Switching from VM to T-Mobile

[Diso]

I've been with VM since 2003. They were my first and only cell phone carrier but when my Top Up balance runs out at the end of May, I'm switching to T-Mobile's $30 100 minute plan. I will also be getting my first Android phone. I'm not a tech noob by any means but I've never been a big cell phone user until recently so I have some questions. (I've also been lurking on HoFo for over a year, so you might not have to dumb anything down for me. )

I purchased a SIM card last week when the 99 cent sale started and after a lot of online research, I purchased a Samsung Captivate Glide on ebay. It is locked to AT&T but I feel fairly confident I can unlock it and I found a thead on HoFo (that I cannot link to, apparently) by cellphoneunlock.net on how to do it. Is that the best site to use? Is there a better way to go about unlocking the phone? When the website asks for the current carrier, that would be AT&T, correct? What are the risks if I screw this up?

Will I have to have the SIM card in a T-Mobile phone to activate it? Once I activate the SIM, is switching phones as easy as moving the SIM?

Do I have to call T-Mobile to port my number or can I do that online? I know it takes a while to port the number over but once that process starts, will I lose service to my VM phone or will it continue to work until the T-Mobile one activates? My Top Up date is the 8th of every month so I was thinking I'd activate my T-Mobile account on the first to prevent any problems with my account not being paid up.

Will I have problems with texting or anything since it's an AT&T phone and not T-Mobile? Since it's not a T-Mobile phone, will I be able to wirelessly tether? I don't plan to do it a lot but if I'm stuck somewhere with my tablet and no wifi, I'd like to be able to switch to the bigger screen.

Am I correct in my understanding that your account balance can expire? So if I'm on the $30 plan, I never want to have more than two months' worth in my account balance?

Is there anything else I should be aware of?

Some other info: I've currently got an LG Rumor Touch on the $25 VM plan. I know I'll lose it when I port. The Captivate Glide will be my first Android phone but not my first device. I have an HP TouchPad running CM9 Alpha 2. I am currently undecided on whether or not I'll root the Captivate Glide. Currently leaning towards not doing it and haven't looked into it.

[fratermus]

eBay unlocks are cheap and every one I have bought worked.

The ATT phone will likely only have 2G data, not 3G due to freq differences.

Texting wilkl work fine, but you will likely have to manually config the APN.

I don't remember you having to have a phone to activate, but it does ask for a phone's IMEI. Alll nines worked for me if you don't want to give a real one.

Dunno about porting.

Tethering is a function of the phone's software, though TMO has made noises about tightening up on folks who tether without ponying up the $15. I think TMO is watching most closely when folks use the built-in tethereing in TMO ROMs. AFAIK folks using CM or 3rd-party tethering apps haven't gotten singled out.

Classic prepaid plans could have up to 1yr expiries, but I think Monthly4G is 90days. So I just kept two months worth of balance in at a time (callingmart).


The TMO Montly4G thing runs in 30day increments, so it will not line up with the month for long, depending on the calendar.

[IsLand_BoY]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you'll be stuck on 2G with that Captivate Glide. Since you'll be on the $30 plan that's skewed more toward data use, that's a bit of a problem. I don't think you'll even hit 500mb let alone 5gb if you're not on 3G/4G.

I would HIGHLY recommend picking up a T-Mobile phone. If you're in a good area, their network can be really fast - for me, approaching the speeds of my cable modem which is 10mb down. For reference, you'll be getting more like 0.1mb down on 2G.

Sent from my SGH-T989 using HowardForums

[Diso]

Can you explain the frequencies so I know what to look for in the future? I picked the Captivate Glide because it is 4G with a 4 inch screen and has a QWERTY keyboard. I am a heavy texter and suck at on screen keyboards.

[pinkcrow]

Same boat as you Diso- I've been with VM since the Party Animal (2004?) but due to the Triumph, I'm jumping ship. Figured I would get a stock prepaid TMo handset, and if coverage is good, eBay something cooler. But like you, I am unsure of what phones/frequencies are kosher. Wat do, hofo?

[Diso]

Was the Party Animal the purple one or that ugly white and silver model before the purple one? My first phone was the purple one, then the K9, MTV slider, Snapper, Mantra and Rumor Touch. VM suited my needs for many years but I've been trying to switch to Android since the Triumph was first rumored and nothing has struck me as good enough. Plus my data speeds have gone seriously downhill recently.

[Chop-Chop]

Some Tmobile mytouch phones, Moto's Cliq, or the G2 are your choices with QUERTY.

[pinkcrow]

Was the Party Animal the purple one or that ugly white and silver model before the purple one? My first phone was the purple one, then the K9, MTV slider, Snapper, Mantra and Rumor Touch. VM suited my needs for many years but I've been trying to switch to Android since the Triumph was first rumored and nothing has struck me as good enough. Plus my data speeds have gone seriously downhill recently.

I agree about the data speeds, and my partially functioning Triumph is just the final straw.

The Party Animal was the ugly silver one, if memory serves. Then the K-9, K-10 Royale, v-5 slider (loved that phone), Oystr, WildCard, XtC, Rumor Touch and the Triumph.

[Diso]

Some Tmobile mytouch phones, Moto's Cliq, or the G2 are your choices with QUERTY.

I saw those, except for the Moto Cliq. I rejected them for one reason or another. Until I saw the Captivate Glide, I was going to go with the Exhibit II so I guess I'm back to that. I only paid §240 for the Captivate Glide, I don't think I'll have any trouble making that back by reselling it.

[tcross8361]

I'm starting to shop around. I'm also coming from VM. I'm interested in the $30 monthly 4G plan. It actually fits me pretty good because I use less than 100 minutes a month.

So, my question is can you bring any unlocked 4g phone to T-Mobile and what is a good list of phones? I'm interested in a 4" screen, 1GHZ processor, at least 1 Gb of internal memory, a good camera with video, and video out.


Edit: Also what happens when you get out of there coverage area? Is there roaming, will you have service at all?

[edplayer]

So, my question is can you bring any unlocked 4g phone to T-Mobile and what is a good list of phones?

You want a phone that has both the 1700 and 2100MHz bands.

[ja5219]

Once you activate the SIM card, you can pop it into any phone that supports T-Mobile's bands and get service right away.

There are many out there but the main popular ones are the Galasy S II, the upcoming HTC One S, HTC Amaze and even just recently released on the Google play store, Galaxy Nexus that will work with T-Mobile.

I myself chose the more of a mid-range device (Exhibit II) with a 3.7" screen. Not bad works for me. It does come with a 1ghz processor. Just a little low on RAM.

If you go out of the coverage area, you may or may not roam on AT&T.. If you see their coverage maps (http://compass.t-mobile.com/default.aspx) They do not have broad roaming everywhere, it is only in specific spots.. so if there is no native coverage where you are chances are you'll be left with no signal.

All in all, as long as you have coverage this is a very nice plan. I came from VM and while i enjoyed the $25 plan, I struggled to get a signal at all where I lived, Not VM's fault.. just Sprint relying instead on roaming here... T-Mobile at least has full coverage here yet the tower where I live is still GPRS. Guess you can't have everything lol.

[Monster Mash]

I'm in the same situation where I'm looking to move from Vmobile to Tmobile. So does any Tmobile branded phone work well with data such as the Samsung Galaxy s2? And if I put a ROM like Cyanogenmod on my phone is tethering pretty straight forward like it is on Vmobile, or are there more loopholes that I'd have to go through?

[tcross8361]

You want a phone that has both the 1700 and 2100MHz bands.

So anything with 2100 mhz is 4g? I'm looking at the Nexus on Google play. It says it's 3g but it lists it as being 850/ 900/ 1700/ 1900/ 2100.

[ja5219]

Its a weird setup but the 1700 and 2100 bands work together to get you "4G" .. T-Mobile doesn't really have a "3G" network according to them, its only GPRS -> EDGE -> then UMTS/HSDPA/HSPA/HSPA+ which they call (4G). The phone must have both of those bands under WCMDA for it to run properly on T-Mobile's 4G network. GPRS/EDGE are under the 1900 GSM band.

Now where things get even more confusing is you have T-Mobile's so called "4G" which is HSPA+, but now we have an upcoming LTE 4G service. Which is the real 4G then?

Google Play store calls it 3G probably to avoid confusion with LTE, as this does not have LTE radios on it. (Wouldn't work on T-Mobile yet anyways). It is also shown to run as HSPA+ 21mbps, which is not the highest we've seen. I believe the Galaxy S II has HSPA+ 42mbps, it just means they can theoretically get faster speeds in a perfect scenario/coverage.

I'm in the same situation where I'm looking to move from Vmobile to Tmobile. So does any Tmobile branded phone work well with data such as the Samsung Galaxy s2? And if I put a ROM like Cyanogenmod on my phone is tethering pretty straight forward like it is on Vmobile, or are there more loopholes that I'd have to go through?

If you put in a custom ROM you should have no problem tethering, on most newer smartphones if you use the stock ROM the phone comes with a tethering manager that checks if you have the $15 hotspot addon. If not, it blocks your web access.
You can always root the phone and "freeze" it from running with an App. I've done this now for the past 4 months and tethering works great even on Stock ROM.