T-Mobile prepaid phone science please
September 16, 2010 1:22 PM Subscribe
Suggestions for a T-Mo prepaid phone model?
I am buying a phone for a friend whose phone is dying. He's a T-Mo prepaid user. What are my options, and what are good models? We do not need to set up an account or anything - my entire involvement should be to pay for the phone and hand it off to him, whereupon he will conduct whatever chicken-entrails voodoo is usual to migrate a prepaid T-Mo account to a new phone.
My confusion and hesitancy stems from his assertion that the phone he has uses a sim; I had been under the impression that all prepaid phones in the US were non-sim phones.
I am buying a phone for a friend whose phone is dying. He's a T-Mo prepaid user. What are my options, and what are good models? We do not need to set up an account or anything - my entire involvement should be to pay for the phone and hand it off to him, whereupon he will conduct whatever chicken-entrails voodoo is usual to migrate a prepaid T-Mo account to a new phone.
My confusion and hesitancy stems from his assertion that the phone he has uses a sim; I had been under the impression that all prepaid phones in the US were non-sim phones.
You can use any unlocked GSM phone, but the T-Mo branded phones have the address book sync feature. I will say it is a LOT nicer to enter your address book on the T-Mo Web site and sync it to your phone, rather than entering it on the phone yourself. If this matters, then just go to Best Buy or somewhere that sells packaged T-Mobile phones. You are supposed to activate such phones on a monthly plan, but if you just stick your existing SIM in it, it works fine.
posted by kindall at 1:55 PM on September 16, 2010
posted by kindall at 1:55 PM on September 16, 2010
Does your friend use data? Text messaging? Any phone that supports 1900MHz GSM and is either unlocked or is locked to T-Mobile US will work. I tend to like the cheap Nokias for this purpose, as they tend to get great reception, and they're really easy to unlock if you find one locked.
Formerly top-end feature phones like the (Nokia) 6230 are now available used for almost nothing on eBay. Of course, the MP3 player is pretty awful by today's standards, and the camera is only 640x480 what with it being a 6 year old model.
I'd suggest staying away from low end Samsung and LG phones. They have a history of very poor reception. (I'd stick to Nokia and Sony Ericcson, if it were my money) Beyond that, go wild.
posted by wierdo at 2:59 PM on September 16, 2010
Formerly top-end feature phones like the (Nokia) 6230 are now available used for almost nothing on eBay. Of course, the MP3 player is pretty awful by today's standards, and the camera is only 640x480 what with it being a 6 year old model.
I'd suggest staying away from low end Samsung and LG phones. They have a history of very poor reception. (I'd stick to Nokia and Sony Ericcson, if it were my money) Beyond that, go wild.
posted by wierdo at 2:59 PM on September 16, 2010
I have a T-Mobile prepaid SIM card in a Motorola F3. The e-ink screen is kind of cool and it cost like $30 unlocked with no contract from Amazon. If you need only a phone, it's not bad.
if you want to text on the F3, then it's like texting on a speak'n spell, only with less resolution.
T-mo is GSM in the US. so you ned to get an unlocked GSM or T-Mo phone.
posted by ennui.bz at 3:37 PM on September 16, 2010
if you want to text on the F3, then it's like texting on a speak'n spell, only with less resolution.
T-mo is GSM in the US. so you ned to get an unlocked GSM or T-Mo phone.
posted by ennui.bz at 3:37 PM on September 16, 2010
You could also just buy one of the prepaid phones that T mobile offers. Just take the old SIM and pop it in the new phone, and bam.
I have an iPhone and just bought a cheapie ATT GoPhone (their prepaid) for when I need a phone that I don't give a crap about and it was totally easy to switch.
posted by reddot at 6:42 PM on September 16, 2010
I have an iPhone and just bought a cheapie ATT GoPhone (their prepaid) for when I need a phone that I don't give a crap about and it was totally easy to switch.
posted by reddot at 6:42 PM on September 16, 2010
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I have a T-Mobile prepaid SIM card in a Motorola F3. The e-ink screen is kind of cool and it cost like $30 unlocked with no contract from Amazon. If you need only a phone, it's not bad.
posted by enn at 1:27 PM on September 16, 2010