cblaisd

I know that for Verizon refill cards, e.g.,



these can be used for phone or refilling a mobile broadband account.

My question is about Tmobile cards.

These



seem to be clearly usable for refilling a mobile broadband account.

My question, though, is whether cards like this can also be used (a la the Verizon one):

Letitride3c

T-mo's refill cards are pretty universal as long as the long PINS are validated and good for various prepaid plans. I get mine from callingmart dot com and directly refill or add to the mobile # that I input and no sales tax, quick n fast.

ScottC

What did T-Mobile customer service say when you called them?

cblaisd

Touche

You and several others here are so very much more pleasant (usually ) and always so very much smarter than the random agent I may get who may or may not know anything accurately.

cblaisd

I called Tmobile Customer "Care." There are four options given on the voice menu. Not a one of them is remotely close to the question I have and there is no option for general questions.

There also appears to be no way to contact them via email that I've found on their website.

Not impressed.

ETA: I went to 7-11 and looked at Tmobile Pay-as-you-Go refill. The back of it does say in tiny print that it is usable for Mobile Broadband refills too.

LIH Prem

you can try posting to their support forums on t-mobile.com

or I bet somebody on Howard Forums would know

-David

weekilter

You can use any T-Mobile refill for any kind of account. As long as what you add to the account pays for the monthly charge it all works provided you have at least the minimum amount. e.g. I have a $30 monthly amount for 1500 minutes or texts with just 30 MB of data. I usually at some point add $120 ($100 voucher or two $50 vouchers) plus two $10 vouchers so I have a few months of service before I have to refill again. The bottom line is that you can use any refill amount to fill your account as long as it provides at least the monthly amount due on your account. Of course if it's a PAYG account you can add any voucher amount you want as it all will work keeping in mind that PAYG accounts the per minute rate is only the best when you add $100 vouchers lower value vouchers give a higher per minute rate.

weekilter

When you call customer care (*8646 or 611) when the disembodied voice answers press 0 and you will get a customer care rep.

cblaisd

That may be true when calling from a T-mobile phone, but when calling their 800 number, pressing 0 simply returns you to the four-choice menu.

weekilter

If you press 0 enough times you will get an agent.

nerd

This is confusing. You can add any refill card to your account even if it doesn't provide the monthly amount due.

weekilter

I don't see what is confusing. If you have enough money in your account whatever plan you have will be paid for the month. Of course you can put less than what is necessary but if you do your service will not work until you have at least the minimum amount your plan requires to fund your account.

cblaisd

Somewhat different, but related question regarding not data, but voice:

Do the T-mobile $2/$3 "Pay By the Day" plans
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans
also expire after 90 days?

Letitride3c

Refills and/or funds added to the PBTD plans are good for 90 days ($10 or more value) providing that sufficient balance remained in the account. If funds run low, you get an SMS alert from T-Mo automatically to add.

However, if you have Gold Status (start out with a $100 fill or refill, it's good for 360 days/1 year, or cumulative funds adding up to $100 - afterward, a $10 new value added will keep the account active for another 360 days. You can switch back-n-forth online from PBTD and PAYG (by the minutes) plans, say when you will be traveling & do not plan to use the prepaid line.

Call 611 to request CS to turn off Voice Mail as otherwise, unanswered calls going to VM on multiple days could quickly deplete your available balance by charging you $2 or $3 for daily usage. VM and calls to VM to retrieve messages are valid for purposes of charging the account for being in use. There is a backdoor number to call & retrieve VM for free and w/o triggering the daily usage fee.

These are for infrequent users and/or ideal for visitors who only need local voice access for 1 or 2 weeks, plus the $3 plan has decent 3G/HSPA+ data coverage, capped at 200MB daily then throttled to much slower 2G, but not cutoff entirely.

cblaisd

Thank you, that's most helpful.

Now, the saga....

ScottC put me onto this amazing GSM dual-sim phone that is incredibly cheap but really nicely featured. I am needing a backup phone (or rather a backup network) for some drives that might take me out of AT&T range. Insurance, if you will.

So, I put the T-mobile sim I have in the phone, go online to activate. I have the sim # and the IMEI # (all you need to activate and set up an AT&T PAYG plan). But the T-mobile process online asks for an "activation code" that is on my "activation kit."

So I try by dialing 611 to do it the painful way. After the parade-o'-prompts, I get to one that tells me to enter my activation code that was on my activation kit.

So, I go to, ugh, Walmart. They tell me they don't sell them. At least the phone guy there knew what I was talking about.

Then I go to the T-mobile store. I tell him I need an activation kit so I can set up my PAYG plan online. He says he has no idea what I'm talking about. So, I pull up a link on my cell phone which easily pulls up what I'm talking about on T-mobile's own website! (Which I would just order from if there weren't a time issue). He again says that he's never heard of such a thing. (This is in a corporate-owned store, btw).

He says I will have to bring the phone in so that they can "explain to me my options" and that they have really nice plans that start at only $x/month.

I'm ready to give up.

ETA: Apparently I'm not alone http://support.t-mobile.com/thread/31636?tstart=0