I’ve been using an unlocked Blackberry Classic that I bought from amazon for the last 7-8 years with AT&T. I just bought a new unlocked Blackberry Key2 from Best Buy and it should be delivered to my house tonight or tomorrow. My carrier is still going to be AT&T and the new phone is compatible with AT&T.
Can I just take the SIM card out of the old phone and put it in the new phone? Will they do something besides this at the AT&T store? I realize that if the card that comes with the new phone doesn’t look anything like the card from the old phone, the answer to my question is no, but if they appear to be the same… can I do this and be good to go?
When I bought the old phone back yonder from amazon and took it to the AT&T store to be activated, but I don’t remember what they did. I also don’t remember if they charged me any kind of “activation fee.” Seems like they wouldn’t want to miss the opportunity, since they didn’t make any money off the phone.
P.S. I have backed up all pictures to the SD/Media card, and I know I can put the old one in the new phone. I realize that is a whole different thing.
I have moved SIM cards between unlocked phones many times, so yes.
Once, when going to smaller sized SIM, I used a SIM cutter to make it fit but that step can be done by hand. At the worst, you have to go to the AT&T store.
I assume the initial activation you remember was to get a functioning SIM card.
I’ve moved SIM cards back and forth between phones and had no problem. As others mentioned:
There are 3 sizes of SIM - old big size, mini (small amount of cardboard around the contacts ) and micro (no cardboard around the contacts). My iPhone 3 takes a regular old one, my iPhone 4 and 4S took mini, and my 6 and 8 take the micro. Most modern SIM cards are actually micro, but come inside a cardboard holder for mini inside a carboard holder for micro. Pop out the size you need. Google the SIM card sizes and your phone if you are not sure. Google knows all, sees all. You can cut the SIM down if you are really good at it. I suppose worst case, you cut it and don’t do it right and need to buy/activate a new card - which you would have needed anyway because the original did not fit. (I’m guessing by now, all current models of phone use the micro SIM.)
The phone must be unlocked. Here in Canada, all phones must be unlocked (for free) now. Not sure about the rules in the land of the free. Again, google how to tell if the phone is unlocked. (For iPhones, typically if Mobile Data or Cellular Data has an option to select mobile data network then it is unlocked).
I guess some US carriers still use CDMA. My phone is GSM and worked anywhere in the world - Dubai, India, Europe, USA, …
It should also be noted that the micro sim cards are thinner than the larger ones. You can’t just cut down an older sim and fit it into a micro sim slot. You also have to carefully sand a layer off the back to make it fit in the holder.
If you just cut down a regular sim and try to fit it into a micro sim slot, you might break the contacts.
So the act referred to as “activation” performed at the phone store is nothing more than putting a SIM card in your new phone and wedding it to the (in this case) AT&T system. If you have a card/phone number/identity that is already in the AT&T system, then putting old card (provided it physically fits) into new phone is all that is necessary?
ETA: Both the BB Classic and BB Key2 take nano SIM cards. Thanks, y’all!
You can put your GSM SIM card into any unlocked GSM phone (in which it fits) and it will work – with your number on your account. No need to contact the service provider; you can have a different color phone for every day of the week.
