T-Mobile iPhone Activation

[noahdillon86]

Hello. Sorry if I'm not necessarily posting this in the right location but I did a google search and found this forum. I figured since a good portion of you have been replying lately I'll go ahead and ask a quick question.

I recently owned a Jailbroken 1.1.4 iPod Touch. I just sold it last week to purchase a new iPhone in which I'm going to unlock and use it as my personal phone as well as an iPod since I loved the Touch so much. (Currently on Verizon prepaid.)

I currently do not have a T-Mobile contract, so my question is:

Can I call and activate a T-Mobile plan with my unlocked iPhone and purchased sim card that I bought from eBay? (Will they not let me since its an iPhone?)

Or will I have to put the sim card in another phone, activate it, then put the sim in my iPhone?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[zap2]

Curious, why not get an AT&T plan? You're moving from Verizon, so why not go to AT&T?

 

[noahdillon86]

Thanks for the reply. I'm planning on using T-Mobiles FlexPay plan to avoid any long term contracts as long as I pay the billing arrangement a month in advance. So it's not prepay, but more or less a contract that doesn't have to be signed. I really like their phone plans.

p.s. They don't freely announce this feature with their service but you can find it on their website if you use their search engine. Great way for those of you planning on doing what I am doing; due to credit limitations.

 

[mkrishnan]

Curious, why not get an AT&T plan? You're moving from Verizon, so why not go to AT&T?

It's a fair point... my T-Mobile plan is significantly better costwise (at least $15/mo, which means that the cost difference would pay for my iPhone in a year), but it is not a published rate plan (i.e. it's a long-term customer perk). Their published rate plans aren't really much better than AT&T's.

I don't quite understand the buying a SIM card from eBay -- I've never heard of buying and using someone else's SIM card. That's the part that uniquely identifies you. Somehow, that SIM has to be identified by T-Mobile as related to you, and I don't know how you can get one off eBay and then register it. Not saying it isn't possible, just that it's new to me.

Here are options I have heard of:

- Since you have to get a contract anyway, many people will get either a free phone (e.g. to keep as a backup or to sell) or else identify a discounted phone that can easily be sold at a fair premium on eBay or a forum. They get this phone to start their account, and then switch the account over to the iPhone. People do this with AT&T also.

- I guess you can start with T-Mo directly, calling them and telling them you want to start an account, but you acquired a compatible phone through other means. I think they're fine with this, but you may still be on tap for a contract, meaning that there's no overt advantage to this route vs. accepting a free phone from T-Mobile.

EDIT: Oh, now I understand. I think you can still contact T-Mobile, tell them you want to start a flexpay account, and that you already have a compatible phone. I think it would be best to get a SIM directly from T-Mobile, and I can't see a reason they wouldn't want to give you one. You should be fine with just saying you have an unlocked iPhone. They don't seem to have any hesitation with accepting iPhone users.

 

[noahdillon86]

Thank you so much!

And yes, the SIM card I purchased off of eBay is actually brand new and still on the punch out card. I suppose it's worth a shot to try it? I didn't have to spend very much money for it which was great.

Again thank you. Perhaps this thread will be of some help to others.

 

[mkrishnan]

And yes, the SIM card I purchased off of eBay is actually brand new and still on the punch out card. I suppose it's worth a shot to try it? I didn't have to spend very much money for it which was great.

So I guess this is one of those things where you put it in the phone, and plug it in, and then you have to call T-Mobile and get the SIM provisioned? I've only started with a new carrier twice -- Sprint in about 1997 and T-Mobile in 2003. So my memory is foggy. When I got my T-Mobile phone, it might have been through Amazon, but my impression is that the SIM was associated with me before I got it. So I'm curious about how it works when you suddenly get a SIM in your hands but T-Mobile has no way of knowing it belongs to you or who you are.

 

[noahdillon86]

Lol, yeah I think so. I imagine it's just that; put the card in, call T-Mobile, setup, and bam. But then again, this is my first time doing this as well. I know that when you buy a GSM Prepaid phone, they also come with simcards and you just call and activate your phone with a phone number they give you. So maybe that's how this works, except I know I'll have to talk to a live rep. Either way I'll fill you in on what happens this week. Always good to be refreshed for further use.

 

[NeoMayhem]

So I guess this is one of those things where you put it in the phone, and plug it in, and then you have to call T-Mobile and get the SIM provisioned? I've only started with a new carrier twice -- Sprint in about 1997 and T-Mobile in 2003. So my memory is foggy. When I got my T-Mobile phone, it might have been through Amazon, but my impression is that the SIM was associated with me before I got it. So I'm curious about how it works when you suddenly get a SIM in your hands but T-Mobile has no way of knowing it belongs to you or who you are.

You need to call and activate the sim before it will work.

 

[noahdillon86]

Great! Thanks for the information. I noticed a number on it so I had a thought that could be more likely. Might be better to do that as well considering, like said earlier, I won't necessarily have to tell them I'm using an iPhone. Thanks again. For my first post I'm highly satisfied with this forum.