[Networking] theyownus:
i am going to go off on quite a story here but i hope that my struggles and experience might save someone my troubles.

to start off i was on Verizon. I had the thunderbolt w/ grandfathered unlimited data plan. it was unlimited text/data but no minutes on plan. Any used minutes were $0.25 so i was basically paying $80-$90/mo for the exact same plan as this new tmo/walmart one... plus it was $50 less!

if i would have known the hassle i was about to go through i just might have stayed with verizon and waited for the nexus... If you are not planning to port a number this process might go a lot easier.

this is my experience...

To start the whole process I pulled the trigger on a local SGSII for a steal on craigslist. i thought about how to leave verizon for a few days then decided to go for it. I purchased a sim kit from tmobile.com but was unable to wait for the SIM kit (over a week to ship!) i head over to a local tmobile B&M store. i told them the plan i wanted and show them online, they said they had heard ( i call BS) of it and that i could go online and choose it. They activate the SIM and began the number port from verizon. I was told to go online at home and select the plan i wanted, so i get home and go online to select my plan, but it isn't available. Every other plan was available but not the $30 5gb plan!

I called tmo support (prepaid support is an offshore callcenter) and was told because the SIM card was activated in store i was not eligible to get this plan. i was told i could purchase another SIM kit and it would work with no problems and i would still be able to port my number (that was already in the process).

At this point i visited another tmobile store and was successfully able to swap the activated SIM kit for an unactivated one. Only after several hours (and reps over the phone) and a trip to Walmart i find this in store bought SIM would not work either.

A SIM ACTIVATION KIT PURCHASED IN A B&M TMO STORE WILL NOT WORK

FOR THIS PLAN YOU MUST PURCHASE A SIM ACTIVATION KIT FROM TMOBILE.COM OR WALMART

ok. ok. now that the confusion was cleared (i was told differently by phone and in store reps) off i head to a local Walmart for the second time. surprise surprise, for the second they were clueless of this plan and were absolutely no help at all.

Next day my SIM kit from tmobile.com finally arrives!!! YES! at this point i am pretty sure this is the only way and this will go fine and i will be activated immediately through my.tmobile.com. i go online to activate. i enter all my info and activation code. I am presented with plan options and BINGO the $30 5gb plan is there! I choose the plan click next and get a "Review your order and submit" page. when clicking on "submit" the page just errors out. FAHHHHHH! i tried again and again and from 3 computers. same error at the same place!!!!! I call support and of course their response is "we can not activate this plan over the phone. you must activate online or at walmart" and when i replied "but neither of these options are working for me!!!!!!!!!" the call mysterioulsy dropped. at this time its 4 days from starting the number port from the original SIM and i start worrying about losing my ported number... eventually (several reps and hours later) I was able to get a CS rep on the phone that put me on hold very willing to help and found a way to get me on the correct plan. I then get transfered to the number porting dept to get my number moved to this correct account. WHEW! that evening everything is working fine and im getting data and relieved to finally have this experience behind me. I am just waiting for the number port to go through then i am done and on the road to $50 savings a month! not so fast...

The next day as soon as i noticed the number port went through i got a text from TMO that i had reached my data limit!?! WTF how could i go through 5gb in a week, most of it w/o service? i used the tmobile app to check my data usage and found they changed my plan on me!!! now i have the other $30 plan with like 100mb data! i call customer support furious! little good does that do. another day on the phone and multiple hangups later i was able to find someone who said i was basically screwed and that i would have to order a new SIM online and start over. WTF!?!?!?!?!

at this point im done fighting and just order another SIM.

after some research i call back to discuss this whole ordeal w CS and find out how they will transfer my $100 deposited to this bad account to my new account when i get the new SIM in the mail. i finally found a simpathetic rep who fought to get this fixed. using my my original activation code for verification that the plan was available (from the 1st sim purchased online) the rep found a manager that was able to over ride the plan back to the correct $30 5gb plan. I refused my new (replacement)SIM when it arrived and was credited the money back. Its been almost 2 weeks now and everything seems ok... FINGERS CROSSED!

some things to i found that you should know:

A SIM ACTIVATION KIT PURCHASED IN A B&M TMO STORE WILL NOT WORK

FOR THIS PLAN YOU MUST PURCHASE A SIM ACTIVATION KIT FROM TMOBILE.COM OR WALMART

If you purchase in B&M store IT WILL NOT WORK

A FAMILY MOBILE SIM KIT WILL NOT WORK

if you are a current tmobile customer they WILL NOT PORT YOUR NUMBER.

TLDR?

1. do not expect a port of your current tmo number.

2. purchase your sim kit from tmobile.com

3. hope like hell they have the kinks out of this system!