Verizon iPhone to T-mobile Samsung Galaxy S4 -- how?
September 12, 2013 7:09 AM   Subscribe

Verizon to T-mobile, iPhone to Android... how does this work?

I'm currently on a family plan with Verizon, which we've had for years and years. One line is out of contract already, and the other line’s contract will end on Oct 8. We both have an iPhone 4.

I’m very, very tempted to move to T-mobile’s $30 unlimited text/data + 100 minutes plan. Our bill would drop from $135 per month to $60 per month. Also, we live out in the country where there is no cell reception, so T-mobile’s wifi calling is very, very appealing.

We’re most interested in the Samsung Galaxy S4, though I might like the Note 2 a little better.

I have questions about how switching will work, and other various questions about this.

1. I see conflicting information on whether T-mobile’s wifi calling uses up minutes or not. Can anyone who currently uses T-mobile wifi calling, who has the $30 plan, confirm whether or not wifi calling is charged to voice minutes? (I looked over our bills for the past year to see if we ever went over 100, and we never came close, but that’s partially because we can’t use our phones at home. If we could, we might come a lot closer to that cap.

2. Can we keep our current numbers to T-mobile? How does that work? I really don’t want to notify everyone in the universe of a new phone number. There is apparently this thing called "porting" which is a complete black box to me.

3. Our contract expires Oct. 8. Does that mean I can’t do anything until Oct. 9, or can I start up service with T-mobile on the 7th or 8th? And when/how do I cancel with Verizon?

4. Selling iPhone 4 and getting Galaxy S4: what is the best way? It looks like they’re more expensive at T-mobile than they are on ebay or swappa, but would bringing our own phones make this process more difficult?

5. Moving from the Appleverse to the Androidverse: what do I need to know? I have a lot of contacts that I’m terrified of losing, and my husband is heavily invested in iTunes. How do we minimize loss?

What else am I not thinking about and/or need to know?
posted by rabbitrabbit to Technology (15 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I can't comment on the T-Mobile / Verizon thing, but as someone who just recently moved from an iPhone to a Galaxy S4, transferring your contacts is super easy. Here's a comprehensive article on the various ways to do it.

All of the music in iTunes is actually a music file on your computer. You just have to make sure that your iphones have synced with itunes and then you can transfer all of that music to your new Android phone. Lots of good info can be found on this subject as well.

Be prepared for a lot of culture shock. I LOVE my S4, but it is a huge paradigm shift to go from iOS, where most things are just configured for you, to Android where you will get stock Samsung software that isn't great and need to take the initiative to get your phone to do the things you want your phone to do. I forgot how much I missed having control over my own devices, but it can be overwhelming at times and you have to think about how your customizations will impact your battery life and the security of your phone etc. Plan on a several weeks/few months acclimatization period. You'll be able to use the phone to make calls and text and check social media and listen to music etc. right away, but the tweaking process is a long one.
posted by Kimberly at 7:25 AM on September 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I can only comment on the porting part. It's very very easy. You do not need to notify your current provider. You just go to your new provider with your old account information and they take care of the rest.
posted by radioamy at 7:31 AM on September 12, 2013


Best answer: Oh and part of the port is that they cancel your old contract.
posted by radioamy at 7:32 AM on September 12, 2013


On October 8th (or now for the expired line) you go into T-Mobile and they will port your number over. There could be a day or two of downtime. You never need to speak to Verizon. At this point, your early termination fee may be less than the difference in costs to the different providers so you could consider doing it today, although you have waited so long, another few weeks might give you time to get organized.

I have an S4 and love it, but I have never used an iPhone so have nothing to add regarding the adjustment. I do know I can do anything (and more!) than my kids can do on their iPhones with my S4.

As for selling an old phone, one easy no stress way to do it, and I have no idea of their prices relative to what you can get elsewhere, is on Amazon. They will give you around $175 for an iPhone 4S in Amazon credit.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 7:40 AM on September 12, 2013


Best answer: If you want the $30/100 minute plan, you cannot go into a T-mobile store. This plan is only online or at Walmart. OK, technically it can be activated in stores, but they really, really don't want to do it and it requires a lot of hassle.

Here is the process: Buy the phone you want and the prepaid activation kit. The kit can be had either from Walmart or prepaid-phones.tmobile.com. Activate the SIM card online - they will give you the option to Port your Number - that's what you want to do. You'll have to give them your phone number, your current account number, and the account password if there is one.

When you port the number, your current line on Verizon will be automatically cancelled. Don't cancel it in advance! If you cancel before the last day of the contract on a line, you'll pay an Early Termination Fee of about $50. However, if you are in the middle of a billing month you'll have to pay to the end of that month, so check your billing cycle, too - it might be better to pay the ETF to avoid starting the next billing cycle.

but would bringing our own phones make this process more difficult?

Not really. Either way you need a phone and an activation kit. It doesn't matter where the phone comes from. Buying it from T-Mobile ensures that it's not locked to some other carrier, but you can ensure that when you get it from a third-party, too.

Recently there has been zero downtime on porting numbers. It shouldn't be more than 24 hours in any case, by regulation.
posted by muddgirl at 7:58 AM on September 12, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Caveat to all that:

My understanding is that on prepaid plans, the standard t-mobile Wifi calling does use minutes. The rank-and-file customer support at T-Mobile don't seem to know this, but it is true. People who want this plan and use a lot of minutes generally download an app that uses Wifi or data to connect to Google Voice or some other VOIP service (grooveip, talkatone, vonage, skype etc. etc.) These do not use minutes, but call quality is hit or miss.

After the first 100 minutes, you can still buy minutes at 10 cents a minute. This means that the prepaid plan is still better than the regular T-Mobile plan as long as you use less than, like, 300 minutes a month each.
posted by muddgirl at 8:09 AM on September 12, 2013 [1 favorite]


If you are on wifi all the time and are concerned about call quality, I would consider the base T-Mobile family plan, which is $80 a month for two lines, unlimited talk and text, and built-in wifi calling. It only has 500 mb of high-speed data (unlimited after that). It's a trade-off.
posted by muddgirl at 8:17 AM on September 12, 2013


I agree with muddgirl - I could NOT get the $30 a month plan in store and am stuck with the $50 a month plan that's close to $60 once taxes are added in.
posted by tilde at 8:24 AM on September 12, 2013


Response by poster: OK, another question: on the bring-your-own-phone page, the Galaxy S4 is not listed, though there is a Galaxy S 4G. Is this the same thing?
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:44 AM on September 12, 2013


If I were you I'd check out Straight Talk Wireless. I went to them from Verizon and bought a Nexus 4, and everything works great.
posted by Aizkolari at 8:47 AM on September 12, 2013


Response by poster: Does Straight Talk have wifi calling? (The native wifi calling is a huge deal because we don't have service where we live, and GV is a pain in the butt.)
posted by rabbitrabbit at 8:50 AM on September 12, 2013


Is this the same thing?

No, they're not the same thing, but I don't think that bring-your-own-phone page really means anything. If you buy a t-mobile locked or an unlocked Galaxy S4, it will work with their prepaid plan. Many many owners are reporting that they are using their GS4 on t-mobile prepaid.
posted by muddgirl at 8:52 AM on September 12, 2013


rabbitrabbit: "Does Straight Talk have wifi calling? (The native wifi calling is a huge deal because we don't have service where we live, and GV is a pain in the butt.)"

I know with my Verizon S4, I have set it to use GV for all outbound calls. It is seamless, and not a pain in the butt. No idea if that can be done on T-Mobile, but it should work.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 9:45 AM on September 12, 2013


In terms of backing up your contacts, are they synced with an email address? I had no problem going Android to iPhone using my Gmail. (Actually to be honest the one thing I miss about my Android is the seamless sync with the Gmail/Google universe.)
posted by radioamy at 9:54 AM on September 12, 2013


I don't think ST has Wifi calling, sorry.
posted by Aizkolari at 9:56 AM on September 12, 2013


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