Can you put your sim in another device phone or other or are you stuck to one?

[juntjoo]

I know they charge to tether but what if you just want to use another phone? At what point, under what conditions are they alerted you need to be charged? Is it when you transfer so much data? Is it when you use another device? Or is it when you do both together? Or is it something else?

I'm asking because I'm thinking about using a tablet as my phone at home then when I gotta put it in my pocket put the sim in my phone. I want to cancel my home internet and just use my account's 5gig's as I also want to go on a data diet. There's a lot of wasted downloading on unnecessary past times I don't need to waste my money on. I'm sure a lot of you can relate but it's basically like the digital equivalent of our gluttonous food and drug consumption habits. Where was I? So c'mon, let me change my device once a day or 5 times a week.

 

[ratsttam]

The sim card carries your account information. However the device itself has it's own ID. They don't care if you swap phones around every hour. But when you put a sim provisioned to a phone in a tablet or hotspot, it gets flagged as such. Likely, it simply won't authenticate and you'll have no data until the sim is returned to a proper device.

 

[juntjoo]

Thanks. What makes a device a phone? I see some tablets have 3/4g(still researching how it's used) which would be nice to use. Or how large are the largest "phones"?

 

[ratsttam]

Thanks. What makes a device a phone? I see some tablets have 3/4g(still researching how it's used) which would be nice to use. Or how large are the largest "phones"?

Having 3g/4g doesn't make it a phone, just means that it could connect to the cell network for data. Hence the tablet you want to put your cell sim in.
I have a Note 5 at 5.7", and if the rumors are true the S8 will be closer to 6". But it'll still be a phone. Best to call your carrier and they can guide you to which numbers they need, and tell you if they consider it a phone or a tablet.

 

[juntjoo]

Ah, yeah, so probably anything that can't make a phone call. I thought I'd seen a tablet that could make calls. Maybe there were one or two but no one wanted it as a phone. Thanks.

 

[anon(5719825)]

You used to be able to put a phones sim in a tablet and then using WiFi, go to a site called unlockit.nz or something like that, and download and provisioning profile that would enable data using that phone sim. It might still work, I haven't tried it in several years. I know putting a data only sim in a phone will work without any limitations.