Phone & Sim here. What are the right steps now for TM $30 plan?

vlee

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Mar 12, 2011
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(Well, actually, I think SIM is arriving today).

I keep seeing different variations on what steps to take and don't want to screw this up and accidentally do something I can't undo.

Looking at Walmart site, the $30 thing says "New T-Mobile Monthly4G $30 Unlimited Web & Text with 100 min of talk" but picture says "refill" on it. Is this the one Are they the same thing? T-Mobile $30 Wireless Airtime Card - Walmart.com. I'm assuming there are instructions in the package on where to call etc?

Do I put the SIM in before or after activating? I've seen people say both ways.

I want to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible, so I can tackle porting over my phone #. My current number is part of my brother's old family plan, so I need to coordinate that somehow because I think he needs to OK the transfer. I'm anxious to say goodbye to the Sprint family plan since I'm the only one left on it and it's way too expensive for one person!

(And just want to say thanks to everyone here for being so patient with all these newbie questions - mine and others. This is such a cordial forum, compared to some that I've visited).
 
I called TMO to activate. When the CSR told me to put the SIM in the phone, I did. It went pretty smoothly and quickly: maybe 5 minutes to activate, give them my credit card info for automatic top-ups and so on.

I switched from Sprint. TMO will give you a temporary number. When the port is complete, the temporary number goes away. The porting process took less than 24 hours. More like 12, as I recall.

Good luck.
 
I can't help on the T-Mobile side, but I did just port numbers out of Sprint. You will need the account number, and there's a passcode you will need - ours was 8 digit numeric that we had no memory of setting up. We called Sprint, told them we were planning on porting numbers out and they sent us an email with the necessary info. It was actually quite painless.

Sent from my Nexus 4 on Solavei
 
I didn't port a number, so I can not speak to that, but I was confused what steps to follow to make sure I got the $30 plan too. It doesn't really say anywhere soemthing like "put sim in first" or "sing up for an online account first." I think I just followed the printed instructions that came with the sim activation kit as best I could. I might have signed up for an online account before I put the sim in, but I don't think it matters. If you don't, during the activation process you would be directed online to create an online account or contact customer service. (I wish I could give you something clearer than that). At some point you will be prompted to sign up for a plan and this is really where you want to make sure you choose the $30 5 GB 100 minute plan, because that is only a one time deal. There won't be any default or automatic choices. You will have to select a plan. Just make sure you select the $30 5 GB plan and not the other. I had a situation where I had no Tmo sevice in my house, so I had trouble activating because I didn't know I had to stand next to my window to catch a signal. I called customer service and they were great. Everything would have been easier if I just called them first. Since you are porting, you could just have them walk you through the whole thing.
 
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The path I took was a bit convoluted because I had to wait before I could get my Nexus 4, but I also needed to leave Sprint because of the bills and my shrinking budget.

However, generally, I got a SIM card from T-Mobile and stuck it into a loaner phone. I then went online, registered, and subscribed to the $30 plan. Later, once I was able to get the Nexus 4, I went to the local store and swapped the full-size SIM for a micro SIM, and that was that.
 
I called TMO to activate. When the CSR told me to put the SIM in the phone, I did. It went pretty smoothly and quickly: maybe 5 minutes to activate, give them my credit card info for automatic top-ups and so on.

This is why I get confused. I saw a post on another forum, which of course I can't find now, where I could have sworn they said I had to activate online and said emphatically not to call.
 
This is why I get confused. I saw a post on another forum, which of course I can't find now, where I could have sworn they said I had to activate online and said emphatically not to call.

Maybe the reason why someone "emphatically" advised against calling is becuase there is the possibility of miscommunication between the Customer Rep and customer, and the Cust. Rep might accidentally assign the wrong plan. You would have no recourse or control over that, and once assigned you're S.O.L. Just do it online. That way you can make sure you select the correct plan. (I suggested calling because I don't know anything about porting, or how it works, or if that could somehow mess things up).
 
Just thought of something else. The 5GB 100 minutes talk $30 plan is a "web only" plan, and/or the offer stipulates "online only offer" or something like that. So you might only be able to get it by activating online.

It seems from other posts that they were able to get the plan from talking to a CSR, so it looks like there is a way to work around the online only requirement, but maybe not every CSR knows how to do it correctly.
 
(Well, actually, I think SIM is arriving today).

I keep seeing different variations on what steps to take and don't want to screw this up and accidentally do something I can't undo.

Looking at Walmart site, the $30 thing says "New T-Mobile Monthly4G $30 Unlimited Web & Text with 100 min of talk" but picture says "refill" on it. Is this the one Are they the same thing? T-Mobile $30 Wireless Airtime Card - Walmart.com. I'm assuming there are instructions in the package on where to call etc?

Do I put the SIM in before or after activating? I've seen people say both ways.

I want to make sure this goes as smoothly as possible, so I can tackle porting over my phone #. My current number is part of my brother's old family plan, so I need to coordinate that somehow because I think he needs to OK the transfer. I'm anxious to say goodbye to the Sprint family plan since I'm the only one left on it and it's way too expensive for one person!

(And just want to say thanks to everyone here for being so patient with all these newbie questions - mine and others. This is such a cordial forum, compared to some that I've visited).

That's not the SIM, that's just a refill card that happens to fit the $30 plan for ease of use. The SIM package you ordered from T-Mobile (I'm assuming you ordered one from T-Mobile) will have good instructions on what to do, but if I recall this is what I did:

1. Record on a piece of paper all the relevant info the instructions tell you to.
2. Put SIM into phone.
3. Go online and activate the SIM and plan. It will probably tell you to turn the phone on at some point if you have not done so already.
4. Unless you're ready to port your Sprint number over now, just accept the temporary T-Mobile number. Otherwise, go ahead and start the transfer when that step comes up in the activation process.
5. Enjoy your phone!
 
Whew!! I survived the activation. Many thanks for all of the replies.:cool:

I did pretty much as instructed here. I did it online, but I didn't put in the SIM until after the activation. The $30 plan is on the website (with bold print that it is only for new activations, so I was really really careful).

I checked w/ TMO before starting and they said I didn't need to port the old # during the activation, so I opted for a new temp number at that point of the activation because I was afraid that could get involved. Then I checked with my brother because I'm leaving his family plan and he didn't know the PIN info for his Sprint account; says he always uses the secondary "what street did you grow up on" question. So what the heck, I called TMO back to ask about porting. The CS guy I spoke to thought we'd need the pin, which was my assumption, but was willing to try the secondary and he said it went through. He also said it could take up to 24 hr for things the network to settle down, so I guess I'm supposed to lug both phones around tomorrow. At least I do have a text from them saying my phone# is the former Sprint one although when I call that #, my old phone still answers..

Thank you all again.... I'll be back with how to use it questions!
 
I'll be going on this plan myself on the 14th.

I had gotten my Nexus 4 for free by signing a two year contract with T-Mobile. It's been nearly a month and I paid my first bill on Friday. I just called to cancel my account and of course will pay the ETF which still makes my cost of the phone less than if I paid Google for it ($349) + tax on their website and the phone is now officially mine. I had ordered two sims a few weeks ago, one to use on my Nexus 7 tablet and one to use for my Nexus 4 prepaid when I cancelled my post paid account. I feel good now, contract free!
 
I'm interested in this, might do for a month and keep my AT&T service as a backup since I'm not sure how good tmobile service is in my area.

For the months you do need more minute, you just buy prepaid minutes? Can you do that from their website instantly?
 
I'll be going on this plan myself on the 14th.

I had gotten my Nexus 4 for free by signing a two year contract with T-Mobile. It's been nearly a month and I paid my first bill on Friday. I just called to cancel my account and of course will pay the ETF which still makes my cost of the phone less than if I paid Google for it ($349) + tax on their website and the phone is now officially mine. I had ordered two sims a few weeks ago, one to use on my Nexus 7 tablet and one to use for my Nexus 4 prepaid when I cancelled my post paid account. I feel good now, contract free!

Darnit, I chickened out and was afraid to do that as I was unable to confirm if T-Mobile was going to try to charge me "Full Retail Price" for the N4 or something like that. Glad it worked out for you, I think it was the way to go.
 
Nope, it's safe to do. I decided to go this route when T-Mobile offered the phone for free with contract plus free activation plus free over night shipping and the phone is 16GB and unlocked. I didn't have to wait a week to get it from Google. I decided to wait till a few days before my new month but I could have cancelled last week from what I understand.

I decided to activate my prepaid service today so my postpaid account is cancelled and my number transferred over instantly. It's a good feeling to not be under a contract anymore with any carrier. I'm staying with T-Mobile for a very long time. I get great speeds.
 

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