint user my entire life. Therefore, I'm wondering:
1. Can I just turn off my phone, put the at&t sim in, reboot, and see if things work to test that the phone is truly unlocked?
2. After I'm done testing, can I put the at&t sim back in my friend's phone, and my Sprint sim back in mine, and have things go back to normal, or will this somehow screw things up with his phone or mine?

Question att s22ultra and tmobile sim

Hello everyone I have a question i just oderded a s22 ultra from att I have a 3 year contract with them for device payments but basically the phone was free. I also have a tmobile acct i dont plan on canceling either. I have the magenta max on tmobile and an unlimited on att is it possible to use my phone on both networks with the phone being locked to att or am i able to change sims and use it as long as i keep both accts current. I am not trying to do anything shady just wondering if i can use it on both networks would much rather do that becuase it gives me so much more for hot spots since i can use the 50 from att and the 40 from tmobile i know i could if the phone was unlocked but i cant do that for three years
Thanks in advance
no, its locked to att networks (mvno will work too)
Thanks for the reply
i figured it would be locked but it would of been nice to be able to work on both. what is mvno?
I wonder if he could use the esim on TMobile?
rayhawk said:
Hello everyone I have a question i just oderded a s22 ultra from att I have a 3 year contract with them for device payments but basically the phone was free. I also have a tmobile acct i dont plan on canceling either. I have the magenta max on tmobile and an unlimited on att is it possible to use my phone on both networks with the phone being locked to att or am i able to change sims and use it as long as i keep both accts current. I am not trying to do anything shady just wondering if i can use it on both networks would much rather do that becuase it gives me so much more for hot spots since i can use the 50 from att and the 40 from tmobile i know i could if the phone was unlocked but i cant do that for three years
Thanks in advance
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All of the US models support dual SIM (physical SIM plus eSIM). You should be able to use the physical SIM for one network, and the eSIM for the other. AT&T will most likely be the primary (physical SIM) and T-Mobile the secondar (E-SIM). Once you get it activated on AT&T go into Settings -> Connections -> SIM card manager.
From there it will allow you to "Add mobile plan" for the eSIM. That should allow you to active your T-Mobile account.
I don't know how that works in practice and you may have to talk to both AT&T and T-Mobile to work it out.
oh wow that is awesome thanks for letting me know
this is off the topic but are any of you using screen and camera protectors on top of using a case?
You need to get the device unlocked to have it work on T-Mobile at all, ESIM or physical. You have 2 choices: Pay off the device in full and then request a SIM unlock, or pay for an unlock service on Ebay. AT&T won't do **** for you until the device is paid in full.
rayhawk said:
this is off the topic but are any of you using screen and camera protectors on top of using a case?
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Click to collapse
Nope.
entropism said:
You need to get the device unlocked to have it work on T-Mobile at all, ESIM or physical. You have 2 choices: Pay off the device in full and then request a SIM unlock, or pay for an unlock service on Ebay. AT&T won't do **** for you until the device is paid in full.
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Click to collapse
Yes. AT&T will require it to be paid off to unlock the physical SIM. The eSIM isn't activated and therefore probably isn't locked. As long as he's using it on its network with the physical SIM, I don't think AT&T will care about the eSIM being used on T-mobile.
This is kinda new territory with phones being produced with both physical SIM and eSIM.
I can tell you with 100% certainty, it's locked.
entropism said:
You need to get the device unlocked to have it work on T-Mobile at all, ESIM or physical. You have 2 choices: Pay off the device in full and then request a SIM unlock, or pay for an unlock service on Ebay. AT&T won't do **** for you until the device is paid in full.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not true. AT&T unlocked my Note 20 ultra that was still under contract. I told them I was going overseas for an extended period of time and they unlocked my phone. I had 13 payments left.

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