Help Switching SIM card from Metro PCS phone to new unlocked phone?

[noahs2000]

Hello All and Happy Holidays,

I received a new phone today for Christmas. It's a Galaxy S5, unlocked. It was purchased initally with AT&T but is unlocked. Before I had a Galaxy Core Prime bought through Metro PCS as they are my carrier. I took the SIM from the Galaxy Core Prime and put it into the Galaxy S5. It had all my contacts and seemed fine but I can't make calls and send texts, etc. Since the phone is unlocked I thought I was able to just move the SIM card into the phone. Am I able to do this or do I need the people at Metro to set it up for me? Ideally I wanna have the Galaxy S5 working today and would rather not wait until tomorrow when the store is open.

Thank you for any help

 

[AZgl1500]

you need to know what carrier it used to be on...

then you need to follow this link and find out if the Frequency Bands match up.

sounds like there might be a problem in that area. If the chart says 'yes', then call your carrier and have them help you.

* WillMyPhoneWork.net - Check if your phone works on a network

from what I see, the answer is "NO" because AT&T is GSM and Metro-PCS is CDMA

.

 

[Jfalls63]

You need to put the correct APN settings for your Sim and carrier into new phone.

 

[KOLIO]

Hello All and Happy Holidays,

I received a new phone today for Christmas. It's a Galaxy S5, unlocked. It was purchased initally with AT&T but is unlocked. Before I had a Galaxy Core Prime bought through Metro PCS as they are my carrier. I took the SIM from the Galaxy Core Prime and put it into the Galaxy S5. It had all my contacts and seemed fine but I can't make calls and send texts, etc. Since the phone is unlocked I thought I was able to just move the SIM card into the phone. Am I able to do this or do I need the people at Metro to set it up for me? Ideally I wanna have the Galaxy S5 working today and would rather not wait until tomorrow when the store is open.

Thank you for any help

WELCOME TO ANDROID FORUMS noahs2000 !

You'll likely need to set the APN for MetroPCS:
http://apn-settings.com/us/metropcs-apn-settings-step-by-step-configuration/

If your still having issues,it's likely due to a minimum service obligation not being completed with MetroPCS.
https://www.metropcs.com/terms-conditions/phone-unlock-policy.html

 

[KOLIO]

you need to know what carrier it used to be on...

then you need to follow this link and find out if the Frequency Bands match up.

sounds like there might be a problem in that area. If the chart says 'yes', then call your carrier and have them help you.

* WillMyPhoneWork.net - Check if your phone works on a network

from what I see, the answer is "NO" because AT&T is GSM and Metro-PCS is CDMA

.View attachment 98610

MetroPCS no longer uses CDMA:
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story...gacy-metropcs-cdma-network-june-21/2015-05-08

WillMyPhoneWork probably still shows the old CDMA Bands so that people understand why their old CDMA phones no longer work.
Also,the model you compared is not the AT&T model (which I think is the model the OP has),that would be the SM-G900A,which is partially compatible w/Metro PCS.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Metro hasn't been CDMA for quite some time now, since the T-Mo takeover and phaseout of the old towers.
In addition to making sure the phone is compatible with the Metro/T-Mo bands, you also have to contact Metro customer service to activate any new non-Metro device. They will need the ESN/IMEI of the phone and also the # of the SIM card. You can't just pop in the SIM and go.

 

[tube517]

Call Metro and they will do the change. Call them from a different phone. Takes less than 5 minutes. I've done it 3 times in the past month