Can I put a pay-as-you-go SIM into Android phone?

[Palmetto Fellow]

Here's my background.

My mother is in a wheelchair and I've decided that the home phone service isn't as robust and reliable as I prefer. It's $30 per year (NetTalk) just like MagicJack. Occassionally, the router or the ISP has an issue, and rarely (but sometimes) the VoIP Provider (NetTalk) has an issue.

I've decided that she must have her own cell phone so that she can always make a call if needed. So I've bought her an Alcatel 665 from Amazon for $35 and when I get it today, I plan to go to the TMobile store near my office and activate it. She'll be on the $10 top up plan which gives 30 minutes that are good for 90 days. I doubt she'll even use any minutes...except when I call her cell to make sure she's keeping the phone with her.

But a thought just occurred to me...she was asking me about getting an iPod the other day...and I told her not to. I said she should wait for me to research Android MP3 players. So ultimately, she would like a nice, fancy, touchscreen pocket PC of some sort. She rarely ever leaves the house...so I don't need a data plan for her. WiFi will be all she uses. She'd never go for the $30/mo plan as a result. The $10 every 3 months is more to her liking.

So I wonder...can I put her pay-as-you-go SIM into an Android phone? Will TMobile cross reference the IMEI and her SIM card, and deny service? Will the SIM get rejected? Will the SIM even fit? I've noticed that there are 3 different SIM sizes on the market (but the nano seems to be exclusive to iPhone for now). Are most Android phones using the micro SIM, or is that relatively new for Android phones? I'm still going to keep the 665 since it's so cheap and can work as an MP3 player (which was her main goal)...but perhaps she'll want to upgrade later this year. My 10 year old son could get the 665 as his first cell phone if she does that.

 

[gtbarry]

So I wonder...can I put her pay-as-you-go SIM into an Android phone? Will TMobile cross reference the IMEI and her SIM card, and deny service? Will the SIM get rejected? Will the SIM even fit? I've noticed that there are 3 different SIM sizes on the market (but the nano seems to be exclusive to iPhone for now). Are most Android phones using the micro SIM, or is that relatively new for Android phones? I'm still going to keep the 665 since it's so cheap and can work as an MP3 player (which was her main goal)...but perhaps she'll want to upgrade later this year. My 10 year old son could get the 665 as his first cell phone if she does that.

I doubt you should have any issue at t-mobile - especially if you go into the store. The phone from Amazon is a t-mobile phone. So, there shouldn't be any service issues since the phone is locked to t-mobile. You simply bought a t-mobile phone from Amazon.

As far as the correct SIM...you are bringing a t-mobile phone to a t-mobile store and purchasing a t-mobile SIM to use the t-mobile service. They have all SIM cards in the store and will give you the appropriate size.

 

[new optimus]

I doubt you should have any issue at t-mobile - especially if you go into the store. The phone from Amazon is a t-mobile phone. So, there shouldn't be any service issues since the phone is locked to t-mobile. You simply bought a t-mobile phone from Amazon.

As far as the correct SIM...you are bringing a t-mobile phone to a t-mobile store and purchasing a t-mobile SIM to use the t-mobile service. They have all SIM cards in the store and will give you the appropriate size.

I believe what he is asking is if instead of using the phone he bought from amazon he puts the sim in a android smart phone would that work.

I believe that would work. Just take the phone you bought for the purpose in as you plan and get it activated and going Then when you get home, or to her place put the sim into the android. I doubt t mobile cares which phone is on The nice thing about gsm phones you can swap out sim without even telling the carrier you changed phones.
its not like att who will spy on your phone and find out that your on a smart phone and add a data plan. besides your talking prepay you cant use anything unless its pre paid for so you wont need to worry.

Oh and the sim card size thing. your sim you get for that phone you bought is more then likely full size many phones are still using full sized sim but alot of high end new androids are going microsim and of course ipone is going nano sim.
If you are not looking for the newest higher end android full size is likely going to be fine. If you do go with a better new android that uses micro sim you can get a sim cutter on amazon that will cut out a perfect micro from the full size. and you can also cut nano sim out too. Not sure if it would use the same cutter or not though. I do know its available on amazon.

 

[Palmetto Fellow]

It's kinda funny, but that $35 flip phone came with the $10 activation kit, and the activation kit came with $3.34 of service. The customer service agent was trying hard to get me to activate yesterday. I'm so glad I told her I was going to wait until the phone arrived. Is it typical for the phone to come with an activation kit? Is this an Amazon exclusive?