A couple things I have learned from trying to setup my T-Mobile Account.
SIM cards are free in store, but cost $10 online.
To setup online access to your account, you MUST be able to receive a text message on your new account. If you don't have a GSM phone (like me), that means finding one to setup the account with. You may want to do this in store when you pickup your sim card. Looks like I'll be making a second trip.
Customer Service is nearly useless. They want to start any troubleshooting off with "what phone is this". The don't understand the concept, you should probably never call them.
T-Mobile Account Tips
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dimondjack
- Posts: 101
- Joined: Tue Jan 15, 2013 1:37 pm
I agree, I had the most frustrating conversation in the world with customer service.
However, I did actually get them to do it over the phone. The trick is:
1. Tell them you've already talked to customer service and you need to talk to the specialized mobile broadband unit to activate a broadband device.
2. When you get there, tell them that your system does not have a serial number, and they should use the default (1111111 or something).
3. They will complain. Be strong. They will eventually do it. They will make you make an account (which you need) and then activate the sim.
I bought the 300mb for a week, but Brent and Brian tell me that there is an unlimited option that you pay $3 a day only on the days you use it. I didn't see this option when I bought online, so if anyone has successfully purchased this plan online, I'm love to hear how they set it up.
However, I did actually get them to do it over the phone. The trick is:
1. Tell them you've already talked to customer service and you need to talk to the specialized mobile broadband unit to activate a broadband device.
2. When you get there, tell them that your system does not have a serial number, and they should use the default (1111111 or something).
3. They will complain. Be strong. They will eventually do it. They will make you make an account (which you need) and then activate the sim.
I bought the 300mb for a week, but Brent and Brian tell me that there is an unlimited option that you pay $3 a day only on the days you use it. I didn't see this option when I bought online, so if anyone has successfully purchased this plan online, I'm love to hear how they set it up.
I bought one in a store, got the unlimited 2g (all the RCP can utilize) for $2 a day. The one where you get the first few hundred megabytes in 3g or 4g (for $3/day) is useless.
They charged me $10 for the SIM card in the store. I added money to the card when I bought it - I believe you have to pre-pay.
Plugged it into the telemetry module, and it worked!
They charged me $10 for the SIM card in the store. I added money to the card when I bought it - I believe you have to pre-pay.
Plugged it into the telemetry module, and it worked!
I also purchased the T-mobile SIM card in stores and took 10 mins in and out the door. Not bad at all.
I had the sales person confirm the SIM card was functioning by bringing up the internet on one of their store phones. I know it cost me $2 to do that, but I was going to try a telemetry test that night.
Played around with the telemetry and it worked but took a while to connect to the webpage / cellular device.
We'll be tinkering with it more this week.
How long does it take your system to say connected?
I had the sales person confirm the SIM card was functioning by bringing up the internet on one of their store phones. I know it cost me $2 to do that, but I was going to try a telemetry test that night.
Played around with the telemetry and it worked but took a while to connect to the webpage / cellular device.
We'll be tinkering with it more this week.
How long does it take your system to say connected?
There's an alternate way to load money onto the card, by going to the refill page. Note, you can't see balance here, just load more money: http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-refill
But, it does not require you to receive a text message or pop the SIM into another phone. If you know you're going to race for a weekend, you can just spend $15 before the race and you're done.
Correct about non alphanumeric characters. We'll be putting in some field validators on RaceAnalyzer so people don't accidentally cause problems when setting up fields.
But, it does not require you to receive a text message or pop the SIM into another phone. If you know you're going to race for a weekend, you can just spend $15 before the race and you're done.
Correct about non alphanumeric characters. We'll be putting in some field validators on RaceAnalyzer so people don't accidentally cause problems when setting up fields.
January 2014 Update
Just got my SIM card for the RCP Realtime telemetry module and thought I'd update this thread.
I took a print copy of this thread with me and that helped make it more painless. They will ask if you want a large SIM or the small/micro one. You want the large one, but the smartphones all take the smaller one.
You want the 2g unlimited talk/text plan that is $2/day. Per post 4 above, I had them test the chip on one of their GSM phones. It receives an activation text from T-Mobile HQ. The store had only one GSM phone that still takes this size SIM card, but they were glad to do it. The card still costs $10.
The telephone number does not print out on the receipt when you buy a SIM card like this, so make sure that you get it from them. They can type the SIM card number into their system to retrieve the number.
Cheers guys.
I took a print copy of this thread with me and that helped make it more painless. They will ask if you want a large SIM or the small/micro one. You want the large one, but the smartphones all take the smaller one.
You want the 2g unlimited talk/text plan that is $2/day. Per post 4 above, I had them test the chip on one of their GSM phones. It receives an activation text from T-Mobile HQ. The store had only one GSM phone that still takes this size SIM card, but they were glad to do it. The card still costs $10.
The telephone number does not print out on the receipt when you buy a SIM card like this, so make sure that you get it from them. They can type the SIM card number into their system to retrieve the number.
Cheers guys.