T-Mobile $30 Prepaid New Activation Sim Tip

limdoug

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Mar 21, 2011
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Hi,

Like many of you, I'm going with the $30 plan for the Nexus 4. I do not have a T-Mobile account so I ordered a prepaid micro SIM from...

Sim Card Activation Kit For Prepaid Phone or Unlocked iPhone | T-Mobil

I had read that many people online had issues activating because the activation code was incorrect on the SIM card. I just got mine in the mail and started the activation process to see if I could get ahead of any potential issues. Went here to activate it...

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The part where I guess I got confused was that the activation code isn't actually on the physical card that houses the sim, it's actually in the pamphlet that comes in the package. I thought they were just useless instructions, but the code (which was 11 digits for me) was in there. The confusing part is that there is a 12 digit code on the physical card (code can be 11 or 12 digits) that I assumed would be the code. I have no idea what that 12 digit number is, but it's there so just ignore it.

On the part that asks you to type in a 15 digit IMEI, just enter 999999999999999 and it should work - it did for me. I went all the way through the process and was assigned a phone number and everything so I think it's fine if you do the above trick. However, I did not fund my account yet since I won't have the phone for what probably won't be for another week, so I'll create a myTmobile account when I actually get it and fund it at that time.

Hope this helps someone.

Thanks,
Doug
 

nickacs

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Thanks, I tried this too and got to the Funding part and stopped. Great info :)
As a non-TMobile customer currently, can any TMobile customers shed any light if, after I pick a new #/area code on their website, can I call/somewhere else on their site get the new number changed to something "better". Like ask for a specific prefix or last 4 digits??

Thanks! Can't wait :)
 

hunghung1989

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Nov 15, 2012
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I tried all those steps until the last one : "We are sorry, we are still working to process your Activation.....You should receive a text message to your device When your activation Is processed "
I dont know if it works or not cuz ive been waiting hours for "that message" ;-/
Thanks in advance guys !
 

taptapcrash

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Mar 17, 2011
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I tried all those steps until the last one : "We are sorry, we are still working to process your Activation.....You should receive a text message to your device When your activation Is processed "
I dont know if it works or not cuz ive been waiting hours for "that message" ;-/
Thanks in advance guys !
I got the same message. -.-
 

N4Newbie

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Nov 15, 2012
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I tried all those steps until the last one : "We are sorry, we are still working to process your Activation.....You should receive a text message to your device When your activation Is processed "
I dont know if it works or not cuz ive been waiting hours for "that message" ;-/
Thanks in advance guys !

Go to Settings -> About phone -> Status and look at "My phone number"

If your ported number is there, you should be good to go. In my case with two N4's activated on TMO, the text messages arrived quite some time after the phone itself went live.

(not sure if it matters, but in both cases I entered the real IMEI number, not just a bunch of 9's.)
 

stanlm2

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great! mine worked. thanks for the tips. hardest part was figuring out how to order the micro sim by itself, kept getting to that page to pick a regular plan. i was able to use the real imei rather than all 9s. now just need to find a replacement to carrier call/text services, maybe take a look at skype again..
 

Nonymous666

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g[...] hardest part was figuring out how to order the micro sim by itself, kept getting to that page to pick a regular plan.
I had the same problem. But there was no such problem with a forced plan choice when ordering a regular sim. I couldn't figure it out, so just ordered a regular sim and am going to cut it down. (i forget exactly, but there was also some other problem with the micro sim page where I'd get a 404 browser error if I clicked on something. That was more evidence to me that the micro sim page on their site was simply misconfigured so I just went with the regular sim instead.)
 

lazer155

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Dec 1, 2012
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- - - Updated - - -

Yup. There was a section where you can either bring your number or get a new one. I chose to get a new one since I'll be using google voice.

I'm also coming for verizon and would like to transfer the number of one of the lines on my account. However that particular line is still under contract for about another 2 months until january. Would I still be able to enter the number into the tmobile box when I activate my sim card on my nexus 4?
 

scoutzdad

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I have received the Tmo SIM card and was wondering if I can set it up now w/o porting my existing phone number, evaluate the Tmo service for a few weeks and then if it works for me port my number over. Seems like I should be able to, but does anyone know if I can port the number a few weeks from now once I'm sure I want to go with Tmo? Was also going to do same with ST and decide between the two. Thanks!
 

willdogs

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I'm also coming for verizon and would like to transfer the number of one of the lines on my account. However that particular line is still under contract for about another 2 months until january. Would I still be able to enter the number into the tmobile box when I activate my sim card on my nexus 4?

If you port your verizon number before your contract is up, verizon will treat it as an early termination and charge you a penalty.

I have received the Tmo SIM card and was wondering if I can set it up now w/o porting my existing phone number, evaluate the Tmo service for a few weeks and then if it works for me port my number over. Seems like I should be able to, but does anyone know if I can port the number a few weeks from now once I'm sure I want to go with Tmo? Was also going to do same with ST and decide between the two. Thanks!

I would like to know the answer to this as well
 

laser155

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Dec 3, 2012
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If you port your verizon number before your contract is up, verizon will treat it as an early termination and charge you a penalty.

Thanks for the reply. Two more questions:

Will my number still be available to port when my verizon contract ends or will it be taken by someone else on verizon immediately? I'm confused as to how the porting process works. Why would you need to enter your number's previous network in the tmobile porting box assuming your contract is up and the number isn't being used anymore?
 

saeufer

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Nov 9, 2012
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I have received the Tmo SIM card and was wondering if I can set it up now w/o porting my existing phone number, evaluate the Tmo service for a few weeks and then if it works for me port my number over. Seems like I should be able to, but does anyone know if I can port the number a few weeks from now once I'm sure I want to go with Tmo? Was also going to do same with ST and decide between the two. Thanks!

I've done it on postpaid T-Mobile, and it's definitely possible on the technical side. You'd have to call prepaid customer service to try to do it. Worst case, just activate another T-Mo prepaid SIM when you decide to port--at 99c with $3.34 of credit, they're better than free. That's definitely the easy way to do it if you want to evaluate the T-Mo service for 30 days.

Thanks for the reply. Two more questions:

Will my number still be available to port when my verizon contract ends or will it be taken by someone else on verizon immediately? I'm confused as to how the porting process works. Why would you need to enter your number's previous network in the tmobile porting box assuming your contract is up and the number isn't being used anymore?

Your verizon account doesn't just disappear when your sentence, er, contract is up--you have to take some affirmative step to cancel it. Porting the number out is one way to do that. If you call Verizon and cancel the account, though, you can't get the number back, so beware! T-Mobile needs to know where to get the number, which is why they ask what carrier it's with--the exchange alone doesn't necessarily tell them; my number is technically an AT&T number, but it's been years since I had AT&T.
 

laser155

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Dec 3, 2012
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Your verizon account doesn't just disappear when your sentence, er, contract is up--you have to take some affirmative step to cancel it. Porting the number out is one way to do that. If you call Verizon and cancel the account, though, you can't get the number back, so beware! T-Mobile needs to know where to get the number, which is why they ask what carrier it's with--the exchange alone doesn't necessarily tell them; my number is technically an AT&T number, but it's been years since I had AT&T.

Got it. I haven't cancelled or ported any numbers from verizon before because I have always had them but now they're getting too expensive and keep capping data. It basically is a sentence.

Can I get a tmobile number for the time being when I activate my sim with the $30 prepaid plan and in 2 months, when my verzion contract ends, port said verizon number thus getting rid or my original tmobile number? Basically does tmobile allow you to port a number at anytime even after you have been using one of their numbers for a little while?
 

scoutzdad

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Worst case, just activate another T-Mo prepaid SIM when you decide to port--at 99c with $3.34 of credit, they're better than free. That's definitely the easy way to do it if you want to evaluate the T-Mo service for 30

That's a great idea! I never thought of that. Thanks!