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Carrier Switching to T-Mobile

Christian 5G

Christian 5G

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 16, 2010
1,081
744
Orange County, CA
Hello,

Just recently about 30 minutes ago switched from cricket wireless to tmobile, so transferred number etc... Now I need to use the phone but I can't use any of the sim cards they are both no longer working for some reason. I was charged the money on my card but when I call to customer service they are telling me that I don't have any money on a account.

How long does it take to transfer a phone number"??
 
Christian 5G said:
Hello,

Just recently about 30 minutes ago switched from cricket wireless to tmobile, so transferred number etc... Now I need to use the phone but I can't use any of the sim cards they are both no longer working for some reason. I was charged the money on my card but when I call to customer service they are telling me that I don't have any money on a account.

How long does it take to transfer a phone number"??
Click to expand...

A few years ago it could take several days for a number to port over. I don't know if it's any quicker now.
 
It could take a day or two... at least that's how long it took for me to switch my # to Verizon a few years back. I'm not sure how long it'll take now.
 
The iPhone does not handle T-Mobile well at all, especially in low signal areas. You'll find your iPhone getting really hot and having really bad battery life. Mark my words.
 
MattMJB0188 said:
The iPhone does not handle T-Mobile well at all, especially in low signal areas. You'll find your iPhone getting really hot and having really bad battery life. Mark my words.
Click to expand...

100% not true, I've been on T-mobile on iphones for years starting with my 3G and now my 4S...no problems at all.
 
Yoshi Yogurt said:
100% not true, I've been on T-mobile on iphones for years starting with my 3G and now my 4S...no problems at all.
Click to expand...

I assumed you had a 5/5S the AWS band in those phones does not play nicely with T-Mobile. I don't believe the 4s has any problems on T-Mobile. Then again you don't get LTE.
 
MattMJB0188 said:
I assumed you had a 5/5S the AWS band in those phones does not play nicely with T-Mobile. I don't believe the 4s has any problems on T-Mobile. Then again you don't get LTE.
Click to expand...


I have a 5s. Phones fine. Not sure what you're talking about.
 
I don't know what he's talking about either. I've had a 5 and now a 5S on T-Mobile and didn't experience any overheating or battery issues that differed from when I had AT&T and Verizon. As for signal, it's the same as the signal I got with Androids on T-Mobile so I don't know where he's getting that part from either.
 
KUguardgrl13 said:
My boyfriend's 4S did that when he ported it from AT&T to T-Mobile
Click to expand...

Maybe it's a baseband radio software thing? Maybe it needs to be swapped out for one with the correct firmware somehow? Oh, i remember now: I do know for a FACT that early iP5 phones do not have all the bands T-mobile needs. Later iP5 phones were updated for T-mobile. There's a web page at support.apple.com and also on T-mobiles site about this issue. The 5s does not have this issue.
 
iolinux333 said:
Maybe it's a baseband radio software thing? Maybe it needs to be swapped out for one with the correct firmware somehow? Oh, i remember now: I do know for a FACT that early iP5 phones do not have all the bands T-mobile needs. Later iP5 phones were updated for T-mobile. There's a web page at support.apple.com and also on T-mobiles site about this issue. The 5s does not have this issue.
Click to expand...

Yes, the earlier iPhones that were brought to T-Mobile from other networks have some trouble because of band differences. T-Mobile has had to buy some of AT&T's spectrum in certain areas to make those phones work. Later 5's, 5c's, and 5s's shouldn't have a problem. In my boyfriend's case, as soon as he switched to a T-Mobile 5 last year he's had fewer issues.

So the question is which iPhone did OP port over, and is he still having problems today? Might be worth a trip to a T-Mobile corporate store (not run by a third party) to get it checked out.
 
Do you think guys the $60/mo with 3GB is a good deal? I'm currently on the AT&T $65/mo plan with 2GB but I feel so limited. AT&T after 2GB will charge $15 for each additional GB.
 
In my case, it took a few hours for my number to switch over from AT&T to T-Mobile.

The LTE service in my area ramped up from nearly non-existent to just almost everywhere in the past 10 months that I've been on T-Mobile. Not sure what the above poster is talking about when he says that T-Mobile doesn't "play nice" with iPhones. Even in the areas not covered by LTE, the HSPA+ network (i.e., "4G") is plenty fast. Unless you're trying to stream HD video or do a bunch of remote screen and file sharing, the T-Mobile service works fine in most metro areas (their network issues are primarily in the outlying and rural areas).
 
Christian 5G said:
Hello,

Just recently about 30 minutes ago switched from cricket wireless to tmobile, so transferred number etc... Now I need to use the phone but I can't use any of the sim cards they are both no longer working for some reason. I was charged the money on my card but when I call to customer service they are telling me that I don't have any money on a account.

How long does it take to transfer a phone number"??
Click to expand...


i transfered from verizon to tmobile last may , took 2 days damn near..not to add they put the wrong number on my sim card(s) when i brung my two phones over

----------
CEmajr said:
I don't know what he's talking about either. I've had a 5 and now a 5S on T-Mobile and didn't experience any overheating or battery issues that differed from when I had AT&T and Verizon. As for signal, it's the same as the signal I got with Androids on T-Mobile so I don't know where he's getting that part from either.
Click to expand...

ill admit my iphone 5 both of them overheated once i switched to tmobile
 
chestvrg said:
Do you think guys the $60/mo with 3GB is a good deal? I'm currently on the AT&T $65/mo plan with 2GB but I feel so limited. AT&T after 2GB will charge $15 for each additional GB.
Click to expand...

With tmobile I pay 30$ for 5gb of data on lte. But only 100min talk. 0.10C per minute after. I don't really talk on the phone so it's not a problem
 
MattMJB0188 said:
I assumed you had a 5/5S the AWS band in those phones does not play nicely with T-Mobile. I don't believe the 4s has any problems on T-Mobile. Then again you don't get LTE.
Click to expand...

Completely wrong. I have a 5s that I unlocked from AT&T, and switched to T-Mobile. It works perfectly fine.

chestvrg said:
Do you think guys the $60/mo with 3GB is a good deal? I'm currently on the AT&T $65/mo plan with 2GB but I feel so limited. AT&T after 2GB will charge $15 for each additional GB.
Click to expand...

It's definitely better that AT&T's plans, plus even after you use your 3GB, you don't get charged for overages automatically. You DO get throttled to 2G speeds which is annoying, though you do have the option of adding a data pass (around $10 to $15) if you want to get additional high speed data. The key thing here is that you're consenting to pay more, instead of them charging you automatically.

Also: With T-Mobile, streaming audio (like Pandora and iTunes radio) isn't being counted against your data usage, and neither are speed tests. So that's a plus.
 
It really depends on how busy they are porting numbers. When I switched to VZW it took me 1/2 hour so it is really is just a matter of how busy they are. Call and keep bugging them until you finds someone or ask for a supervisor to do it for you.
 
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