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Ex-Sprinter SIM Card Newb

jefboyardee

jefboyardee

Extreme Android User
I just bought into Straight Talk and ordered their cheapest Android, a refurb
Huawei Ascend II. I did this because forty-five is less then ninety. But, having never even touched a SIM card, I have three incredibly naive questions:

1. Can I just pay the bill online each month, like I already do with Sprint, or do I have to trudge over to the local Walmart to buy a new card, or a refill?

2. If I buy a better phone someday, do I just plug my old SIM into my new phone, like I already would with the SD card?

3. What is the frikkin point of a SIM card anyway?
 
You should be able to pay your bill online each month by credit card. You can also buy a refill card if you want to use that as well. Only need 1 sim card unless you break or lose it.

If you buy a new phone, you should just be able to pop the sim card into the new phone assuming it takes the same sized sim. Depending on the carrier, you might need to configure the APNs again though.

The sim card is used to get onto a gsm network with the security info stored on the sim card itself. On CDMA, the security info is stored locally on the device.
 
Thanks, but I of course have another question. I chatted with Straight Talk before I signed up and asked them if they could adopt my number. They said yes, so I proceeded to buy the phone and the plan. As I entered my particulars, they asked for my number, I gave it and that was that... am I to assume that I will keep that number? I asked them by email but no reply yet.
 
They will probably then contact the carrier that the number comes from and will then attempt to port it. Usually the carrier will relinquish it, though there could be an ETF if your contract was still ongoing. Porting is usually successful, though can take a couple of days to go through.
 
Uh-oh. Unaware of that acronym, I googled ETF and got Employee Trust Funds, exchange-traded funds, European Training Foundation and Environmental Technologies Fund... none of those?
 
Being that I fulfilled my two-year contract last January, I reckon it shouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t even know acronyms.
 
They emailed back and, amongst a bunch other stuff, they said, “Please note that the port-in process for wireless telephone numbers can take up to seven (7) business days.”

I can wait a week, but wasn’t expecting to. Oh well...
 
jefboyardee said:
They emailed back and, amongst a bunch other stuff, they said, “Please note that the port-in process for wireless telephone numbers can take up to seven (7) business days.”

I can wait a week, but wasn’t expecting to. Oh well...
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wow, a week seems way excessive. They may just have that as it "could" but in reality its between 12-72 hours.

I noticed jhawkkw has answered your questions but I would like to add to his.

With straight talk you can set up auto pay and they give you a $5 discount on your bill, so your effectively paying $40 per month.
Or you can buy refill cards off websites, such as callingmart.com. or ebay, many give you a 10% or sometimes more discount on the card, they do not send you a physical card they just email you the pin. You can buy from walmart.com they too will email the pin.

Here is one thing you never mentioned, Straight talk actually resells for all the major carriers, att verizon sprint and tmobile. only att and tmobile use sim cards so if you buy another phone it has to be a gsm phone(att or tmobile) and it needs to be either unlocked or compatible with the gsm carrier you are using.
Let me add one little correction att sims are not available from straight talk any more, you can still get them from ebay and such but not from straight talk. So tmobile is the carrier you will likely be using.
Sim cards are way less hassle All your carrier info is on that sim so when you switch phones its a matter of pulling out the sim and putting it into the new phone everything is ready, Phone number, data connection authentication, etc. You do not need to call the carrier and request the phone change, you do not need to give them the esn of the new phone. And best of all your not limited by the selection of phones they sell.


Ok I just had a look at the specs of that phone, it is probably running off the sprint network, there will not be a sim card.
Do you already have the phone in your hand?
 
They may just have that as it "could" but in reality its between 12-72 hours.
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Think you right, hope you right.

you can set up auto pay and they give you a $5 discount on your bill, so your effectively paying $40 per month.
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Very good to know.

sims are not available from straight talk any more
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it is probably running off the sprint network, there will not be a sim card.
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Now I feel even stupider than I did before
 
I scrolled through Huawei’s manual and didn’t see a word about a SIM card, so I think new opti is right. Oh well, I’ll be ticked about something else by then...
 
jefboyardee,

Just an FYI: yes, you are on Straight Talk's Sprint network. However, your coverage is now smaller than it was when you were with Sprint itself.

As a Sprint customer, you were on their post-paid network which allowed roaming on to other CDMA networks they had agreements with:
Sprint Post-Paid Coverage Map

Straight Talk's agreement with Sprint is via their pre-paid (non-roaming) network:
Sprint Pre-Paid Coverage Map

Straight Talk's Coverage Maps (Yours is CDMA-S)

Not trying to down you over the choice, I understand you were just trying hard to keep your old number, but I want you to have a chance to verify that it will cover everywhere you need it to cover. You have Straight Talk's 30-day money-back guarantee (on phone only, you don't get service refunded).

Of side note, Republic Wireless's agreement is to use Sprint's Post-Paid network (full coverage). :)
Republic Wireless Coverage Map
 
Like I said over there at Republic, I do think I’m making a chicken sh** mistake by walking away from them, but was content to get half off of Sprint, especially if I get to keep my number... which I’ve yet to see happen.
 
You can port your number from any carrrier to any carrier.

So lets say you wanted larger coverage and better phones, you could port your number, even from straight talk when they get it, to net10 and use an att sim card, you get coverage from att network so fairly comprehensive coverage and the bill is $50 per month but if you set up autopay its $5 off, they are owned by the same company as straight talk.

Or if you wanted to stay cdma and straight talk get a verizon phone and use the verizon network, the coverage is probably the best nation wide coverage available.

quick question where do you use the phone the most, county and state, even city if you want to get that precise, t mobile has some of the best prices and great service if they offer coverage.
 
new optimus said:
You can port your number from any carrrier to any carrier.
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I think there are some limitations. I don't believe you can port a number to a carrier that doesn't have a presence in the rate area the number is being ported from. This is why some numbers can't port to Google Voice, various VoIP, and cell carriers. The rate area is the area code + first 3 digits of the local number.

I agree, I believe among the Straight Talk choices, Verizon seems to be the best for coverage... both ST's T-Mobile SIM and AT&T SIM are supposed to be able to roam on each other's GSM network, but I've found that only partially true. The phones really do like to try to stick to their native T-Mobile/AT&T towers.

What I really like is using Google Voice. I then don't care what phone or carrier I use. I can move from CDMA to GSM phones instantly (or even concurrently!). Just add/remove them from the forwarding list. So I take that as a step better than moving the SIM from one GSM phone to another. -- Not to mention how nice it is when you lose your cell phone. You are OUT OF LUCK for a while normally. But with Google Voice, I can forward the number to home or work or to a cheap $10 tracphone while I wait for my replacement to arrive.
 
DarkJedi said:
I think there are some limitations. I don't believe you can port a number to a carrier that doesn't have a presence in the rate area the number is being ported from. This is why some numbers can't port to Google Voice, various VoIP, and cell carriers. The rate area is the area code + first 3 digits of the local number.

I agree, I believe among the Straight Talk choices, Verizon seems to be the best for coverage... both ST's T-Mobile SIM and AT&T SIM are supposed to be able to roam on each other's GSM network, but I've found that only partially true. The phones really do like to try to stick to their native T-Mobile/AT&T towers.

What I really like is using Google Voice. I then don't care what phone or carrier I use. I can move from CDMA to GSM phones instantly (or even concurrently!). Just add/remove them from the forwarding list. So I take that as a step better than moving the SIM from one GSM phone to another. -- Not to mention how nice it is when you lose your cell phone. You are OUT OF LUCK for a while normally. But with Google Voice, I can forward the number to home or work or to a cheap $10 tracphone while I wait for my replacement to arrive.
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Your probably correct on that, I was talking normally, there are always exceptions :D

jefboyardee said:
Republic wouldn
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jefboyardee said:
Central Arizona... the nearest prefixes available are same area code, two hundred miles away... big area codes here.
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Ok looking at sensorly coverage maps, real people getting real coverage results, verizon, then sprint are the best coverage so you actually should be fine with straight talk running on sprint towers.
 
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