yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
You wasted your time. Don't deal with the store. They won't know how to deal with prepaid, its not their business.

If you're already a T-Mobile customer, then you don't need the SIM activation kit. You can call in and get your acct cancelled and number ported to a prepaid account. You can still use the SIM kit if you're a customer but its a hassle still.

If you aren't a current customer, then just wait for the kit. It took 7 business days (!!!) to get to me. At that point you just activate it online and you will be able to select the $30 plan you want right there and pay for it, put the card in your phone and call the # in the kit, and it'll be all activated.

The reason why they don't know anything about the plan is because they don't sell it. It is a prepaid plan in conjunction with Walmart. Even phone-in customer support had no idea what the plan was, and tried to push me to the other $30 plan with no data.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Ravynmagi:
Yeah, I told the store employees that the plan I was after was only available at Walmart or online at T-Mobile.com and all I wanted was the activation kit. I guess they thought they were being helpful by activating it for me. Oh well.

I'm a T-Mobile customer. But want to keep my current plan while I test out this $30 plan for a week or two.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I already have t-mobile individual plan which costs me $30 every month. However, the data is limited to 25 MB. Is it possible to use this plan without changing my phone number?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Yes, you will have to start a new plan and then cancel your current one and port your number over.

OR

If you get a nice CS rep on the phone, they will just transfer your plan over, but I was unable to find one willing to do this for me.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
So it is great. Should I go to wall mart for this? And will I have to buy a new phone for this? Can you give which way is best for my situation?

Can someone write a brief summary. I will list my situation again.

1. I'm a t-mobile individual plan user - $30

2. I have Galaxy Nexus GSM from Expansys

3. I don't want to change my number but I want to take the advantage of this plan.

I think I will start by buying this one http://www.walmart.com/ip/Tmobile-30-Wireless-Airtime-Card/15443357

If you can clear it up I will appreciate that.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
I know there's a lot of pages to sort though but I went through the same damn thing. Please please don't bother with a store. This goes for anyone who's interested in this plan.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I PM'd you. That card isn't necessary. You can refill with a debit/credit card online just fine.

What you will do depends on your current plan. If its prepaid, you might be able to get them to switch you to the other prepaid plan. If you're postpaid, same deal. But it could be harder. Its really dependent on the CS rep you get and how knowledgeable they are of the plans.

The most fool-proof way to do it is just buy a Walmart phone or SIM activation kit and start the plan, then cancel your current one to "free up" the number, then port it to your new plan.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] detection:
GrooVe IP on sale for $2.10 until Monday 11PM if there's anyone here who doesn't have it yet! I guess I might as well pick it up at this point even if I don't end up using it, huh.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
I'd recommend it. I had a day or two of less than desirable calls but they worked themselves out (or Comcast got their network back up to my advertised speeds) and it's a godsend again!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
You should also check out Talkatone Preview (alpha) that was discussed a page or two back. Made some calls on it and the clarity is really really good.

Its obviously buggy as its in alpha, but its free and its promising considering they're seemingly successful on iOS already.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
I have it installed but never loaded it up. How would you compare the two?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Call clarity seems better. Really only a few options and haven't messed with them at all. It doesn't have any integration with stock dialer etc.

It's an alpha so I'm sure the settings will come later. But in my experiences the call quality is good, and I make so few calls, that I'm sticking with it right now.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Thought I'd update and say that talkatone is working pretty superbly over WiFi. Its pretty awesome. None of the same delay issues that I had on GrooVe IP. Over HSPA+ still seems hit or miss. Even in this area where I'm pulling about 8mbps down / 3mbps up and < 100ms ping, it still cuts out/gets quiet after a few minutes.

The only downside is Talkatone is requiring that I sign out of Google Talk on the desktop. Not a huge downer but kind of an annoyance. GrooVe IP doesn't have this restriction.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Ulver:
I did it! Just switched to this plan. I'm now exclusive to Google voice. I couldn't give up their voicemail functionality. We'll see how it goes.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
i made the switch to this plan from sprint. Sold my iPhone and bought a GS2 and was hitting 13mbps with it but i recently switched to the Gnex and the best i've gotten has been about 7mbps

other then that i'm extremely happy and i get good service everywhere i go with MUCH faster data then sprint
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Well the T-Mo SGSII is a 42mbps HSPA+ device whereas the GN is only a 21mbps device. But you should experience a bit better speeds. Might wanna look into APN or radio changes if you're willing to mess with it.

Not like 7mbps in anything to sneeze at, though.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
yeah, it's still better then the abysmal 0.05-0.30mbps i was getting with sprint

i've been messing with radios and roms. i just recently installed the XXKL1 radio so hopefully that helps
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] :
Must look into this.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
how do you guys keep an eye on your account? i tried to look for the my account app but couldn't find it in the market.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Usually searching for "My Account" finds it, but when I search idk why its not in there anymore. FWIW it doesn't hardly load anyways. It only actually loads like 15% of the time. Not sure how to fix this. I had the same issue on my G2 any time I used a custom ROM that changed the build.prop to not be "T-Mobile G2". I'm assuming its a similar issue here because its not a T-Mobile branded device.

If you want consistent data, you can always just go to the MyTmobile account online too.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
Yep, they removed the My Account access on this phone. I had it installed when I first got the phone but it was so unbearably slow and inaccurate that I uninstalled it within two days.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Wow really? Its not like it worked anyways. Guess it kinda makes sense though if they can't get it to work why offer it lol.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
Yeah I couldn't ever get it to load after I rooted my GS2. which kinda sucks as it was a useful app to keep an eye on my minutes
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] claud_face:
I wonder if by having the T-Mobile gs2 with the faster speeds would make a big impact on better quality over 3g?

This is of coarse using the Walmart plan.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
You mean HSPA+ call quality with GrooVe IP?

If you can't hold a consistent call with < 100ms ping and 8mbps dn / 4mbps up, it's not going to get any better if you're pulling 10mbps dn / 5mbps up.

The problem is with the app and the audio routing at that point, not the speed of the network connection to the phone. The speeds the Galaxy Nexus (or even a 7.2mbps HSPA phone) are plenty fast theoretically for VoIP calls, but the software is lacking.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] claud_face:
Thanks,

Exactly what I wanted to know :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
My understanding from reading the other prepaid thread is that there are audio codec and processing problems that make VoIP less than efficient on HSPA+.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] claud_face:
Yea I read apparently Skype works great. Like even on edge lol.

Apparent its using a narrow band codec or something....

I can't remember what it was exactly.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bpm2000:
If you port your number to google voice, and attach the tmobile prepaid line to it what happens?

So voicemail goes through and displays on GV.

What happens to SMS? I want to be able to use handcent and not have to sms through GV.

I am actually thinking about moving my main number to GV and linking this plan to it instead of how I'm doing it the other way around right now since I really want GV voicemail too.

I'm worried though that call forwarding through GV is going to affect my call quality and the sms thing... anything else I should know about before I port to GV?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eksasol:
Simple, if you want to text through Voice then you do it in the Voice app. Otherwise text using the Messenger app. You can set Voice's text to appear in the Messenger app or not. So they'll stay separate.

For VoiceMail, you have to go in Google Voice settings in the web browser it self to activate the Google Voice voicemail feature on your phone. And when you install Voice on the phone itself, it lets you choose to use your carrier voicemail or Google Voice voicemail as default.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
for those of you with rooted Gnex's,, what radio/rom/kernel are you running?

---------- Post added at 11:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 PM ----------

i'm running apex/franco/kk7 and it's been somewhat stable although the phone heats up when using it. might switch roms
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
When they ask for IMEI number you just enter your existing phone's IMEI number isn't it ?

Because whenever i try to activate I get error like.

How did you solve this problem ?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I activated with my G2's IMEI just fine. Might have to try calling in if its not working online I'm guessing.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I called them and the Representative said that it is only available for the ones which bought from walmart. Am I missing something?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bobbyhawaii:
I'm getting the same error message for the past 8 hours. I was first told that it was a activation outage but still a no go after 5 hours. I too called cs but they told me its only for Walmart activation packs. I don't know whats going on, is the plan not available anymore?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] Ulver:
I set it up so SMS from Google Voice go to my messaging app. I don't use the Google voice app. You can change those settings within gv settings. You just have to initially message the person via the gv app, but when they reply back it'll come through your messaging app but with a weird number Google voice assigns that person for text messaging. I then just add that number as an additional number within their contact information. That weird number is now used to text them. Pretty easy once you get it going.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
are you guys using the phones imei numbers on your current tmobile plan?

i bought a galaxy s2 off craigslist and used that imei number about 2 weeks ago and it worked fine, i wasn't a current tmobile member as well, not sure if that matters or not though. Worst case scenario is you use the imei for the a cheapo phone just for the activation and then just throw the sim into the phone you want to use. i went from a GS2 to a Gnex with no problems
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] grantith:
The CSR reps will tell you that you have to physically go to Wal-mart and buy a new sim, but that is not correct. T-mobile's website says explicitly this plan works with a prepaid sim purchased from t-mobile's website. Also, there's an unwritten rule that the plan HAS to be activated online. If you call and they activate it, they'll tell you to buy a new sim from wal-mart and try again.

Well, I flipped my **** on the phone when they told me that, and I asked for a supervisor. He eventually helped me straighten out my account and port my old number. It took a while, but finally the supervisor fixed it.

PS, I used the IMEI from my Gnex with no problems.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
So I will call rep again. If they ask me where I bought it, I will say from walmart. It looks like this is the only solution.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] eksasol:
You can order the Activation Kit from online and set it up yourself.

It took me less than 10minutes to set it up for a family member and the plan started working 10min after that. However it depends, some people have to wait a day.

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Prepaid-SIM-Activation-Kit

The SIM contains $3.34 in it, they are selling the whole kit for $1.99 so yes T-Mobile is in trouble financially or desperate for subscribers.

When I get my Nexus, I will try out Google Voice + GrooVe IP and see how well it works.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Yes this is what most of these people are doing (and its what I did). I had to buy my SIM for $2.99 though! :p dropped the price another $1 after I bought lol.

@ everyone else; you should have no problem activating online with your current T-Mobile phone's IMEI. Its meant to be activated with a SIM activation kit too, not only with Walmart phones.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
Ugh, the implementation for this plan is just horrible. I hate the confusion T-Mobile causes with it. :( Go with the online activation kit if at all possible. If you go to Walmart you're going to come out spending at least $30 more like I did! I was in a bind and needed service again immediately so that was the price to pay.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
It really is. It'd be a bit easier if you're not a current T-Mobile customer and you're OK with the random # you get with the plan. Even then, it's still horrendously implemented.

Kinda funny, as I was just in a T-Mo store talking to the employees a bit, and they said anecdotally that a whole bunch of people are switching to prepaid. They say its a great deal, but the official T-Mobile stores aren't at all involved in it, which I think is a shame because they're making their prepaid customers 2nd class citizens. Honestly if T-Mobile just manned up and took on these customers under the corporate branch rather than a Walmart combo deal, everyone would get better service and T-Mobile would have more loyal customers. Not sure about you guys but I'd even pay a couple more $$ a month the plans were just serviced and managed like normal T-Mobile accounts. It'd take the shady-ness out of this.

Also, I've just gone ahead and uninstalled the "My Account" app. It 100% won't work now and it still runs in the background so I just got rid of it. Just made a bookmark of the sign-in page for MyTmobile. Works just as fast.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
yeah i gave up on my account on my GS2. it was nice when it worked, but i've gotten used to the tmobile site now
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] detection:
Hey everyone! After waiting days for my damn Sprint number to port, I am now rocking my T-Mobile Galaxy Nexus! I love it. It feels so slick, physically and software-wise with official ICS (as opposed to the alpha build I was using on my Evo lol). I need to pick up some kind of case, thinking a sleeve to keep it safe in my pocket but let me hold it naked.

I do have a question. I want to use Google Voice for my voicemail, and I'm trying to look through the posts here but I want to ask to be sure. I set up the phone in Google Voice, now I just call T-Mobile to disable the voicemail? Then when people call my regular T-Mobile number Google Voice will handle the voicemail?

Thank you everyone for all the tips and tricks in this thread! I wouldn't have a Gnex right now otherwise. :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Welcome aboard! Glad it worked for you.

I haven't done this yet (honestly get about 1 voicemail per 6 months), but my understanding is that you need to completely disable (by calling in) your T-Mobile voicemail, then it'll work to setup Google Voice as your only VM provider.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] detection:
Yeah, I get voicemails about as frequently, if not less, lol. I guess I'll just go for it, if for some reason it doesn't work I'll just call back and re-enable it.

Oh, and should I still be calling to turn WebGuard off, or is that issue fixed? I seem to be browsing just fine.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I didn't notice any adverse effects before changing it, but I noticed when I first signed into My Tmobile that WebGuard was "on" by default. You can change it online. Don't even know exactly what it does, but sounds like something I don't want lol.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
WebGuard took almost 48 hours to deactivate on my line. It was frustrating. Lol. :p But in short, it blocks porn and many unrated sites and things it thinks is inappropriate for anyone under the age. (Which ironically ended up being more than porn. Ha-ha)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I will call Representative again and I will say I bought from wallmart.

But I have a question. When we do everything with activation code we will receive a new phone number. After that we will port the plan in that new phone number to our existing phone number isn't it ?

Because when I call tmobile they ask me if this is a new service or do I have existing number.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] amghoon:
Get Activation Kits and SIMs from Costco for FREE

OK, I'm officially up and running with this plan and my Nexus S (Gotta sell my CDMA GNex before I can buy the GSM version)! Here's how I did it:

I decided to go the Walmart route, but the cheapest TMO phone they had was $30. Didn't want to spend that much so I just bought the $30 refill card and left. Had to stop at Costco on the way home and on a whim I asked if they had any SIMs and Activation Kits. Guy was totally cool and just gave me a new SIM and Activation Kit! I offered to pay him, but he said they were free!

I wasn't able to activate the $30 plan online though (due to the Activation Kit coming from Costco) but a couple calls to Customer Service and I was good to go!

So I saved a couple bucks and waiting for the Kit to come in the mail, but If you want to avoid the hassle, just get the Kit from online or Walmart because they can tell where the Activation code comes from to automatically unlock the $30 plan.

Thanks everybody for the great info about this killer deal!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
You have to get a new # because the $30 plan is technically for "new activations only" (chances are that you won't get a CS rep that will make it easy on you). After creating and getting a new #, you cancel your current T-Mobile plan and then port your number to "prepaid status" then add it to the prepaid account. That's how it worked for me. 24hour wait to activate, 24hours to cancel, and 24hours to port, roughly.

---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:48 PM ----------

Glad to hear another success story. And you didn't have as many troubles as some in this thread!
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I called them again. This time I said this is a wall mart plan to make thing easier.

I told my activation code and he said that there is no $30 dolar unlimited data plan assigned to this activation code.

This becomes really boring.

I have a question. If I go wallmart and buy that activation kit I think I will pay $30 and I won't have that kind of problems isn't it ? I'm okay to do that actually. Because I get bored to call Tmobile.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] jonathan3579:
If you go to Walmart you'll have to buy a whole prepaid kit which comes with a phone right around $30. This is what I had to do but they can set it all up with no problems whatsoever.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lafrad:
I bought this prepaid 4g dumb phone (Nokia 1616) from Walmart for $19 after tax. Good part about this, I'll always have a backup phone for emergencies or what naught..

Threw the SIM card in my GNex, hooked up to the wifi at a local bar, activated and was running all within an hour or so.

If I had to do it again, I'd have bought a $40 prepaid card too, entering a credit card payment on the phone is always a little sketchy,and T-Mobile doesn't have a great mobile interface for the activation process.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] ericshmerick:
Just get an activation kit on Amazon for like $3 shipped. That's what I did.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I'd tend to agree too but you don't have to enter your card on the phone. The kit comes with free minutes to call in and setup with CS, or you can just register for My Tmobile online and pay for everything on there. You don't have to do ANY registration on the phone if you don't want to.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] lafrad:
True. But, I was at a bar with friends ;) calling in wasn't an option and I had no desire to be even nerdier and bring a laptop along...
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
Having a hard time understanding why it won't activate on the web using your old T-Mobile phone's IMEI #. Don't know why it won't just work like that. They sell the activation kits for the expressed reason of activating new Monthly4G accounts at home online. Worked just fine for me.

---------- Post added at 12:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:56 PM ----------

Just saying you could have waited and done it at home in a browser.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] bpm2000:
Yup. As stated earlier in this thread, I was able to get to this plan from a monthly plan to this prepaid one, and ported. Then I decided I wanted to port my main # to be google voice and attach this plan to it, requiring me to start a new line.

I just ordered an activation/sim kit from amazon, signed up for the $30 plan on the tmobile prepaid activation page, and now I am just waiting for my port to finish on my old plan to google voice.

No need to be paying for prepaid phones.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
Maybe the problem is I didn't buy from amazon. I bought directly t-mobile website. Maybe that's the problem.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
I bought right from T-Mobile too.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I think I solved the problem.

I was entering IMEI of my GNEX.

After that I tried my old NOKIA IMEI number. It worked now :) Yay:)

The thing is now I will call t-mobile and I will want them to port it.

The only question. Will my actual number(not the one that I activated) be working during this porting period?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
As I noted earlier you should be trying a previous phone, not your GNex, to activate.

You tell them to cancel your postpaid plan and convert the # to "prepaid status". 24hours later it'll be done, you call in again, and they will attach your old number to your new account.

The # will work but not for long. At some point it will cease to be working on the plan because it will officially not be attached to anything. It'll just be floating there with no service.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I have just lost reception on my Phone. Does it mean it is cancelled? Should I call them now to port my number? Because It has been 3 hours since I talked with them.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
no, you have to wait for it to be completely cancelled, then they port it to prepaid status. Highly doubt its all ready to go in just 3 hours. Just call in tomorrow from the new SIM.
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] edwin124:
in my case it took me 24hrs for them to port the number over, i too lost data connection, pulled the battery and when it came back it was set to my old number i ported in
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
Now everything works great. In 14 hours all operation has been completed. Thank you especially to martonikaj
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] martonikaj:
No problem. So you're just porting your phone # to the prepaid now right?
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] SNaReX:
I didn't call them back. They have done all operation including porting in 14 hours. I just said what exactly what I want and they did it.

So for user who will try first time, just call them and ask them to cancel plan and port number at the same time. It has just taken my 14 hours to cancel and plan instead of 24+24 hours.

Maybe this depends to rep's experience.

For your information.