Tutor
•
5 Messages
New to Prepaid: Getting SIM, Plan, Porting etc. for Google Nexus
Hello, I am sorry if this has already been answered. I am new to the prepaid world and getting ready switch from verizon to ATT by next month when my contract ends.
My plan is to buy 2 google nexus phones for me and my wife. My wife will be on Wifi all the time and does not require data. Therefore, I would like to have $40 plan on my nexus and $25 plan on my wife's phone. I have no clue where to start the process.
Question 1: Can I just get a SIM card, buy a prepaid plan, activate the sim card, pop it into the phone, and go? Do I have to buy a prepaid phone along with the plan as well? When I try to do this online, I do not see the option to "bring your own device". I do not want to buy phones from ATT as I will already have 2 Nexus phones.
What do I do after I buy the 2 phones? I am confused about the order of the steps:
Question 2. Is getting SIM cards the next step? I know I can get ATT micro SIM cards for free at the Store. But do I have to buy plan at the same time?
Question 3. Where do I activate the SIM cards (online / store)?
Question 4. Should I open an ATT online account to buy prepaid plans? Is this done before or after activating SIM?
Question 5. What about the APN settings etc to get the data working on Nexus. Or, will happen automatically when I pop the SIM in to the phone?
Question 6. I want to port my numbers from verizon. At which step I do this?
Sorry about the questions, I hope someone can provide me a direction. I appreciate the time and help. Thanks.
Wild Banchi
Master
•
10.2K Messages
11 years ago
Hello and welcome!
Since you're coming from another carrier and you're interested in keeping the same phone numbers, the best approach to getting everything set up correctly is to visit an AT&T corporate store in your area. Authorized retailers have not proven to be as reliable in the past as far as getting everything set up, so make sure you visit a corporate store.
1. You could just get two SIM cards and activate them online, but new phone numbers are assigned during the activation process. Because you want to keep the same ones that you currently have, I would tell the employee(s) what you intend to do. They should be able to get new SIMs for you in-store, possibly even free of charge. You do not have to buy a prepaid phone and SIM together. You have the option to purchase a SIM card(s) only.
2. You get to choose your plan during the activation process. You do not need to add money right away unless you'd like to.
3. I would recommend activating the SIM cards in-store (see above).
4. You could open an online account if you'd like to add money via the Internet, but you are not required to. I personally haven't logged into mine in years (probably because I forgot the password). This step is performed after the SIM/account activation process.
5. I can't give you a definite answer as far as the APN settings go for your phone. Sometimes it seems to vary by platform (Android, iOS, Windows Phone, etc.) I think you would be good to go, but just be aware that you may need to change them accordingly.
6. Porting your phone numbers would be done during the SIM card activation process right after you and your wife are finished entering all of your personal information. This is where the store employee will most likely be of great help.
I hope this is easy enough for you to understand. My mother ported her Verizon number over last year and it was incredibly simple - much simpler than I would have thought. I hope you and your wife get the same results! 🙂
0
avp387
Tutor
•
5 Messages
11 years ago
Thanks for the detailed reply. This clarifies things for me. I will leave the thread open for now to see if other had a different experience.
Follow up question, Google Nexus is an Android smartphone. I am afraid, that the store would force my wife to choose a plan with Data during activation as her's is a smartphone. She wants the $25 plan with on-demand data. Reading some of the threads, some stores try to sell you a more expensive plan. Many have circumvented this by activating online and choosing a plan of their choice.
0
0
Wild Banchi
Master
•
10.2K Messages
11 years ago
I am familiar with Android. 🙂
You should be fine as far as using a Nexus on the $25/monthly plan. AT&T shouldn't force her to use a smartphone-specific plan with a large amount of data available. I use the $25/monthly plan with my smartphone, but I did not set it up in-store. Still, I would not worry too much about it. The only plan that would make me bite my nails is using the $0.10 per minute plan with a smartphone. Only in this case might AT&T require you to upgrade to a higher cost plan.
0
0
latraviezalov
Contributor
•
2 Messages
10 years ago
0
0
Wild Banchi
Master
•
10.2K Messages
10 years ago
I would assume that your friend's SIM card is expired if she has not been using the phone for a while. In order to activate it, you must obtain a new SIM card. You can either purchase one online (eBay and Amazon are great) and activate it yourself, or stop by a corporate AT&T store to create a new account with a new SIM, free of charge in most cases.
In order to unblock the SIM card, you can call customer service at 1-800-331-0500 from a different phone, obviously. State your issue and an AT&T CS rep should be able to assist you with getting the necessary PUK code.
0
0