Switching from one GSM phone to another

**blacter** · 01-21-2013, 11:55 AM

Like many of you, I suppose, I like to try out new phones whenever I have the chance. I've always just switched out my working SIM card and things seem to work on the new phone. Are there any "gotchas" to this approach?

**cgardnervt** · 01-21-2013, 02:11 PM

If you go from a dumb phone to a smartphone they will auto bill you for data. Charging around $30 for the base data package. Otherwise your fine. Keep in mind that they will NOT automatically take the data off for a dumb phone. For that you will have to change it online or call them up at 611.

**Nophix** · 01-21-2013, 05:13 PM

There are some issues if you throw a SIM from a non LTE phone into an LTE phone.

I've noticed if you have the LTE smartphone data feature it swaps fine. They all cost the same no matter what smartphone.

The exception to the rule is BlackBerry.

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

**paul-c** · 01-21-2013, 07:03 PM

Yeah, I do it all the time with my LTE sim card. Haven't run into any issues.

Sent from my Sony Xperia ion

**unglued94ta** · 01-21-2013, 08:38 PM

Go from my international note back to the captivate. No issues

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Android Central Forums

**natehoy** · 01-30-2013, 03:04 PM

Between any two phones of the same class, it's seamless. I think there are limits to how many times a month you can do it, so you can't have your "work" phone and your "party time" phone and switch between them at 9AM and 5PM every day. But it's pretty seamless.

The three "classes" of phones I've heard of are:
- iPhones (there's a specific data plan for them, apparently)
- LTE phones
- non-LTE phones.

If you switch between "classes", it might work, or it might not. If it does not work, you should be able to walk into an AT&T store or call Customer Service and they should issue you a new SIM that works with your new phone. There should not be any charge for it or it would be an extremely nominal fee if there is one now, and it should not change your billing status (if you were grandfathered into a plan, you should keep that pricing).

I've only ever done this with pre-LTE phones, none of them iPhones, so it's always been a completely seamless process for me other than having to research and enter Access Point Name (APN) details in a couple of cases where the firmware of the phone had incorrect settings for AT&T.

**Viva Terlingua** · 02-01-2013, 04:23 PM

When I was with Sprint I had both a Treo Pro and Touch Pro 2. I could switch back and forth between the 2 on their website.

I currently with AT&T and have an iPhone 4 and am thinking of getting a Galaxy Note 2. Will I be able to do the same with them or do I need to swap out sim cards?