Hello. I currently have a prepaid plan. My phone is old and I want to upgrade. My friend wants to give me his old phone (which is much newer than mine) to use. It is compatible with t-mobile’s network as far as I can tell--Friend had a t-mobile plan but it was post-paid. How do I keep my existing prepaid plan, service, and phone number and move to using the new (friend’s) phone?
Best answer by HeavenM
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+14
Just take your sim out of the old phone and put it in the new phone. Your plan is tied to the sim not the phone.
Thank you -- Is this true for a prepaid plan? I keep finding out that things that work for postpaid plans don’t work for prepaid plans.
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All Tmobile phones will work for either post paid or prepaid plans. The difference is the sim. I have a Pixel 4XL I bought for my post paid plan and now it's on a prepaid plan.
What if the new phone has an eSIM. Will it work? How do I get it to work?
+14
You need to transfer your current sim to an esim. Support should be able to help.
Thanks but will it work and be compatible, and would I be able to keep my current prepaid plan on the new phone with an eSIM? I don't understand what an eSIM is exactly.
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Here's a support article for eSims.
Thanks very helpful. But will it work to transfer a regular sim phone to an eSIM phone for a prepaid plan?
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Let's see if
What type of phone did your friend give you?
I have a Pixel 6 that uses both types but I have a physical sim that I can convert to esim.
So now I'm thinking of just buying a new phone at best buy. I'm mostly interested in Samsung Galaxy models. Are there certain ones that will work and ones that won't? If I can find that out then I'll be sure to buy one that will work.
+14
If you by a phone at Best Buy they will do any eSim transferring if needed. Buy either the Tmobile version or the factory unlocked Samsung if available.
Do I need to have best buy do the transferring? Can I just buy the phone from them and then bring into the T-Mobile store to do the transferring there?
+14
Best Buy is a 3rd party agents of Tmobile. I bought my last 2 phones from them using Tmobile EIP.
Also I didn't get charged a fee like Tmobile does.
I am so confused. What is EIP? Why would TMobile charge a fee to continue my existing prepaid plan on a new phone?
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It's to keep up with the Jones’s of carriers.
EIP is an installment plan to pay off your phone for 0% interest for 24 months.
That article says it's for postpaid. Are you saying they will charge me a fee to bring my new Samsung phone in and ask them to transfer my existing prepaid account to the new phone? I'm not sure if it will have an eSIM but if it does you're saying they will charge me to do that?
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Best Buy didn't charge me any fees. Plus if you're going from a 4G phone to 5G it's wise to change the sim anyway.
Hey
If you purchase a new phone from BestBuy, then you will not be charged anything extra for getting the phone. They can help you get it set up or you can take it to a T-Mobile store to get it set up for no additional charge. Having it all done at BestBuy means that you don’t have to make any additional stops at other stores.
Thank you so much, HeavenM!
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