T-Mobile has actually updated its website rather recently, at least relevant to the time of writing for this article. One of the major updates came to their prepaid section. Accessing information on the T-Mobile site to get rates on prepaid SIM card plans can be hard if you don’t know where to look. It took us around 2 minutes to gain access to this area. It’s literally right at the top, but you can miss it if you’re not careful. So in this article we want to cover things you need to know about a prepaid SIM card T-Mobile is offering different ways to activate one of these plans.
Our biggest issue with the way that phone companies advertise their rates in general is that the information that they put on banners is usually conditional. What we mean by that is, that they’re not lying to you, they’re just not telling you the full truth! That’s a big reason why we started this site in the first place. They’ll put out a banner on the site or even in one of their many TV ads saying things like 30 dollars a line for unlimited plans. That’s true, but you have to buy 4 lines to be able to access that rate! In this article about your Prepaid SIM Card T-Mobile, we’ll let you know how to get one first of all. Also, what type of rates you can expect to see with their current options. Here are the topics that we’re going to cover
- Is Your Current Phone Compatible With The T-Mobile Network ?
- Prepaid SIM Card T-Mobile – How Do I Know Which SIM Card I Need
- Can I Get A Phone From T-Mobile & Still Get A Prepaid Plan?
- What Do I Need To Do If My Phone Is From Another Company?
- Current Rates If You Have A Prepaid SIM Card T-Mobile
- Is Worth It Over The Regular Plan?
Is Your Current Phone Compatible With The T-Mobile Network?
Really the first choice that you’re going to need to make if you want to get a prepaid SIM card T-Mobile is if you’re going to be bringing your phone. T-Mobile has made it incredibly easy to figure out whether or not your phone is going to be compatible with their network. They are going to ask for something called your phone IMEI. Your device has to have one of these numbers. All of the devices that are made have one. It’s basically a way to search a database to find the phone that you have and see if it’s compatible with their network.
Figuring this out is easy enough. You need to go to the site in this link. The options that you’re going to find are incredibly simple. They’re just going to ask you to enter your IMEI number. It’s a 15 digit number. On most devices you’re going to be able to find that number by going into your settings and opening up the tab that has information on your device. Again this is something that virtually all phones have. It usually says something like “this device”. It’s going to tell you the brand name and the model. When you scroll down you’re going to be able to find the IMEI number. When you input that, whether or not your device is compatible will show up on the screen rather quickly.
Prepaid SIM Card T-Mobile – How Do I Know Which SIM Card I Need
This is extremely simple, on the same page that we just linked to when you input your IMEI all you have to do is scroll down, and it’s literally going to tell you the SIM card you need. The other thing that you could do is Google the brand name and model of your phone beside the phrase what type of SIM card does it need. Those searches are usually accurate and give you a quick answer. If you’re going to be getting your prepaid SIM card T-Mobile online just follow the steps that are provided in the link. That way you won’t have the dreaded problem of being sent a SIM card that doesn’t fit your phone.
The other option that you’re going to have is to go super old-fashioned. Stroll down to your local T-Mobile store and have them hook you up with the SIM card that you need for your particular device. We are not mocking this option of doing this the old fashioned way. There’s actually a situation where it would benefit you quite a bit if you strolled down to the store and got your SIM card. Especially if you’re bringing a phone that you had on a plan from another company. We’re going to talk about this more in a bit though.
Can I Get A Phone From T-Mobile & Still Get A Prepaid Plan?
If you’re not going to bring your phone and you want to make sure that the phone that you get is compatible with your T-Mobile prepaid plan it makes sense to get a phone from them. At the time of writing for this article they actually have a promotion where they give you a free phone when you buy 150 dollars worth of credits for your prepaid plan. You can choose between a Samsung Galaxy A12, T-Mobile® REVVL V+ or Motorola moto g play in this promo. Granted, these are older generation phones, but all things considered we feel it’s a pretty decent deal. Especially if you need a phone right away, and you want to have a wireless service attached to it. Again, not great phones, but all things considered it’s a good deal.
The other option that you’re going to have is to literally pick out and buy any of the phones that T-Mobile has available. The main benefit of doing this is that before you buy the phone they literally tell you what type of plan it happens to be compatible with. You have to be a bit careful here. They still sell some older phones. You can get them to work with your T-Mobile prepaid plan, but you’re not going to have access to 5G coverage in most of these phones. The good thing is the T-Mobile site does a good job of laying out what you can expect to have access to with each phone.
There’s a bit of a catch when buying phones directly from T-Mobile. That is, that you’re going to have to pay them out in full if you want to activate them on a prepaid plan. The other option if you want to buy it off them with credit is literally enrolling in a long-term plan. If you’re reading this article though, that’s probably not what you want. The other thing that you can do is just scan the site for a phone that you like. That way you can see what it’s compatible with. You can usually buy these with credit directly from the manufacturer. Just make sure that you’re getting an unlocked phone. This last part is coincidently what we’re going to be talking about next!
What Do I Need To Do If My Phone Is From Another Company?
There are a couple of things that you need to be aware of if you’re going to bring your phone from another company. The first thing to take into account is whether you’ve paid off your phone. If you got your phone on a plan from another company they are not going to let you leave until you pay off the phone. You’ll know that though when you try to leave the company. Ideally you’ll be coming in with an unlocked phone, but that’s usually the main issue that you’re going to have when you bring a phone from another company. There are different ways to unlock your phone.
We have a couple of articles on unlocking your phone that we’re going to link to here. That way we won’t have to get into the whole process of unlocking your phone. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of having to unlock your phone on your own you can stop by your T-Mobile store. At times the folks there are going to be able to help you unlock your phone if you promise them that you’re going to buy at least a prepaid plan from them. If they don’t want to help you out you can try some of the methods that we describe in the other articles.
Current Rates If You Have A Prepaid SIM Card T-Mobile
You’re going to be able to pick from a variety of different rates with the T-Mobile prepaid plans. The most basic prepaid plan for T-Mobile sees you pay 15 dollars a month. What you’ll get is unlimited talk and text plus 2.5GB of data. You can more than double the amount of data that you have available on your prepaid plan for 10 extra dollars. That means that you’ll get 5.5 GB of data for 25 dollars a month. If you want even more data the unlimited plan starts at 50 dollars for the prepaid variety. All of these prices that we’re talking about are what you’d pay if you’re only bringing one line into the plan.
You can bring more lines to a prepaid plan and see your rates lower. If you want to get an unlimited plan on the prepaid variety you can still bring more friends onto the plan. Even if it’s a prepaid plan. If you bring along 4 friends and you get 4 lines on your prepaid plan you’ll be getting a rate of 35 dollars a line. Which is pretty much the same rate that you can expect to pay for a postpaid plan. The biggest problem with bringing more lines into the plan is that you can only continue to get coverage when everyone pays off their line. If you want to bring along friends that can help you out with the bill make sure they plan to pay on time.
Is Worth It Over The Regular Plan?
We’ve always talked about how prepaid plans give you more freedom over a regular plan. That sense of “freedom” though comes at a cost these days. That “cost” is 5G speeds. If you have a prepaid SIM card T-Mobile you are not going to be able to access the T-Mobile 5G network. At least that is not the case at the time of writing. This is something that could change and we’ll have to update this article if it does. There’s also the argument that you can’t buy a phone off of T-Mobile in this case. That’s not entirely true though. You can get phones from T-Mobile on their prepaid plans. As we mentioned these are usually lower tier older versions of current phones.
Ultimately it’s hard to decipher whether this is a good option for everyone. If you just need a limited amount of data and you could really use the unlimited talk and text features, getting coverage for 15 dollars a month seems like one of the best deals that you’re going to be able to find on the market today. Just make sure that you’re not using up your data all of the time. Be an avid Wi-Fi hunter to ensure that you don’t run out of data really early in the month. The way that we see it can make sense for some people. It’s hard to justify their prepaid unlimited plan though.
Prepaid Sim Card T-Mobile – Conclusion
Before you go out and get a prepaid SIM card T-Mobile make sure that the device that you have is compatible with the T-Mobile network. We’ve described how to get that done online rather quickly. That way you don’t have to waste your time going out to your T-Mobile store. If you don’t have a phone, the current deal that they have where they give you a phone if you buy 150 dollars worth of prepaid credit seems like a decent deal. Although you really can’t expect to have access to some of the top phones on the market through this deal.
If you need phone coverage without the hassle of getting into the contract the basic 15 dollars a month plan is a great deal. You could also get your family on your prepaid plan. Particularly if you don’t want to have to buy anything off credit with a phone company. If you bring multiple lines to the prepaid contract you can get similar rates that compare favorably with post paid deals. That being said, the fact that currently prepaid plans don’t have access to the 5G T-Mobile network is certainly a bit of a let down. It is also something that you’ll probably want to take into account before you activate a prepaid SIM card T-Mobile.