Tello Plans to Convert to GSM

Just fyi I've gone literally years without using my truphone sims and they work still. So I wouldn't worry about them expiring.

Frasier1 wrote: And with Truphone ALL incoming calls and texts are FREE. Outgoing are 9 cents a min/text P.S. Outgoing can be as low as 1 cent a min with a cleaver workaround.

Definitely, the free incoming is a deal maker, and the "cleaver" hack for 1 cent outgoing is possible, too. Chop, chop.

I wonder if this will make the unlocked 4-band Moto E6's data finally work on Tello. The problem with Tello-Sprint has been that data on Moto E6 wouldn't work. Hopefully, the new Tello-GSM will enable data on Moto E6 to work on Tello.

Phoniac wrote:

Isamorph wrote: Tello will soon activate new customers on T-Mobile only.

Activations on Sprint will no longer be an option.

That is a blow to my emergency backup plan of activating my Sprint phone(s) on Tello's $8/mo unlimited T&T plan. The advantage was that I wouldn't have to wait for a SIM to be shipped out to me.

From what I gather, TMobile SIMs have expiration dates and need to be activated within 45 days of purchase - which means I can't just buy a SIM today and put it in the drawer to be used in an emergency.

Anyone have any ideas on a low-cost provider whose SIM I can buy and put in a drawer for emergency use?

I've always tried to keep at least one Sprint-network phone on hand, too, for the same reason.

I think Literally Unlimited addressed this in another thread today, but T-Mobile network SIMs have a relatively long expiration window. (At least a year, unless you're getting old shelf stock.) A particular MVNO may have a shorter activate-by window, though. I put away a couple of Ting/T-Mo SIMs when they were on sale once for this purpose, and Ting didn't have any issue with activating one nearly a year later..

Another option is a Tracfone (or any of their owned subsidiaries) BYOD SIM kit. You can find them for $1, and they'll have SIMs for all 3 networks. No activation window, although the standard T-Mobile expiration dates still exist (printed on the card), and I believe that a kit purchased well over a year ago cannot activate on the Verizon SIM anymore. (Because the older Verizon SIMs weren't provisioned for VoLTE.)

You might also be able to activate a line on Tello/CDMA now, get the replacement T-Mo network SIM, and cancel the line without transferring to the new SIM. Just put it away for later.

Below is a link to more info on the Tello transition to GSM, provided by poster "PlanateryBlur" on reddit, which is a summary of info posted by Tello on Facebook.

www.reddit.com/r/Tello/comments/jwjb8p/tello_gsm_network_transition_updates_on_facebook/

Check your phone here:

www.t-mobile.com/resources/bring-your-own-phone

I wonder why, since Tello said there would be no activations of CDMA phones after Nov. 22nd, why the below image is still up on Tello's site. I can see that the few phones for sale on the site will likely work on T Mobile since they have VoLTE, but you'd think Tello would inform BYOD customers to make sure their phones are both GSM and CDMA capable.

I activated a phone on tello sprint yesterday. Looks like they are running late.

I hope that they continue to allow device swaps after they stop with new activations.

Yes, they seem to be running behind their original timeline. I chatted in with a rep a day or two ago and the rep indicated that the new BYOD checker might not be up and running until next year. But I guess it's better to make sure that their new network is working perfectly before they start activating on T-Mobile or letting folks know that their phones will work on it.

The below PPPN article about Tello seems premature since nothing on the Tello website has changed and BYOD GSM phones are rejected on the Tello checker, and PPPN shouldn't have totally relied on the chat info supplied by a reddit poster without confirmation from Tello. Maybe tomorrow new lines will be T mobile only.

www.prepaidphonenews.com/2020/12/existing-tello-subscribers-may-now-buy.html

"Journalists" on these sites don't care about fact checking, they are just writing for the goal of click-baiting.