Tello GSM is available

ZZWang wrote:

Wish the 2G speed can be improved to 128kbps with TMO.

 

I would not be surprised if it is, but we won't know until someone tests it or asks & gets a reply from Support.
Generally, fallback 2G seems consistent across all of a carrier's offerings, since it's too much work to set up different fallback speeds for different vendors at the low end of the contractural scale.  If T-Mobile doesn't already have a 64kbps option, we may not see one built for MVNOs converting to GSM.

I won't have a GSM SIM for a while, since I don't need a new line.  And if I don't forget to renew early, I won't be inclined to burn through accumulated rollover data to test it, either.

Got my GSM Tello sim yesterday. Did not see any expiration date on it. I had to call Tello CS because it would not activate with the web portal for some reason. CS did it over the phone and everything is working fine!

Has anyone activated a Tello GSM SIM using the unlocked 4-band Visible Moto E6 and tested the data?

Recall that the unlocked 4-band Visible Moto E6 activated fine on Tello Sprint, but data was not useable and the issue remained unresolved.

jamielih wrote:

Has anyone activated a Tello GSM SIM using the unlocked 4-band Visible Moto E6 and tested the data?

Recall that the unlocked 4-band Visible Moto E6 activated fine on Tello Sprint, but data was not useable and the issue remained unresolved.
 

Interesting inquiry.

My understanding of the E6 data problem is that it wasn't specific to Tello, but specific to all (legacy) Sprint MVNOs, and appeared to be something that wasn't being set up correctly via auto-provisioning.

Tello/GSM shouldn't be using the legacy Sprint auto-provisioning system.  I don't recall seeing any reports of data issues on T-Mobile MVNOs, so I wouldn't expect any here.  (Of course, I didn't expect the original no-data issue with the E6 on Sprint MVNOs, either.)
 

(Thanks to jmac32here on Howard Forum for this...)

It looks like it's possible to rush your conversion to GSM if you're a current customer with a GSM-compatible phone already active.

The process: Lot in to your account, visit the BYOD test page, and enter your IMEI.
When doing this, my multicarrier moto tells me it's acceptable for GSM, and not compatible for CDMA swapping into a current line.. (A bug in the return info, I imagine, since the real situation is it's already active on Tello CDMA.)
On the Do You Have a Tello SIM? field, select "No, I need one. $9.99".
The GSM SIM will be offered. The cost changes to $0 on the next screen.
On the shipping page, you can select USPS Priority for $0 shipping cost.

  Thanks KentE----just did what you posted on 2 Tello accounts with one account having an unlocked, all-carrier phone, and the other using the IMEI from a GSM phone that will use to replace the CDMA only phone. I wonder why Tello, if it's aware that this can be done, didn't inform existing customers? I wonder if the process listed in the activation process will apply to my account where I'll actually be swapping one phone for another rather than just sim cards? 

Isamorph, I don't know how it will work with a phone swap involved.... you may be the test case.

I see that the directions indicate they're using an activation code rather than the SIM # for GSM activations--like thte (old?) T-Mobile system.  I don't know if they're tying the GSM replacement SIMs to a specific line, either.  (Basically, this would be pre-registering a replacement SIM to a specific line.)

I imagine that Tello is intentionally slowing down the process for existing customers to prevent too much work at one time, and possibly limited supplies of the new SIMs. It does seem like many folks are anxious to make the move-- personally, Sprint service has been really good for us, and T-Mobile can be kind of sketchy in some parts of the region. I might move one line over, but will leave the others on Sprint until I see the network deteriorate. (Which pretty much matches Tello's suggested path for converting...)

As part of the merger tmobile should have been forced to recycle all these soon to be almost useless sprint phones and offer free replacements.

KentE wrote:

Isamorph, I don't know how it will work with a phone swap involved.... you may be the test case.

I see that the directions indicate they're using an activation code rather than the SIM # for GSM activations--like thte (old?) T-Mobile system.  I don't know if they're tying the GSM replacement SIMs to a specific line, either.  (Basically, this would be pre-registering a replacement SIM to a specific line.)

I imagine that Tello is intentionally slowing down the process for existing customers to prevent too much work at one time, and possibly limited supplies of the new SIMs. It does seem like many folks are anxious to make the move-- personally, Sprint service has been really good for us, and T-Mobile can be kind of sketchy in some parts of the region. I might move one line over, but will leave the others on Sprint until I see the network deteriorate. (Which pretty much matches Tello's suggested path for converting...)

Forgot to mention, when I ordered the sims there was something alluding to the instructions emailed to customers, which I assume Tello assumed had been already been received by the customer before going through the online process of ordering a GSM sim. So it's likely the email instructions may have more information about the process than the process shown in my screenshot above. We'll see.

Isamorph wrote:

Forgot to mention, when I ordered the sims there was something alluding to the instructions emailed to customers, which I assume Tello assumed had been already been received by the customer before going through the online process of ordering a GSM sim. So it's likely the email instructions may have more information about the process than the process shown in my screenshot above. We'll see.





 

It will be interesting to see whether the instructions they send you are substantially different or not.  When I ordered new SIMs for my in-laws' new phones a couple of months ago while Tello was still exclusively on Sprint, the instructions (part of the email confirming the purchase) were nearly identical to those included with the SIM cards when they arrived.  Maybe it will be different now, given that you are activating on the new GSM platform.  Please keep us posted, and thank you for being one of our "convert pioneers" here on Nth Circle.