Database Users

Orange 3G Sim Card

Hi all,
I bought a shiny new HTC Trinity and put my Orange contract SIM card into it. It didn't seem to come up with 3G connection anywhere I was using it. I read on the forums that you have to sometimes get 3G enabled by your service provider.
So, I phoned Orange and he told me a I need a new 3G SIM card. I said that's fine but he said that I wasn't allowed to have one because my previous phone (the one which I had bought with the Orange contract) was not a 3G phone. I wasn't even allowed to buy a new 3G SIM card either.
I said that I would leave Orange (although this was an empty threat cos I still have 6 of my 18 months of contract left) and he said that there was nothing he could do.
Has anyone else had a similar situation to this? Is there anything I can do? Do I definitely need a 3G SIM card to get 3G on my phone?
Thanks in advance

rich1986 said:
Do I definitely need a 3G SIM card to get 3G on my phone?
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Click to collapse
Unfortunately yes, this is the case.
rich1986 said:
Is there anything I can do?
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Click to collapse
So you have 6 months left of an 18 mth contract.......hmmmm........Do you want to stay with Orange? if so and you monthly spend is above £35.00 then you should be able to upgrade for free ( free phone and no upgrade fee) especially if you agree to another 18 month.

That's the thing. I want to move to T-Mobile I think. Their data plan seems so much better than any other provider. Thanks for your advice though

sounds pretty crazy business to refuse to sell a customer a product

Ah OK, I dont blame you for moving - though I dont think to much of t-mobile customer services, but there data plans are great.
I dont really notice that much diffrence in speed though between 2.5 and 3G anyway.

If you do want to move to t-mobile rather go for one of the business tariff's. This way you get similar bundles/deals, but get a dedicated customer service rep, free insureance and voicemail, and easy upgrades.

tmobile internet

has anyone tried changing their internet plan online to the 10 dollar one and getting it to work? My friend has a N900 since it came out and has the 10 dollar plan selected and has ful 3g. Im wondering if anyone has tried this with the n1

AFAIK T-Mobile us moving away from having a bunch of different plans.
I don't think you can even sign up for the $10- internet plan.
But I could be wrong.

Yes, I tried it - Even More + and then adding the $10 internet plan after changing my phone to a Nokia dumbphone in the account settings.
It didn't work with any APN.

dang, tmobile must have figured it out then

yeah I tried it didnt work at all. What you can do however is call tmobile and ask for the android plan. You will get it for 25$ as opposed to the 30$ online price.

whats the diff between the "data plan" and the "android plan" besides price?
someone posted about changing to the android plan to help solve the 3g issue many of us are having....could someone explain to me how this would help?

I dont think thats what fixed it, I tihnk its the fact that he got a new SIM card. I remember reading when tmobile switched to 3G some people with an old SIM card could not get 3G service until they replaced it with a new one.
Also, only the android data plan works for android phones. The other plan is for non android smartphones.

ahhh...ok....
but let me ask you this, i got my g1 back in dec08 tmobile had 3g back then right? i dont think i need a new sim card...but when i am in my "about phone" settings i see it jumping from umts to hsdpa and back to umts...all the while my 3g status "on top of the curtain stays on 3g...
is this a normal thing? and ii think my sim card is from 06 or 07

melterx12 said:
I dont think thats what fixed it, I tihnk its the fact that he got a new SIM card. I remember reading when tmobile switched to 3G some people with an old SIM card could not get 3G service until they replaced it with a new one.
Also, only the android data plan works for android phones. The other plan is for non android smartphones.
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Click to collapse
ive had the same sim card since 06 and i am getting 3g

melterx12 said:
yeah I tried it didnt work at all. What you can do however is call tmobile and ask for the android plan. You will get it for 25$ as opposed to the 30$ online price.
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They are phasing this out. You will ultimately be required to have the $30 plan. The $25 plan (which I previously had and is "incompatible" with the Even More plans according to the reps I spoke to) is going bye-bye.

melterx12 said:
yeah I tried it didnt work at all. What you can do however is call tmobile and ask for the android plan. You will get it for 25$ as opposed to the 30$ online price.
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Are you sure I pay $20 for unlimited android internet and $10 for unlimited messages. T-mobile combines these for $30 a month.

maxawesome said:
They are phasing this out. You will ultimately be required to have the $30 plan. The $25 plan (which I previously had and is "incompatible" with the Even More plans according to the reps I spoke to) is going bye-bye.
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I have it on a family plan and its working just fine.

MyTouch 3G from Craigslist: what about OTA updates?

If I purchased a MyTouch 3G from Craigslist and then used it on ATT, how would OTA updates work when released (from TMo)?
Are OTA updates possible via WiFi or do you have to be using TMo SIM to get it to work?
Can't get out of ATT contrac for a good while but keen to try Android phone.
Can I buy a $10 prepaid SIM from TMo (if that is indeed a possibilty) and use the MyTouch that way? I don't want to buy an extra monthly paid SIM or anything like that cause that would be a waste of $ as I currently have coverage. Hope someone in he know can help. Thank you.

If you purchased a MyTouch 3G from Craigslist and then used it on AT&T, you would NOT get any OTA update from T-Mobile because the updates are pushed through T-Mobile data connection, not WiFi. So even if you were using the phone on T-Mobile (say via a $10 prepaid SIM card) without a data plan, you wouldn't get the update either.
But I don't see why not getting OTA updates is such a big deal, as any official T-Mobile update will appear on XDA 10 minutes after it becomes available. Also, the joy of using Android is flash custom ROMs onto the phone, and custom ROMs are often WAY ahead of T-Mobile's.
Just so you know, AT&T will detect that you're using a smartphone and automatically sign up for a data plan (if you don't already have one) without telling you.
The myTouch is really crippled without a data plan though. For instance, the deal breaker for me is that you can't send or receive MMS (picture/video messages) without a data plan.

I know when I had my G1, I received the cupcake OTA over wifi.
I'm on AT&T and don't have a data plan.

kindrich said:
Just so you know, AT&T will detect that you're using a smartphone and automatically sign up for a data plan (if you don't already have one) without telling you.
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How would ATT know I had a smartphone if the phone is a TMo phone that is unlocked? I thought they only knew about smartphones from "their" arsenal of devices?
Can anyone confirm for sure if you would need a data plan using a non-ATT (smart)phone?
I already have a data plan (GRRR!) that I "had" to have, so hopefully I could do all the "nice" things the MyTouch can do.
I phoned TMo and asked about a $10 prepaid card for a phone purchased on Craigslist but the CSR said I had to have a monthly tariff thingy with data. Was he just trying for a hard-sell or can I indeed just get a simple cheap $10 prepaid SIM and play with the unit until it can get unlocked?
Thanks for the help.

IconBoy said:
How would ATT know I had a smartphone if the phone is a TMo phone that is unlocked? I thought they only knew about smartphones from "their" arsenal of devices?
Can anyone confirm for sure if you would need a data plan using a non-ATT (smart)phone?
I already have a data plan (GRRR!) that I "had" to have, so hopefully I could do all the "nice" things the MyTouch can do.
I phoned TMo and asked about a $10 prepaid card for a phone purchased on Craigslist but the CSR said I had to have a monthly tariff thingy with data. Was he just trying for a hard-sell or can I indeed just get a simple cheap $10 prepaid SIM and play with the unit until it can get unlocked?
Thanks for the help.
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Click to collapse
They do automatically tack on the data plan for people who buy the Nexus 1. They are only able to tell it is a Nexus One however because Google gave them a list of all of their phones IMEIs.
If you are using a T-Mo phone or from any other carrier, their is no way for AT&T to beable to tell what kind of phone it is unless the carrier the phone oringinally belonged too decides to share their IMEI listing with AT&T. Which they don't do.
but you already have a data plan anyways so it doesn't even really matter. What sucks tho is that you are paying for the data plan and you will be stuck with EDGE. You will not beable to use AT&Ts 3G network. You should have looked for a Rogers over a T-MO.
[Edited-mainly for spelling]
WTH happened to my post count? I kno It's been awhile since I've been on but damn.........
lmao

msgnyc said:
You should have looked for a Rogers over a T-MO.
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That would be a good idea, but being in the middle of USA, I am guessing there won't be too many people who have Canadian phones to sell on my local Craigslist.
Twice, I nearly was able to trade for a MyTouch 3G and each time, the person pulled out at the last minute
Will keep trying though.

msgnyc said:
They do automatically tack on the data plan for people who buy the Nexus 1. They are only able to tell it is a Nexus One however because Google gave them a list of all of their phones IMEIs.
If you are using a T-Mo phone or from any other carrier, their is no way for AT&T to beable to tell what kind of phone it is unless the carrier the phone oringinally belonged too decides to share their IMEI listing with AT&T. Which they don't do.
but you already have a data plan anyways so it doesn't even really matter. What sucks tho is that you are paying for the data plan and you will be stuck with EDGE. You will not beable to use AT&Ts 3G network. You should have looked for a Rogers over a T-MO.
[Edited-mainly for spelling]
WTH happened to my post count? I kno It's been awhile since I've been on but damn.........
lmao
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure how but AT&T WILL detect that you're using a smartphone, regardless what kind of smartphone it is. I'm currently using a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1i, which is not supported by any of the US carriers. One day, I popped my friend's AT&T SIM card (he had been using a RAZR without a data plan) in and voila, I was surfin' the net after less than a second over EDGE (the X1i can't use 3G in the US). The next day, my friend checked online and a data plan was enabled for his line. Luckily, he was able to turn it off but only after an hour of explaining. He was reprimanded by the AT&T rep for putting their SIM card into an unsupported device which could potentially cause damage to their network (WTF?!!!).
I phoned TMo and asked about a $10 prepaid card for a phone purchased on Craigslist but the CSR said I had to have a monthly tariff thingy with data. Was he just trying for a hard-sell or can I indeed just get a simple cheap $10 prepaid SIM and play with the unit until it can get unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And yes, the Tmo CSR was just trying to sell you the data plan. When I had my myTouch, I was using it with a prepaid SIM card without data plan and it was fine. But, ON A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: you will need a SIM card with data plan to activate the phone. There is simply no other way around it. When I bought mine from Craiglist, I wiped the phone right on the spot and borrowed the seller's SIM card to activate it (your AT&T SIM card would work provided you have already unlocked the phone - which can be done on eBay for about $12). Luckily, back then the myTouch was still running Android 1.5 which allowed for rooting. You should do the same or don't wipe the phone until you have root it. However, if the phone is running Android 1.6 or higher, well, you're out of luck. The process is a bit more tedious. Check theunlockr.com for how-to.

kindrich said:
I'm not sure how but AT&T WILL detect that you're using a smartphone, regardless what kind of smartphone it is. I'm currently using a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1i, which is not supported by any of the US carriers. One day, I popped my friend's AT&T SIM card (he had been using a RAZR without a data plan) in and voila, I was surfin' the net after less than a second over EDGE (the X1i can't use 3G in the US). The next day, my friend checked online and a data plan was enabled for his line. Luckily, he was able to turn it off but only after an hour of explaining. He was reprimanded by the AT&T rep for putting their SIM card into an unsupported device which could potentially cause damage to their network (WTF?!!!).
And yes, the Tmo CSR was just trying to sell you the data plan. When I had my myTouch, I was using it with a prepaid SIM card without data plan and it was fine. But, ON A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: you will need a SIM card with data plan to activate the phone. There is simply no other way around it. When I bought mine from Craiglist, I wiped the phone right on the spot and borrowed the seller's SIM card to activate it (your AT&T SIM card would work provided you have already unlocked the phone - which can be done on eBay for about $12). Luckily, back then the myTouch was still running Android 1.5 which allowed for rooting. You should do the same or don't wipe the phone until you have root it. However, if the phone is running Android 1.6 or higher, well, you're out of luck. The process is a bit more tedious. Check theunlockr.com for how-to.
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Click to collapse
They activated a data plan on your buddies account because you put his sim into your smartphone and started browsing the web with it over edge.
Did you think they weren't going to charge you for that?
They didnt know you had a smartphone. They knew you were browing the web using data.
If you hadn't begun browsing the web, they wouldn't have tacked on the data plan. They tacked on the data plan because you began using it.

TMO + N1 = Crappy International Phone

I am going to be headed over to Taiwan and China for the next couple of weeks so I called TMO to get an international plan to receive data. Well turns it out THERE IS NO SUCH PLAN and that each 1mb of data equals $15. Yeah I could put in a local SIM card but that won't give email and internet. And why should I, the N1 is touted as an international phone. This news was thoroughly disappointing because I will now have to rely on my crappy Blackberry for email (which is the reason I switched to Android in the first place). If there any international travelers here please let me know if there are any tricks that I should be aware of. Otherwise this is disappointing that a GSM phone can be used outside the US only if you willing to be bent over the table without any... you get the point.

i went to australia earlier this year and encountered the same problem.their international plans suck major ass.only thing i could do was pull sim card and run off wifi using any hotspots that i could find.

yea blame T-Mobile...I'm curious what other carrier in the US has a international roaming plan?

ram130 said:
yea blame T-Mobile...I'm curious what other carrier in the US has a international roaming plan?
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One of the reasons I have TMO is because of their fantastic international roaming coverage. That is why I was surprised to see that they have none for the Nexus.
As far as international roaming plans, every carrier does, just not for the Android. So yeah I'm putting that blame on TMO and Google.

I'm pretty sure every carrier has insane pricing for international roaming.
The benefit of gsm phones is that you pop a sim card for wherever you're going, not that you're carrier will support you in east bumblefuck.

All carriers are like that. That is why when the iphone first came out people were returning home with $3K phone bills. http://boingboing.net/2007/07/31/att-iphone-intl-roam.html
http://gizmodo.com/297999/idiots-keep-incurring-iphones-roaming-data-charges
The phone is an international phone but the plans aren't. Get a SIM with a data plan. When I go overseas that is what I do. Typically $100 will give you unlimited data and enough minutes and texts to last your whole trip. At the end of a trip overseas I usually have minutes left over.

Yeah, I don't see why you think you won't get internet over there from a local phone company, since they would be the one providing internet to you anyways with your T-Mobile card (They just charge T-Mobile a small amount, and T-Mobile jacks up the price to make money off you).
Just get a pre-paid sim card with internet access.

JCopernicus said:
bumblefuck.
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LoL gotta save this one to my "cursing without getting banned " stack

I'd recommend you to buy a new prepaid sim card with a data plan.
Here in India, we get a new sim card for Rs.20 (every street has ~5 shops) and 2GB data for Rs.90 and there are no stupid contracts (even if there were, we'd buy it on fake identities)... Thats the benefit of living in a developing nation
1 American Dollar = 45 Indian Rupees...

superg81 said:
i went to australia earlier this year and encountered the same problem.their international plans suck major ass.only thing i could do was pull sim card and run off wifi using any hotspots that i could find.
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faraz1992 said:
I'd recommend you to buy a new prepaid sim card with a data plan.
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+1 Same thing here if you were visiting Australia. You can buy a Telstra prepaid sim for $2 which when charged with some credit gives you exceptional coverage and good data speed. Works best on the 900mhz AT&T phone although will still work well on the 850mhz T-Mobile model.

Thanks everyone for your feedback, much appreciated.

logger said:
+1 Same thing here if you were visiting Australia. You can buy a Telstra prepaid sim for $2 which when charged with some credit gives you exceptional coverage and good data speed. Works best on the 900mhz AT&T phone although will still work well on the 850mhz T-Mobile model.
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Click to collapse
T-Mobile = 900/AWS(which is 1700)/2100
AT&T = 850/1900/2100

Ah yes sorry. Had that rrrrrs about. Should have said "Works best on the 850mhz AT&T phone although will still work well on the 900mhz T-Mobile model."

The phone is a fine international phone. The carrier sucks. How is the phone to blame if TMO doesn't offer an international plan?
I travel from Romania to Netherlands and every time i'm in Netherlands i insert my prepaid Vodafone NL card and i activate the internet for 10 euros. 500mb - 1GB of data per month.
If i'm using more than that i buy again for another 10 euros. Is that simple. That's what you should do. A local prepaid sim with an internet service is ALWAYS going to be cheaper than an international plan from TMO.

too bad you guys in US have very bad telcos, here in malaysia we can roam data for less than USD10 unlimited data per day.
but of course not in all countries in the world.

faizalmzain said:
too bad you guys in US have very bad telcos, here in malaysia we can roam data for less than USD10 unlimited data per day.
but of course not in all countries in the world.
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Click to collapse
$10 x 365 days = $3,650 per year. Geez you must have deep pockets. You can buy a car for that in Australia.
Do you perhaps mean $10 per month or $1 per day?

logger said:
$10 x 365 days = $3,650 per year. Geez you must have deep pockets. You can buy a car for that in Australia.
Do you perhaps mean $10 per month or $1 per day?
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Click to collapse
He's talking about roaming... If you do that without a dataplan a couple of hundred megs would probably set you back several thousand $.

Yeah, ditto re: getting a prepaid SIM card on arrival. I haven't tried it in Asia, but in the UK, £5 will buy you 1GB of data to be used in 30 days, on Vodafone. I didn't even have to pay for the SIM card itself. Very pleased.

If you speak the language in China, just go to a China Mobile store, pick up a SIM card and put some yuan in it and you'll be good to go. I go to China every summer and have taken my G1 and my N1. You'll be stuck on edge but its enough to get you places. China Mobile stores are everywhere too, some have employees that speak english for just this purpose.

I pick up pre-paid SIM cards when I land at the airport in the airport store... Or if it's an area I'm familiar with, i.e. Australia, I just head to a local carrier's B&M once I'm in the city...
Then anyone who is half-way important... I send them an e-mail with my pre-paid SIM card's number. If it's important to text or call me, the caller can pay the Int'l charges.
Cheers,
Kermee

Switched to a TMobile SIM, now reading "No Sim Card"

Hey guys,
I am in a rural area, and had been getting 'meh' service with the ST AT&T SIM card. I decided to try the ST T-Mobile one, so I ordered it, received it, and just activated it 45/month. I cut it down using a template, and inserted it into the N4, but it's reading "No Sim Card" after about 15 minutes..
Is it possible that I just did a ****ty job cutting it, should have invested in a microsim cutter, and the phone isn't detecting it? I'll try to attach a picture .. If this is the case... can I switch back to the ST AT&T sim/get a refund for the 45/airtime I just added to a new defunct sim? any similar experiences?
http://i.imgur.com/OU9vr.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/K47WL.jpg

Why didn't you just order a micro SIM from T-Mobile?

drumist said:
Why didn't you just order a micro SIM from T-Mobile?
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.. I didn't know I could do that.. I went to their site, and looked for it, but it looked like I needed to add one of their plans whereas I'm trying straight talk out

strobex said:
.. I didn't know I could do that.. I went to their site, and looked for it, but it looked like I needed to add one of their plans whereas I'm trying straight talk out
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Click to collapse
Can't you select the pre paid plan?

"NO SIM" sounds like a mussed cutting.
You can get pre-paid activation kits (w/ MicroSIMs) for $0.99 from T-Mobile's site.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Micro-SIM-Card-Activation-Kit

Ajfink said:
"NO SIM" sounds like a mussed cutting.
You can get pre-paid activation kits (w/ MicroSIMs) for $0.99 from T-Mobile's site.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Micro-SIM-Card-Activation-Kit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you! Looks like I should have looked deeper before dropping like $11 on a ST T-rmobile sim... Anyone know if Straight Talk will refund/transfer the airtime to this new SIM I'm ordering straight from t-mobile? (I've been on hold with straight talk for 20+min)

does this mean that the Micro Sim from Tmobile will work with Straight talk??

Sparta507 said:
does this mean that the Micro Sim from Tmobile will work with Straight talk??
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Click to collapse
... Actually .. This.
"Already have a GSM phone or iPhone that you need to activate—or have an unlocked GSM phone you want to use on the T-Mobile network? Just get a Micro SIM card and choose a plan. Slip the ready-to-use Micro SIM Card into your phone and you’re ready to go."
Does this include Straight talk

Sparta507 said:
does this mean that the Micro Sim from Tmobile will work with Straight talk??
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Click to collapse
strobex said:
... Actually .. This.
"Already have a GSM phone or iPhone that you need to activate—or have an unlocked GSM phone you want to use on the T-Mobile network? Just get a Micro SIM card and choose a plan. Slip the ready-to-use Micro SIM Card into your phone and you’re ready to go."
Does this include Straight talk
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Click to collapse
No to both of you.
I must clarify that you can use Straight Talk SIMs with any unlocked phone, yes, if that was what you're asking.
I HIGHLY doubt Straight Talk will transfer funds to T-Mobile. It's more, but still not very, likely that Straight Talk will give a refund directly to you.

Sparta507 said:
does this mean that the Micro Sim from Tmobile will work with Straight talk??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No it won't work with StraightTalk, two totally different services, StraighTalk is just using TMo and AT&T towers not their services. I'm currently on TMo's Monthly 4g but get no service in my area so I'm switching to StraightTalk AT&T and ordered the micro sim card on Walmarts website, its not free its $14.95. And I didn't see a micro sim card for StraightTalk T-Mobile, only a standard sim card on teh website so they might not have one for T-Mobile.
I would imagine you don't have the APN's set correctly on your phone. Make sure they are set right first.
http://www.straighttalksim.com/support.php
Its a little small and hard to read but its there.

Ajfink said:
No to both of you.
I must clarify that you can use Straight Talk SIMs with any unlocked phone, yes, if that was what you're asking.
I HIGHLY doubt Straight Talk will transfer funds to T-Mobile. It's more, but still not very, likely that Straight Talk will give a refund directly to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm close to saying eff this straight talk jazz. Sorry but I have another question (coming from Sprint, all this GSM stuff is new to me).
If i order the .99 cent SIM you linked me to, i'll be able to jump on T-Mobile's 50 dollar prepaid plan easily?

kzoodroid said:
No it won't work with StraightTalk, two totally different services, StraighTalk is just using TMo and AT&T towers not their services. I'm currently on TMo's Monthly 4g but get no service in my area so I'm switching to StraightTalk AT&T and ordered the micro sim card on Walmarts website, its not free its $14.95. And I didn't see a micro sim card for StraightTalk T-Mobile, only a standard sim card on teh website so they might not have one for T-Mobile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They don't.. which is how i got myself into this mess by trying to cut the sim card down to size

strobex said:
I'm close to saying eff this straight talk jazz. Sorry but I have another question (coming from Sprint, all this GSM stuff is new to me).
If i order the .99 cent SIM you linked me to, i'll be able to jump on T-Mobile's 50 dollar prepaid plan easily?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any pre-paid plan. Even the $30/month unlimited Text/Data/100 Mins talk if that's what you want (and which you can only get by doing this very process and activating online).

Also check your phone setting to see if T-Mobile shows up and then register with the network.
Settings>Wireless&Networks>More...>Mobile netwroks>Network operators>T-Mobile
It will do a search and if it's see T-Mobile it will show up and just select it and it should say Registered on Network. If it doesn't show it then something is wrong with the sim I would say.
edit: not sure it will say T-Mobile or not as I don't have SttaightTalk yet but worth a try.
---------- Post added at 04:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:26 PM ----------
strobex said:
They don't.. which is how i got myself into this mess by trying to cut the sim card down to size
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Click to collapse
If your going with TMobile I wouldn't waste my time using the StraightTalk version as the $30 Monthly 4G plan direct from T-Mobile is a lot cheaper and a better value. Only reason I'm switching is I get absolutely no service in my area from TMo.

From the picture it looks like a good cut to me. From what I understand as long as you stay away from the metal you're good to go.