[greydarrah]

I want to try both T Mobile (direct Prepaid) and AT&T (through Straight Talk) to see which gets a better signal in my area. I assume you get a new phone number for each carrier activation. If you start out with TMo and then after 30 days, you DON'T renew, and activate ST AT&T, would you have to get a new phone number (again) if you decided to go back to TMo, or do they hold your number for a certain time even if you let your prepaid account lapse?

[saeufer]

I can't speak for ST, but T-Mobile used to give 90 days before your number expires; I can't find anything to say that's changed. SIMs are currently 99c online, tho, so just order 2 or 3 if losing the number isn't a big problem.

You *could* start with T-Mobile, port to ST after a month and (if necessary) port back to T-Mobile after the second month. Just get a second T-Mobile SIM; then you activate a new account as if you never had the first and port the number in from ST.

edited to fix SIM price... guess they were only free yesterday.

[DirkBelig]

If you have a Google Voice #, why not just set it up to forward to whichever phone # your SIM at that time is coded for? After you decide which one is better, then you can port it to that carrier. While I test out my Nexus 4, I'm going to do this until I'm satisfied with the phone and/or service and then pay the $40 to port my Trudge number to GV and keep my existing GV number.