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Cellular Phone Forum / Manufacturers / Motorola / November 2007

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Unlocked phones & T-Mobile pre-paid

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mcquarrie - 07 Nov 2007 00:29 GMT
does any one have any experience with the following proposition?

I have a T-mobile pre-paid cellphone - a samsung, it's ok.

I'd like to buy an unlocked Moto Razr, or something equally flashy.

I've seen a few posts seeming to confirm that T-mobile sim cards will
work in the phone, but what about sim cards from pre-paid phones? will
they be any different? any special procedures necessary to make it
work?

any experiences shared will be welcome.

Thanks
Bert Hyman - 07 Nov 2007 00:35 GMT
In news:1194395388.574235.241950@z9g2000hsf.googlegroups.com mcquarrie
<00derek@gmail.com> wrote:

> I've seen a few posts seeming to confirm that T-mobile sim cards will
> work in the phone, but what about sim cards from pre-paid phones? will
> they be any different? any special procedures necessary to make it
> work?

They work fine.

I have an unlocked V195, orginally T-Mobile, that I've used with T-Mobile,
AT&T and Netcom (Norway) prepaid SIM cards.

Signature

Bert Hyman    St. Paul, MN    bert@iphouse.com

cellular@motorola.net - 07 Nov 2007 21:21 GMT
>does any one have any experience with the following proposition?
>
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>
>any experiences shared will be welcome.

Swapping SIM and maintaining voice+text messaging will be straightforward
with no fiddling.  You will have to twiddle some settings to get picture/MMS
to work if you have/need that to work.  Don't get automatic settings sent
from T-mobile as they're invariably locked and then you have to fiddle
around to be able to edit and/or delete them.
mcquarrie - 09 Nov 2007 03:45 GMT
On Nov 7, 2:21 pm, cellu...@motorola.net wrote:

> >does any one have any experience with the following proposition?
>
[quoted text clipped - 14 lines]
> from T-mobile as they're invariably locked and then you have to fiddle
> around to be able to edit and/or delete them.

Thank you both. I see "unlocked" phones on ebay, but they are also
tagged as AT&T or Cingular etc. Do I need to get an unlocked T-Mobile?
why are they tagged with specific service providers?
M.L. - 09 Nov 2007 07:42 GMT
>>> I have a T-mobile pre-paid cellphone - a samsung, it's ok.
>>
[quoted text clipped - 17 lines]
> tagged as AT&T or Cingular etc. Do I need to get an unlocked T-Mobile?
> why are they tagged with specific service providers?

T-Mobile supports any unlocked GSM phone using the 1900 frequency band,
so a Moto Razr should work just fine as long as the unlock ad claims ATT
or T-Mobile support. I'm not sure why they're omitting T-Mobile support
in the eBay ads. Phones meant for the Verizon network will not work
since they are not GSM phones.
Mike S. - 09 Nov 2007 15:08 GMT
>On Nov 7, 2:21 pm, cellu...@motorola.net wrote:
>>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>tagged as AT&T or Cingular etc. Do I need to get an unlocked T-Mobile?
>why are they tagged with specific service providers?

If the phone is truly unlocked then it must work for voice phone calls
and text messaging using any compatible SIM as long as the radio frequency
bands match those used by the carrier. The AT&T and Cingular tags you see
may refer to the fact that these phones were originally sold and branded
by those carriers.

They will display the AT&T or Cingular logo when powered up, their menus
may contain special entries (like instant messaging, carrier-specific
ringtone downloads, etc) that do not work on other carriers, and their web
browser profile is set up for those carriers.

The web (WAP) browser issue is something else, as some carriers hide or
disable the option to change the data profile, effectively preventing you
from using the web browser when operating on another carrier. If this is
an issue to you, it is important to check with eBay sellers to be certain
that these menus are accessible and modifiable.
cellular@motorola.net - 09 Nov 2007 21:17 GMT
>On Nov 7, 2:21 pm, cellu...@motorola.net wrote:
>>
[quoted text clipped - 20 lines]
>tagged as AT&T or Cingular etc. Do I need to get an unlocked T-Mobile?
>why are they tagged with specific service providers?

I see you've had your questions answered by other posts but what I'd
recommend if you're intent on buying a handset is to get one that hasn't
been locked to any network and has all the menu etc. options available.  You
won't have to enjoy/waste <g> time putting the object back to match the
manufacturer's manual then.

The original Razr is quite cheap if you can find one, assuming that's what
you're after.
mcquarrie - 12 Nov 2007 21:05 GMT
On Nov 9, 2:17 pm, cellu...@motorola.net wrote:

> >On Nov 7, 2:21 pm, cellu...@motorola.net wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 31 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

Thanks everyone - I will be purchasing from ebay, and I will let you
know how I get on.
mcquarrie - 17 Nov 2007 21:45 GMT
> On Nov 9, 2:17 pm, cellu...@motorola.net wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 38 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

I purchased a brand new, in box, V3 RAZR from Ebay. New phone
recognized the old SIM card instantly, which even transferred all the
phone numbers. My wife will be pleased this Christmas. Thanks for the
help.
 
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