Another (but unique) hobby phone question...

[GlobeSpotter]

I just bought an unlocked international dual sim smart phone for my travel. I'd like to test the dual sym feature before I travel again. I have an ATT hobby phone but the sim is locked and the carrier is the same as my regular number.

I'd like to go into walmart or best buy or randalls or wherever and buy a non ATT pre-pay sim card to try in the phone. I need the card to be unlocked so it will work in my own phone. If I have to buy their crap phone, I might do that also. I may put data on it or not. My international sims don't have data. I use an ATT international plan for that.

I've heard dual sim phones are buggy and would like to test it.

I could go in to Verizon or other store I guess and get a pre-pay but then I'd have to sign up with them and all that crap. I'd prefer to register this phone number under the name "Dorian Gray" and I don't have a fake i.d. to match.

[Dorian Gray]

1.SIM cards aren't locked
2.A Verizon or Sprint SIM won't work in an unlocked phone
3.Do a search for 'T-Mobile Free SIM Promo'
4.What bands does the dual-SIM phone run on

[Out_of_Bounds]

You'd get better results registering as Out_of_Bounds. Ijs....

[GlobeSpotter]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

1.SIM cards aren't locked
....

My ATT hobby sim only works in the phone that it came with. I've read on the web that I can go have it unlocked. It is not the card physcially locked...they have it limited on their end. IIRC, it is because the phone came with "free minutes".

I've tried it in another phone and it didn't work. Now,...that phone is now unlocked but I don't know if it was unlocked then. I will try it tonight or tomorrow in a phone I have that I know is locked. It is full size sim so I'll have to use my special tool to punch it down to the smaller size. I'd rather not fuck with it.

[GlobeSpotter]

Originally Posted by Out_of_Bounds

You'd get better results registering as Out_of_Bounds. Ijs....

I was thinking about "Alyssa XOXO" but who is going to believe a white guy's family name starts with an "X"

[Dorian Gray]

Does you AT&T SIM have a 'blue fireball 3G' logo or 'LTE' logo?

[Guest062114-5]

Use Lowell Mynxton

[GlobeSpotter]

Originally Posted by Dorian Gray

Does you AT&T SIM have a 'blue fireball 3G' logo or 'LTE' logo?

I'll have to check. It is locked in my office with a dead battery and no credit. I've been calling my ATF from my skype line.

I do like this new phone though. It is unlocked and unbranded and smaller than GS4. It will be nice to carry only one phone in the street when I travel.

[Dorian Gray]

Manufacturer & model

[GlobeSpotter]

This One

Only snag is it is 3G....but the hell holes I visit don't have 4G.

[Guest121014]

Sims arent ever locked as mentioned, it would be the phone hardware refusing to recognize another vendors sim, or the limitation of the radio hardware to connect to the network that the "other" sim you are using is for.

It also depends on where you are going internationally, because in some places, they run on bands that dont exist here in the US, so you cant test them until you are there. If the phone is TRULY unlocked, then the only potential issue, is the bands that it runs on, nothing else should matter.

What is the dual goal sim? Multiple numbers? Using the same phone domestically as abroad?

I dont know anything about the s4, but generally speaking, what you want is a "worldphone" - which is generally the branding a vendor will use for a quad band phone that is going to work in nearly every country. Then your best bet is a TMobile sim as mentioned, but I dont know what the availability of a prepaid sim for intl use is. You may have to pickup a prepaid sim in the country you travel to, which actually would provide more anonymity than buying one here.

[GlobeSpotter]

^^^^^I've made this too complicated.
There is only one question:

What non-ATT prepaid sim card can i walk into a non-phone store and buy and use in an an unlocked phone.

[Dorian Gray]

Galaxy S4 Mini DUOS

• GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz)
• HSPA+ (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz)

AT&T Bands

• GSM / GPRS / EDGE (850 / 1900 MHz)
• HSPA+ (850 / 1900 MHz)
• LTE (700 MHz) AWS (1700MHz)<- Irrelevant to your phone though

Phone should work.


Is this the box it shipped in?


It doesn't have Tata DoCoMo, MTS India, or Aircel written on it does it

[Dorian Gray]

Originally Posted by GlobeSpotter

What non-ATT prepaid sim card can i walk into a non-phone store and buy and use in an an unlocked phone.

Simple Mobile ($9.99)
http://www.frys.com/product/7001701?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

[Guest121014]

My initial thought would be Virgin....possibly TMobile at walmart....in any case, I think it is likely you will have to buy the phone too and pull the sim, which just means you need to do some research to verify that the hardware you are buying HAS a sim.

What I would do is hit the website for virgin and tmobile and check out the prepaid offerings. Then if all your answers arent 100% answered, I would call the 800 number and give them a BS story about how you are stuck in xyz city on a delayed layover for a few hours before traveling to whatever country / area you will eventually use the phone in, and tell them there is a walmart you can make it to, but not an actual wireless store, and you just need to know if all the phones they sell have sim cards, and if they will work internationally, or if there is specific models. Explain that you already have a phone that works internationally (aka has all the correct hardware) and you really just need to get a prepaid sim that you can use in that phone. They should be able to help, and you should be able to do so without it sounding like youre part of al queda.

Or...grab one in the destination country. Prepaids are FAR more prevalent overseas.

Only out of curiosity, what is the demand for a non-att intl sim?