[Q] 4G Sim cards - Thunderbolt Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Does anyone know if there is a way you can get a 4G tablet Verizon sim card and swap it into a 4G Verizon phone. I really want a data only plan on a 5 inch tablet. I know you can do it with the Iphone's/IPad ATT Sim cards. I was wondering if you could do the same here.

combatjedi said:
Does anyone know if there is a way you can get a 4G tablet Verizon sim card and swap it into a 4G Verizon phone. I really want a data only plan on a 5 inch tablet. I know you can do it with the Iphone's/IPad ATT Sim cards. I was wondering if you could do the same here.
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People have swapped the thunderbolt's sim with other thunderbolts, but other non phone devices...I do not know.

I have a Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the SIM is a microSIM. When the Xoom comes out with 4g, currently projected to be mid september as I write this, it might have the full size SIM that you could do that with.

i thought putting your sim in another device would burn it out if the ime# numbers dont match for security reasons

Related

Are there different sim cards/imei's for different phones?

Got a lot of conflicting info on this.
1.Are different sims given for smart vs dumbphones? 3G vs 4G? Etc
Ie: will a smartphone not access 4g on a GoPhone sim?
2.Can a Rep on the phone identify your phone by the imei?
Thank you for any enlightening!
I may be wrong but I think the gophone sim works differently than a regular sim, there are att sims that say 3g but they work just the same as the new sim cards att is using, as far as the rep being able to tell ur phone make and model by the imei that's a yes for sure, they can detect what phone you have without you giving them that info and slap the $25 2gb data plan on your account.
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To put it simply- if the network system knows that X phone has X IMEI or even model code it shows when it connects (I777 vs say I9100) and its endorsed by them, then they'll know what it is.
Do you want to know this to avoid paying ridiculous data fees? If so, get an international unlocked/unbranded phone that your carrier never had/in their system. I've been milking dumbell data rates on my Nokia E series phones for years now and not because I use the balls out of the data, but to have that unlimited/cheap peace of mind.
When I upgraded from my Captivate to the SGS2, the AT&T clerk said I needed the 4G sim card and installed one.
retnuh said:
When I upgraded from my Captivate to the SGS2, the AT&T clerk said I needed the 4G sim card and installed one.
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I received the same treatment. With my last five phones, I've only been able to swap out the SIM cards twice — once because I bought a phone on Craigslist.
Really? I'm still on my, what is it, 4-5 year old 3G sim and no problems whatsoever.
Skv012a said:
Really? I'm still on my, what is it, 4-5 year old 3G sim and no problems whatsoever.
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I was on my old 3g Sim card as well but when i got the sgsii it wouldn't connect to the "phone" APN, i had to use the old "wap.cingular" APN. The old 3g Sims aren't provisioned on AT&T's network to access hspa.
Before getting a new Sim card, i would never get over 3Mbps down. Now i average 5 and on good days it'll peak to 7-10.
to answer the question about different Sim cards for smart phones or dumb phones; pretty sure they use the same card because when i went the other day to get a new Sim, the rep just grabbed one from a stack and activated it, there was only one stack. Also it would cost more and bee more confusing for them as company to do that.
And at&t can identify a phone over the network only if that phone is familiar to them. So if you bought an AT&T sgsii off craigslist/ebay/friend and plug in your Sim card, they'll be able to tell.
If you buy a phone that isn't sold/recognized by AT&T, most of the time they can't tell what the device.
A good check is after you put the Sim in your phone, wait a couple hours then log onto your account online and if it shows a picture of the phone your using, they can detect it.
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I have this as a gophone. They gave me a normal sim card not the go phone sim card. It has hspa + also.
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Well sim doesn't really determine what your plan allows you to do, so sims are dime a dozen. I may consider upgrading my sim if they'll be able to put my current number on a newer sim, else I'm not really concerned too much. (and, for your laughs, I'm still only using Edge to avoid having gutter battery).
bbubel said:
as far as the rep being able to tell ur phone make and model by the imei that's a yes for sure, they can detect what phone you have without you giving them that info and slap the $25 2gb data plan on your account.
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this is only partly true. IF you have a att phone they can detect what type of phone you have by your IMEI #. that number is cataloged in their systems however if you have a European phone or a unlocked phone from another carrier then no they cannot tell what phone you have.
as for sims there are 2 different types of sims (go phones I dont know) there is the regular sized sims and the micro sims. Micro's for att are used for iphone 4 and up and I believe they are the only phone for att that uses the micro sim. As for functionality of the sims no the old sims (3G) work with thier HSPA+ just the same.....
retnuh said:
When I upgraded from my Captivate to the SGS2, the AT&T clerk said I needed the 4G sim card and installed one.
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Same thing when I upgraded. But my sim was a few years old and pretty scratched up from being put in different phones so I figured even if it would work it was time to be replaced anyway.
When I bought the sgs2 the clerk was surprised I still had my Cingular Sim card and suggested I get the new one. I got to keep my Cingular relic.
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The only problem I've run into is my mms stopped working a few days after using the phone and I'm on a gophone account. My inspire works fine. Not sure if they ran an imei sweep and the sgii doesnt play nice with gophone accounts. They still had my imei as an old nokia flip phone. You don't have to have data on a gophone, but if you want internet you'll need to buy a gophone data package.
You mean you need an unlimited $50 type GoPhone account right? No one needs a data account above and beyond that.
I bought a cheap GoPhone $50 plan today...using that sim in my Note AI get tomorrow.
gadget069 said:
The only problem I've run into is my mms stopped working a few days after using the phone and I'm on a gophone account. My inspire works fine. Not sure if they ran an imei sweep and the sgii doesnt play nice with gophone accounts. They still had my imei as an old nokia flip phone. You don't have to have data on a gophone, but if you want internet you'll need to buy a gophone data package.
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Flashing AT&T over Verizon; possible?

Is this even possible at all? It it's my understanding that AT&T uses GSM, while Verizon uses CDMA. Is this a hardware or a software limitation? I ask because I have a friend willing to trade hits Razr dev for my X2, but I want my unlimited data. Please, someone let me know if out would be worth taking advantage of him.
AT&T uses Sim cards, Verizon does not. In order to use AT&Ts network, the phone would have to have a sim card in it. No Verizon phones will have this. So I dont think it is possible, but Im not a dev. I think the only phones outside of AT&T that are even remotely possible of this is T-Mobile, since they too use sim cards.
I hope I'm understanding what you are asking.
jsgraphicart said:
AT&T uses Sim cards, Verizon does not. In order to use AT&Ts network, the phone would have to have a sim card in it. No Verizon phones will have this. So I dont think it is possible, but Im not a dev. I think the only phones outside of AT&T that are even remotely possible of this is T-Mobile, since they too use sim cards.
I hope I'm understanding what you are asking.
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Yep that's what I was looking for. I knew they used sim card, didn't know if there was a workaround for that though. Thank you.
theredvendetta said:
Yep that's what I was looking for. I knew they used sim card, didn't know if there was a workaround for that though. Thank you.
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I would think the only possible way to do it is if you were some crazy computer wiz who could take apart the phone and do a hardware mod but even then, I dont know if that would work. Ive heard of Verizon phones being hardware modded to work on sprint. But not AT&T.
Verizon uses sims in their LTE phones. I know. I bought a Razr for my son for Christmas. It definitely has a sim card. I know. I installed it. y
robocuff said:
Verizon uses sims in their LTE phones. I know. I bought a Razr for my son for Christmas. It definitely has a sim card. I know. I installed it. y
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And also global phones have Sim cards, like inc 2
SMILE It's Not Illegal Yet

Question on swapping phones

To swap back and forth from one Rezound that I'm using to a spare Rezound, is all I have to do is swap the sim from one to the other??
that is correct
Via my HTC Rezound
According to Verizon that will brick the SIM card because the SIM is tied to the phone, the line the LTE phone is on, as well as the LTE system security, unlike GSM SIM cards which can be swapped around. When we bought my wife's rezound just changing the line it was on required a new card.
Also replacing any LTE phone with a 3G phone temporarily will kill the SIM card when you restart the LTE phone. I wanted to do this for kayaking, but no go.
You can of course put in a real GSM SIM card from another provider and then put the Verizon LTE card back in later. In this case Verizon doesn't "see" the phone on their network while you have the other card in place. When you put the LTE SIM back in it only looks like the phone has been off to Verizon
You'll get different answers from many Verizon emplyees because they are still learning the rules. Even the brochure the SIM comes on has a misstatement.
So I will need a new sim card for the second phone??
Sim
I switch my sim back and forth between my Rezound and Thunderbolt all the time. No problems works fine. I researched it your sim card can be used with any Verizon compatible device including tablets.
So you just swap cards, fire it up and you're good to go??
That's what I was hoping to do.
Correct. Just swap Sims. I do it all the time.
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Yes it will connect to the, 4g soon as you boot
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Yep I got a replacement from Verizon swapped my sim and was all good
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hankvb said:
According to Verizon that will brick the SIM card because the SIM is tied to the phone, the line the LTE phone is on, as well as the LTE system security, unlike GSM SIM cards which can be swapped around. When we bought my wife's rezound just changing the line it was on required a new card.
Also replacing any LTE phone with a 3G phone temporarily will kill the SIM card when you restart the LTE phone. I wanted to do this for kayaking, but no go.
You can of course put in a real GSM SIM card from another provider and then put the Verizon LTE card back in later. In this case Verizon doesn't "see" the phone on their network while you have the other card in place. When you put the LTE SIM back in it only looks like the phone has been off to Verizon
You'll get different answers from many Verizon emplyees because they are still learning the rules. Even the brochure the SIM comes on has a misstatement.
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yeah, don't know who lied to you.
When I bought my rezound, I swapped the sims of my tbolt and rezound and both worked, wife took the sim out of her bolt and put it into the backup bolt and it worked fine. After I fixed her phone, put it back in her original bolt and it worked as well.
The only time you kill the sim is if you activate a 3g device on that line. That will deactivate the sim.
nrfitchett4 said:
yeah, don't know who lied to you.
When I bought my rezound, I swapped the sims of my tbolt and rezound and both worked, wife took the sim out of her bolt and put it into the backup bolt and it worked fine. After I fixed her phone, put it back in her original bolt and it worked as well.
The only time you kill the sim is if you activate a 3g device on that line. That will deactivate the sim.
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a vzw store probably told him that so they could keep charging him money for a sim card, lol
I have had my rezound replaced thru asurion and they sent me a replacement sim card also. I never even activated it I just took my old one and popped it in my replacement and turned it on no activation calls or nothing. So your sim should work just fine in swapping phones.

Verizon 4G sim cards

If I end up trading one 4G phone for another, what needs to be done as far as getting sim card to work with new phone?
I was looking in to this myself. Long story short, you can swap the SIM into a new phone and it will work. Just don't activate another non-4G phone on the SIM phone # or else they get nuked. http://support.verizonwireless.com/faqs/VZAccess/4g_sim_card.html
Depends on phones. I switched from HTC Rezound to Galaxy Nexus & they use different size cards.

Sony Tablet P - any way to upgrade to LTE?

I have two AT&T-locked Sony Tablet Ps. I remember from awhile back that it's pretty trivial to replace the miniPCI-e WWAN card with an unlocked one. However, the suggested card model is HSPA+ only. We just switched to T-Mobile and got two data-only SIMs as part of the deal, so we're more interested in using the Tablet Ps now with cellular.
Is it possible to upgrade to LTE with a new card? Has anyone done this? Thanks!
Hey,
Just find an LTE Modem/Hotspot and try this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2141326

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