“My question is if i do get a new phone will i lose my Pay As You Go plan?”

You should be able to keep your legacy plan. It was years back when I had to get a new SIM to get the smaller size options. It was (still is I hope) the case that you could contact T-mobile and have them switch you plan to the new SIM without issue. It does not matter how many times you swap that SIM to a new phone, the SIM is the thing that has the IMEI.

Mine is happy now. I waited until it was closer to the early expire date to try adding the smallest amount. Selecting $1.00 to add (used to be $10 minimum of course) did work. Note that it is actually $3.50 due to tax/fees. But the main thing is that my expiration did extend a full year. So if you don't really need to add more dollars/minutes then it seems to just require $3.50 each year to keep it running.

I just added $10 to my $112 balance on my Legacy Pay As You Go Plan, that was expiring in 1 day. And, the entire plan was extended by 1 year, as it should be.

I too have had a Pay As You Go legacy plan now for I figure at least 15 years. It's a back up phone I only use rarely but for 10 bucks a year it's nice to have.

I paid my 10 bucks back in Feb. and it actually has the correct 1 year expiration date, I wasn’t aware of an issue with the dates until I read this thread.

I came here looking for info on changing my phone. I have an old (realmente old) Samsung E105 flip phone and I suspect with the shutdown of 3G it's going to stop working very soon and I'll be forced to get a new one. My question is if i do get a new phone will i lose my Pay As You Go plan?

I don't want to become a monthly prepaid user: I already have that set up with another carrier. Ten, 20 even 25 bucks for an entire year however is fine and well worth it.

I’m just afraid if I try to activate another phone T-Mo will have an excuse to eliminate my Pay As You Go and I’ll be stuck with a phone I don’t want.

I should also add that the SIM card in the E105 is too large to fit into the newer phones. I discovered that when I upgraded a 2013 Samsung A3 to a new moto e (my US Cellular prepaid)

In that case I had to call CS and they were terrific setting it up and they let me stay on my current lower cost monthly plan.

hellokitty04 wrote:

"I too have had a Pay As You Go legacy plan now for I figure at least 15 years. It's a back up phone I only use rarely but for 10 bucks a year it's nice to have."

 

I agree with magenta9868641, above. I recently went from a bar phone (don't laugh. LOL) to a flip phone and needed a smaller SIM card. I tried cutting the larger SIM card down as others have done, but it didn't work for me. So, I ordered a new SIM from T-Mobile which works great. When I added $10 to my account to, the minutes were updated to another year.

As magenta9868641 wrote, “It does not matter how many times you swap that SIM to a new phone, the SIM is the thing that has the IMEI.”.

Thank you both for the swift replies. I tried calling CS but didn't feel like sitting on the phone for an hour so I hung up.

I just bought a Nokia 225 4G bar phone pretty cheap that I checked with the T-Mo website “Bring You Own”  IMEI STATUS CHECK and got these three messages:

*Este dispositivo es totalmente compatible con la tecnología de red de T-Mobile.

*El uso de este dispositivo no está bloqueado en nuestra red.

*Tu teléfono utiliza una tarjeta SIM física para guardar información de la cuenta móvil.

Obviously the SIM in my old Samsung is HUGE and is not going to fit into the new phone.

But I confess I’m confused by what you mean by the SIM having the IMEI.

I understand the IMEI is tied to the SIM yes, but  If I have to buy a new SIM card from T-Mo, (which I am sure I'll have to) how will my Pay As You Go continue with this new phone? Isn't the Pay As You Go plan tied to that old, huge SIM?

Thanks again for your help 😀

hellokitty04, you are correct. about the IMEI number, it's tied to the device and is actually the device serial number. However, your SIM card has a Serial Number, also. This Serial Number and your cell phone number are tied to your Pay-As-You-Go account. Call T-Mobile and order a new SIM card for your phone number. They'll send you a card preprogramed with your phone number. This SIM card will have its own Serial Number (the Serial Number is on the back of the card you will receive). Your new SIM Card says to go to t-mobile.com/SIM for setup instructions. I've attached an image of the card I received with my new SIM Card. As you can see in the image, there are three different sizes you can use. I needed the smallest size, so I just pushed/punched out that size from the card. The Serial Number is on the back of this card. So, again, call T-Mobile and order a new SIM card for your phone number. They'll send you a card preprogramed with your phone number. I hope all this helps?

Hola Peter,

Ok I understand it now. Thanks for your help. I've learned more from you than the t-mo website.

 I found that there's a T-Mo store just a few miles from me and i just called them. Spoke a a really nice young man who said they could swap out the SIM card for me no problem and not to worry, I can stay on my Pay As You Go. He said "don't worry, we won't take your plan away from you" LOL

I explained that I’ve had this plan for many, many years and keep this as a back up emergency phone and the new one I just bought is a cheap Nokia.

He told me to wait until I get the new phone and bring it in along with my old Samsung with the huge SIM and they will take care of it in the store.

If the carriers weren't dropping 3G I'd still keep this old Samsung. It's a rugged flip phone, built like a tank LOL

Thank you again Peter for your excellent advice. I will update next week after i get the new phone and visit the T-Mo store.

Just want to follow up on my experience changing phones.

Yesterday my new, cheap Nokia bar phone arrived from ebay. I took it along with my current phone to the T-Mo store here in town.

After explaining the situation (of course the man I spoke to last week wasn't there lol) a nice woman tried to do the SIM swap but for some odd reason there was an issue with my zip code. Why, I don't know, maybe because I don't have a billing address and only use refill cards.

Anyways, they had to call the store manager, He was at another store and said he would drive over and do the SIM swap himself.After he arrived the whole swap only took about 5 to 10 minutes.

I'm very happy with my new, cheap phone and I am indeed still on the Pay As You Go plan. Checked my expiration date which is Feb. 2023.

So a huge thank you Peter, magenta y the T-Mo employees at my local store. 👍

hellokitty04 wrote:

Just want to follow up on my experience changing phones.

Yesterday my new, cheap Nokia bar phone arrived from ebay. I took it along with my current phone to the T-Mo store here in town.

After explaining the situation (of course the man I spoke to last week wasn't there lol) a nice woman tried to do the SIM swap but for some odd reason there was an issue with my zip code. Why, I don't know, maybe because I don't have a billing address and only use refill cards.

Anyways, they had to call the store manager, He was at another store and said he would drive over and do the SIM swap himself.After he arrived the whole swap only took about 5 to 10 minutes.

I'm very happy with my new, cheap phone and I am indeed still on the Pay As You Go plan. Checked my expiration date which is Feb. 2023.

 

So a huge thank you Peter, magenta y the T-Mo employees at my local store. 👍

Thank you for the update, Ms. Kitty! 😉 Glad everything worked out for you! -Peter