I’m thinking about putting my prepaid tmobile SIM card into an unlocked iphone and just using wireless for downloading apps. Will this work?
Maybe. The first question is what kind of iPhone? Is it unlocked?
I don’t have one yet. But even if I get a locked one, is it very hard to get it unlocked?
That varies according to your carrier. However, you can buy a new unlocked one from Apple… at a hefty full unsubsidized price.
Phones take different-sized SIMs as well. There are 4 different sizes.
The first SIMs were credit-card-sized. These are never seen now, except in the form of the carrier card that you break smaller SIMs out of.
The vast majority of older phones take a “miniSIM”, which is, yes, smaller.
The iPhone 4 takes a “microSIM”, smaller still.
And at least some of the newer models take a “nanoSIM”, which is even smaller.
So even if you buy an unlocked iPhone, you may need to get your carrier to give you a new smaller SIM. I had to when I got the iPhone 4.
It is possible to cut a SIM to micro or nano sized. Amazon will even sell you a SIM cutter. I have done both.
That said, I have also just walked into VZ and ATT stores and asked for a SIM, just had to go through the hassle of porting my number from old SIM to new.
I am using T-Mobile prepaid service on an unlocked iPhone 5. I did have to trim the card to get it to fit, but it works fine.
I believe the iPhone 4 and 5 are network specific, so you could get a CDMA iPhone 4 that doesn’t take a SIM. The 4s and 5s have both GSM and CDMA built in, so you can’t go wrong with an unlocked version of those phones.
I wouldn’t buy a locked iPhone. You won’t be able to get it unlocked in any reasonably easy way.
And I missed the word unlocked in your OP the first time - sorry about that.
Cutting a SIM down to size doesn’t always work. Sometimes there are provisioning items and features on SIM cards that still hold you back.
The first phone I worked on with a micro SIM showed a this behavior…about half of us with a working mini SIM from a particular carrier could get voice, but not data, after cutting the SIM down.
That is odd since every time I have cut a SIM, the template I used only had me remove non-circuit plastic from the edges of the SIM.
You could just buy an iPhone from T-Mobile. They do sell iPhones and you could just get your current number transferred to the new phone. You could continue on your month-to-month plan since they no longer have minimum contracts.
Yep. Physically, that’s all that needs to happen. By spec, all the active stuff is donein that tiny area. The issue is that not all SIM cards are born with the same active stuff in there. I’m not sure if it’s an electrical difference or a programming difference, and I no longer work at that company.
But given that we were a major cell phone manufacturer, and I was working with the people who write the code to interface with the SIM card at the time, I believe there was something there. Of course, the devil is in the details, and I could be mistaken on a detail. A quick search reminds me that there are SIMs, USIMs, and CSIMs. I think it had to do with that.