Must we call Tmobile Cust Service to "activate" our 3G data plan? Or can we ...

[DualMonitors]

Hi All: i'm expecting the phone on Monday and have always had this concern.

once you get the phone and start to charge it for 1-2 hours to get a full charge initially, are we supposed to or do we have to call Tmobile's customer service to "activate" our 3G data plan? otherwise, i'd merely pull my SIM card out of my Blackberry Pearl and insert it into the G1? How would the Tmobile network know that i have the G1 now and am "authorized and signed up for the 3G data service"?

i don't get it.

is there a smarter way to call Tmobile preemptively? i.e. can we call while the phone is being charged? if we do call, would they disconnect our Blackberry Service Plan (for the BB email service, etc, you know, the $19.95 "BB service plan").

it is not clear at all to me what to do when we first get our phones and to "get on the network" with the phone. it would be a major bummer to get the phone, charge it up, insert the SIM card from our OLD phone, i.e. my BB Pearl, and then discover that oh, you have to do this, do that, wait for this, wait for that, and...maybe...just maybe...after 6 hours or whatever, you might be "allowed" to get on the 3G network!

btw, fyi, i'm in nyc, so there is supposed to be 3G running.

thx in advance!

[hoobashoot]

Tmobile FAQ says that they will give you a free BB data plan for a few days untill you get everything set up

[remister]

This thread should explain it for you
http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f...ead-this-2830/

[DualMonitors]

PS: i just got off the phone with a Customer Service person who seemed particularly interested and knowledgeable about the G1. she's from Oregon, and she said specifically that it is the SIGNATURE you you accept the UPS package that triggers the "turning on of the 3G data plan". So, when you sign for your package, UPS has your signature, it uploads the info (your signature and acceptance of the package containing the G1 phone) onto UPS's computers, which than promptly transmits this information to Tmobile's computers. At this point, Tmobile's computers are alerted that you have received your G1 phone and starts to "turn on the 3G data plan". During this time, you're supposed to be charging the phone. According to her, it should take less than 2 hours for the new 3G data plan to be turned on, which sort of matches the amount of time it takes to charge the phone up to maximum battery full capacity.

is this true? there is another poster who indicated that he cannot get ANY internet access at all on his G1 that he has already received (he got his really early, right?), and despite calling Tmobile, they told him that they have no ability to "turn on his 3G data plan now because it is not yet 10/22nd"!!

[looksandletters]

Originally Posted by DualMonitors

PS: i just got off the phone with a Customer Service person who seemed particularly interested and knowledgeable about the G1. she's from Oregon, and she said specifically that it is the SIGNATURE you you accept the UPS package that triggers the "turning on of the 3G data plan". So, when you sign for your package, UPS has your signature, it uploads the info (your signature and acceptance of the package containing the G1 phone) onto UPS's computers, which than promptly transmits this information to Tmobile's computers. At this point, Tmobile's computers are alerted that you have received your G1 phone and starts to "turn on the 3G data plan". During this time, you're supposed to be charging the phone. According to her, it should take less than 2 hours for the new 3G data plan to be turned on, which sort of matches the amount of time it takes to charge the phone up to maximum battery full capacity.

is this true? there is another poster who indicated that he cannot get ANY internet access at all on his G1 that he has already received (he got his really early, right?), and despite calling Tmobile, they told him that they have no ability to "turn on his 3G data plan now because it is not yet 10/22nd"!!

That sounds really, really unlikely. I'm pretty sure that Tmobile marked your account to have a G1 data plan, probably on the day the phone shipped to be safe.

[DualMonitors]

Originally Posted by looksandletters

That sounds really, really unlikely. I'm pretty sure that Tmobile marked your account to have a G1 data plan, probably on the day the phone shipped to be safe.

if they started the 3g data plan on the day the phone shipped, then that guy who posted on the tmobile.com forum who said that he does NOT have ANY internet service using his G1 (he already got his) has a different problem?

he said that he got his G1 and the customer service people that he spoke with could NOT turn it on for him!! he claimed that as much as he's trying and those customer service folks are trying, the "system" would not allow them to! how odd.

[remister]

T-Mobile did realize that you and many others may have Sidekicks, BlackBerrys, and other PDAs with data plans. We also realized you might or might not get the device exactly on time. So... To make this as smooth a transition as possible here's what we're doing:

When you pre-ordered your G1 during the presale, we asked you which of two data options you wanted. We'll be adding a temporary free data feature to all accounts who have existing data services to allow you to immediately use your G1 when it arrives using your existing SIM card. This will also let you swap your SIM back and forth between your Sidekick (or other device) and G1 for a couple days to be sure you've gotten what you need transferred.

Then, once that period ends (its only a few days) we'll automatically remove your Sidekick data feature and replace it with the G1 feature you selected. This will ensure you're not double charged for the data services.

Now, this is important. Once your Sidekick services are cancelled, your Sidekick is pretty much useless... at least for data services and e-mail. I'd alert everyone who has your tmail.com address that you're switching to a Gmail (or other) e-mail address because you won't be able to access the old tmail.com address. Also, you'll want to sync your Sidekick to your computer using the Intellisync program (syncs to Microsoft Outlook). You can then export those contacts and import them directly to Gmail... those contacts then sync to your G1similar to how they did with the Sidekick. There's a thread around here about this if you need help with the export/import operation.
If you're unable to sync with a computer, you'll want to manually write down your contacts now to ensure you don't lose them. Its not the greatest option, but I'm trying to be honest.

Scrd from here: http://forums.t-mobile.com/tmbl/boar...&thread.id=697

[DesignDawg]

That guys was spreading FUD. He did the same here. It was very obvious. There have been TONS of people with G1s for a very long time, and they work on any data plan you have. He was trolling.

[DualMonitors]

Originally Posted by DesignDawg

That guys was spreading FUD. He did the same here. It was very obvious. There have been TONS of people with G1s for a very long time, and they work on any data plan you have. He was trolling.

what is FUD?

who was trolling?

i am confused.

[DesignDawg]

FUD.
Click the link. For some, it's a hobby. For some, it's marketing (their job). For some, it's fanboyism and volunteer marketing.

And the guy who was talking about not being able to get any service at Tmo forums was doing it here as well, and it reeked so much of FUD, I think his thread got ignored out of existence really fast.