Solved

Impossible to activate new prepaid MI line on website, control disabled

  • 29 December 2019
  • 12 replies
  • 3847 views
G

Dear T-Mobile and Community:

I'm running across a problem trying to activate a new prepaid MI line on a new account.  It appears that a required website control is disabled in the website's coding.

These steps have successfully duplicated the problem on five different browsers, including Windows/Edge, Windows/Firefox, Windows/Chrome, MacOS/Safari, and IOS/Safari:

1. Start at: https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet​

2. Click on First GET STARTED button right in center top of page, takes you to:  https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/plan-detail/mobile-internet​

3. Select any plan (I used the first one, 2GB/$10 for testing).

4. In the popup, select NEW CUSTOMER.

5. You're now in PRODUCT SELECTOR with your plan selected.  Scroll to Device, Choose Bring your own device.

6. Click on the newly-exposed tab "Lets connect your device with this line!"

7. Skip IMEI check (My T-Mobile iPAD isn't recognized by the system, but that's a database issue, separate from this.)

8. Tell the system you have a T-Mobile SIM card, input your SIM card number.  Verify and click CONTINUE.

9. On the next screen, put in your new email address, choose a PIN, and put in your contact information.  Click CONTINUE.

10.  Now you're at https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/cart/line-setup​, which is the page with the problem. 

10A. Put in device nickname.

10B. Choose get a new number.

10C. Opt-in to E911, input address.

10D. Select ZIP code for Primary Place of Use PPU.

AND... the bug:

10E. Observe that the PRIMARY NUMBER MENU is *disabled* (greyed out completely), and unable to be input or selected.

10F. Observe that the CONTINUE button is ALSO *disabled* (greyed out completely), and unable to be selected.

The only choice at this point is "EDIT CART', which takes you back two pages to step 8, above.

In short it is impossible to get past this point on any computer or browser, and is therefore impossible to self-active a Prepaid Mobile Internet line with your own SIM card as a new account on the T-Mobile website.

Please advise!

icon

Best answer by tmo_amanda 9 January 2020, 23:24

View original

12 replies

tmo_amanda
Rank
Userlevel 3

Hey, @glen711​!

Thanks a million for the heads up on this issue. I wasn't aware this was happening, however, I know we had a few issues with the site a couple of days ago. Are you still unable to move forward with checking out?

While I wait to hear back from you, I'm going to forward your post to our web engineers to see if they can get this straightened out.

G

Hi Amanda -

Same issue still exists!  T-Force was able to get my SIM activated, but even they had some difficulties, they said.

I did a writeup, and printed the screenshot, and postal-mailed it to Albuquerque Customer Relations, but, yeah, I think the website should get a look from the engineers.

FWIW, I think that entire "Primary Number" menu should probably be removed.  There is nowhere in the previous steps in the process where the user can provide a phone number - the general assumption is that this is a new standalone account for a single prepaid device - and that device is getting a new number.

So I suppose they could change that menu element to just a text box, and let a user type in a number, but even that should be optional - the CONTINUE button should be enabled whether the primary number is provided or not.

Thanks!

tmo_amanda
Rank
Userlevel 3

Thanks for the update and extra info. I have an update from the team I've been working with to see what's happening with the activation page. It looks like there's a reCAPTCHA box that should've appeared on the line setup page (between 10B and 10C) once you hit "get a new number" which will then allow you to enter the area or zip code for a phone number available.

Do you recall seeing that reCAPTCHA box show-up

G

Hi Amanda -

No, I don't recall seeing that.  So I just broke out a new SIM, and am going through the process again.  This is on Firefox 71.0 (latest) on Windows 10 Pro 1909 (all updates applied.)

1. Starting here:  https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/prepaid-internet  click the first Get Started under the $10/month banner.

2. My browser asks for Location access, I grant it.

3. That takes me to https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/plan-detail/mobile-internet, where I see a page that starts with "Data is Life" (so true!) and a request to Select a plan.  Radio buttons offer different plans, buttons at bottom are disabled.

4. I click first radio button for North America Simple Choice Mobile Internet UNL Data with 2GB 4G LTE, it highlights, and bottom "Back/Select" controls enable.

5. I click SELECT.

6. A popup asks if I'm an existing customer.  For my purposes here, setting up a new separate account, I click NEW CUSTOMER

7. That takes me to ​https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/product-selector/setup/L0001 , where I see PRODUCT SELECTOR and page with many sections:

PRODUCT SELECTOR

LINE 1 - 1 line needs a device selection

PLANS - followed by the details of the 2GB plan I selected before

More radio buttons allowing me to change the plan if I want

DEVICE - Radio buttons "Shop for a device" or "Bring your own device".

For my purposes, I choose to Bring my own device.  That exposes a new element in the page:

"Bring your own device

Let's connect your device with this line!"

8. That new element is clickable.  I click on it.

9. That takes me to  https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/bring-your-own-device?allowEdit=true, entitled BRING YOUR OWN DEVICE, followed by a list of "Five Great Reasons to bring your own device."  Below that are two sections "1. Check compatibility" with two radio buttons "IMEI" and "SKIP".  and "2. SIM card activation."

10. I know my iPad will fail the check because the IMEI isn't in the database, so I choose SKIP for section 1.

11. That exposes a new page element with a disclaimer and a checkbox "I understand that skipping the compatibility check could result in activating a device that isn't compatible with T-Mobile's network."  I check the box.

12. I have my own SIM, so I choose "I have a T-Mobile SIM" for section 2.  That exposes an INPUT field where I can enter the SIM card number.  I do this.

Here by the way is a small bug:  When you input 15 digits into that field, nothing happens.  There is no "Check" or "Go" button.  There is a "Continue" button way at the bottom of the page, but it is greyed out.  The only way to make something happen is to hit TAB after you've entered the 15 digits into the SIM field.  That's not obvious.  The field should trigger the AJAX call when the 15th digit is entered - but it doesn't.  It just sits there until you try to tab out of the field.  They should fix that.  But to continue...

13.  After I tab out of the field, I see a new page element "Success! Your SIM is ready to be used with your device".  The bottom-page CONTINUE button enables.  I click it.

14. That takes me back to product-selector-setup-L0001 (step 7 above) with everything filled out, and the bottom-page GO TO CART button enabled.  I click that.

15. That takes me to /cart/review, where I see the line, and a CHECK OUT button.  I click that.

16. That takes me to /cart/cart-authentication, with choices to SIGN UP or LOGIN.  I'm making a new account, so I click SIGN UP.

17. Now I'm on /cart/account-setup (i.e. https://prepaid.t-mobile.com/cart/account-setup​​  ).  This page is entitled ACCOUNT OWNER INFO.  It has two fields (enter and confirm) for Email.  I put in a new email address.  It has two fields for PIN   I put in a PIN.  It has a section for CONTACT INFORMATION, name and address fields.  It has PREFERRED LANGUAGE, I leave it at English.  There is a CONTINUE button, which I click.

18. Now I'm on /cart/line-setup.  I'm screenshotting it for reference below.  It starts with a request for a line nickname, which I enter.  A radio button for "Get a new number" exposes a new page element allowing me to enter a zip code.  I do so.  The E911 and Primary Place of use controls are preset to Opt-In and Zip Code only, I leave them alone.

Here is the bug.  Below those fields is the PRIMARY NUMBER menu I mentioned.  It is greyed out.  It is not editable, it is totally disabled.  There is no data in it.  Below that there is only an EDIT CART button.  There is no (re)Captcha.  There is no Continue.  There is no way to get past this point.

If I choose to EDIT CART - which is my only choice - it just takes me back to /cart/review (my step 15 in this list, above), and wants me to start checkout again.

There is no way to get past this point to complete activation of the line.  No ReCaptcha, No "Continue", no nothing.

Hope this helps!

G

Amanda -


Two other points I should make.

1. When I previously tried this, in my original post, there was a CONTINUE button at the bottom of the page (see my original post image), but it was greyed out.  Today, however, there is NO "Continue button" at all, not even a disabled one.  Either way, I still cannot get past the /cart/line-setup page.

2. In your message you mentioned a Captcha between (on my original list) 10B (Get a new number) and 10C (E911 info).  There is no Captcha there (or anywhere).  When I clicked the radio button by "Get a new number", a page element appeared asking for a ZIP Code, but entering the zip code did not reveal anything else, nor did it expose a Captcha of any kind.  Here is a screenshot of that to illustrate:

I hope this additional information helps!

tmo_amanda
Rank
Userlevel 3

Interesting! I'm not quite sure why this is happening but I'm going to forward your screenshots and steps back to the engineer to see if we can figure it out.

I appreciate you being extra helpful and breaking down each step. 😊

J

September 2020, this problem is still not solved. T-Mobile really should try harder on improving their web site and customer services. Not just keep saying the problem is forwarded to the engineer, guess the engineer isn’t trying to fix the problem at all.

T

Dec 2020 the problem still exists...

B

I had this same issue but found success on Chrome (no special browser settings, adblock and other extensions do not interfere).

To activate a prepaid line where you get a new number, you need to type the area code you want the number to be from, click the search icon (i.e. magnifying glass), check the reCAPTCHA box, then click the search icon AGAIN, and it’ll generate and display a number in red font. Then, you need to click the red box to accept that number.

Now, finally, AT LAST, the primary number drop down and the Continue box are valid and let you go through to the payment section. Everything else after that was easy. Just not the greatest web site, clunky and not intuitive compared with other carriers in the year 2021. 

C

If you are using older smartphones of Xiaomi like Redmi 2 or before, Mi4i, Redmi Note, then you have the option to uninstall all the bloatware apps like Mi community app or any other preinstalled apps also provided you are using MIUI 7 or before. In later versions of MIUI this feature is disabled. Even the apps which are eligible for disable in Stock Android can’t be disabled at all in MIUI 8 onwards (which is very disappointing). It is like Google is moving towards reducing bloatware via best router table while Xiaomi is doing just opposite to that.

F

I had this same issue but found success on Chrome (no special browser settings, adblock and other extensions do not interfere).

To activate a prepaid line where you get a new number, you need to type the area code you want the number to be from, click the search icon (i.e. magnifying glass), check the reCAPTCHA box, then click the search icon AGAIN, and it’ll generate and display a number in red font. Then, you need to click the red box to accept that number.

Now, finally, AT LAST, the primary number drop down and the Continue box are valid and let you go through to the payment section. Everything else after that was easy. Just not the greatest web site, clunky and not intuitive compared with other carriers in the year 2021. 

This needs to be marked as the answer. I was having this issue in MARCH 2022, tried two different computers, and finally found this thread.

You have to check the box for new number, enter area code, click search, click recaptcha, and click search again before you can then select the first number it gives you or look at other available numbers.

After this, I was able to proceed to checkout. It’s absolutely mind-boggling that this interface has been so poor for as long as it has. How many people never signed up because they couldn’t get past this?!

M

Same issue, while trying to open a new account with two lines. I tried the workaround from @BonusLover, but it did not work for me.

 

I had to call 1-800-937-8997 to sign up.

Reply


New badge winners

  • Curious George
    ZDPhas earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    MattScotthas earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    Jack1eKhas earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    jpviolanti2has earned the badge Curious George
  • Curious George
    hb44374has earned the badge Curious George
Show all badges
Terms & Conditions