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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / T-Mobile / August 2007Back-up Cell Phone
I'm currently with Cingular/AT&T, and my cell phone died two weeks after my two-year contract was up. I'm ready to move to another carrier and thinking of going with T-Mobile, but I'd like to get a back-up phone. Will T-Mobile sell me one without adding to the contract, or can I get one from e-bay? Thanks! Karen C. In news:46c38266$0$22486$d94e5ade@news.iglou.com "Karen C." <karenscribes@yahoo.com> wrote: > I'm ready to move to another carrier and thinking of going with > T-Mobile, but I'd like to get a back-up phone. Will T-Mobile > sell me one without adding to the contract, or can I get one from > e-bay? You could buy a T-Mobile pre-paid phone at the drugstore and swap the SIM card if your primary phone breaks, but it won't be a backup for a lost phone. Any US-standard GSM phone that's either unlocked or locked to T-Mobile will work with a T-Mobile SIM card.  SignatureBert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com >Any US-standard GSM phone that's either unlocked or locked to T-Mobile >will work with a T-Mobile SIM card. with the very slight caution that many phones are just 1.9 ghz, and t-mobile (and/or its roaming partners) do have some areas at 850 mhz. Signature_____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key dannyb@panix.com [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded] > >Any US-standard GSM phone that's either unlocked or locked to T-Mobile > >will work with a T-Mobile SIM card. > > with the very slight caution that many phones are just 1.9 ghz, > and t-mobile (and/or its roaming partners) do have some > areas at 850 mhz. I'm glad you mentioned this. I'll make sure to check that before buying the back-up phone. Thanks a bunch! Karen C. In news:fa009c$md8$1@reader1.panix.com danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote: > In <Xns998DB65A74B8FVeebleFetzer@216.250.184.7> Bert Hyman > <bert@iphouse.com> writes: [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > and t-mobile (and/or its roaming partners) do have some > areas at 850 mhz. I didn't know there were mono-band phones; I've always gone after quad-band phones for possible use outside the US, but for domestic use that's something to watch out for. SignatureBert Hyman St. Paul, MN bert@iphouse.com > I didn't know there were mono-band phones; I've always gone after > quad-band phones for possible use outside the US, but for domestic use > that's something to watch out for. I wouldn't have had any idea about this, either, so I appreciate your mentioning it. Thanks, again! Karen C. > with the very slight caution that many phones are just 1.9 ghz, > and t-mobile (and/or its roaming partners) do have some > areas at 850 mhz. To be fair, many phones WERE 1900-only. T-Mo hasn't sold a 1900-only phone in quite awhile. However, the early T-Mo multi-band phones were typically 1900 with 900/1800 (used in Europe and Asia) and still lack the 850 (aka 800) band used here in the US. IIRC, T-Mo went to all 850/1900 phones two years ago. You can check any model's specs, including bands, quickly at www.phonescoop.com, but an easy way to be sure to get the right frequencies (and modern features) is to buy any T-Mobile prepaid phone at a Wal-Mart or Target store and use that as a backup without activating it on prepaid service- just stick your current SIM in. An "entry level" phone like a Nokia 6030 sells for $30-40. Much cheaper than an unsubsidized new phone, and almost as cheap as many eBay "relics." -- "I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003 > You could buy a T-Mobile pre-paid phone at the drugstore and swap the > SIM card if your primary phone breaks, but it won't be a backup for a > lost phone. > > Any US-standard GSM phone that's either unlocked or locked to T-Mobile > will work with a T-Mobile SIM card. That's good news. Thanks! Karen C. > You could buy a T-Mobile pre-paid phone at the drugstore and swap the > SIM card if your primary phone breaks, but it won't be a backup for a > lost phone. Sure it can- you just call T-Mo and tell them you've lost your phone and to move your number to the prepaid phone's SIM. As long as the SIM is unactivated (or previously activated but now expired) T-Mo can program it OTA (over the air) with your old number. I've had T-Mo move the number from a lost phone into an expired SIM (an old prepaid phone I let lapse) and just a couple of days ago I moved my service into a different expired prepaid SIM (I was having signal reacquisition issues on the west coast with my MDA, and tech support suggested getting a newer SIM to replace my six-year old Voicestream SIM. Since I had a very recently expired prepaid SIM laying around I suggested we try that rather than waste my time and T-Mo's money mailing me a new one.) -- "I don't need my cell phone to play video games or take pictures or double as a Walkie-Talkie; I just need it to work. Thanks for all the bells and whistles, but I could communicate better with ACTUAL bells and whistles." -Bill Maher 9/25/2003 > As long as the SIM is unactivated (or previously activated but now > expired) T-Mo can program it OTA (over the air) with your old number. [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > suggested we try that rather than waste my time and T-Mo's money mailing > me a new one.) This is good to know. I think this pretty much seals the deal for me. Thanks for your feedback! Karen C. |
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