Moto Q on Alltel Prepaid

[sandyandi]

I recently bought a moto q cdma no contract phone from ebay and i wanted to make it my prepaid phone at alltel, but they said no. so is there ne way i can switch the phone to a unlocked gsm at&t phone so i can put a sims card in it? will it worK?

[hme83]

Sorry - it will not work - CDMA and GSM are two different technologies. You would need a phone with the actual GSM hardware to function with at&t's service.

Welcome to WA!

[sandyandi]

ohhh...so do u have ne suggestions concerning the fact i want the moto q but with a prepaid plan? i just would rly like some1 to tell me exactly what i need 2 do...

[hme83]

Why did they tell you you can't make it your prepaid phone at AllTel?

Even if you had an unlocked GSM version, with at&t's prepaid plans you could have an issue with data if you are intending to use it for it's data features.

At&t's data plans for prepaid service only include MediaNet plans - they don't currently have any discounted data plans for prepaid accounts that at&t deems to be appropriate for use with smartphones. Therefore under their data terms, you could potentially end up paying $10.24 per MB of data used.

[sandyandi]

they told me i cant have a smartphone on prepaid at alltel because the phone needs a data plan (Liars). ive read a whole lotta times that u dont need a data plan, its just smarter to have one. soooo idk what to do.

[bikebryan]

Originally Posted by sandyandi

they told me i cant have a smartphone on prepaid at alltel because the phone needs a data plan (Liars). ive read a whole lotta times that u dont need a data plan, its just smarter to have one. soooo idk what to do.

No, they are NOT liars. Bottom line is that Alltel simply does NOT allow smartphones to be put on prepay. PERIOD. It's against their policy because it has created too many problems. Get use to this fact: YOU CAN'T USE A SMARTPHONE WITH PREPAY.

[hme83]

Originally Posted by sandyandi

they told me i cant have a smartphone on prepaid at alltel because the phone needs a data plan (Liars). ive read a whole lotta times that u dont need a data plan, its just smarter to have one. soooo idk what to do.

Well, if they truly won't let you have a smartphone assigned to your prepaid service account and you are insistent on doing so -

One option would be to sell the CDMA version of the Moto Q, get an unlocked GSM version, obtain at&t prepaid service, and pay $10.24 per MB for data service.

It's not really what I would "recommend" - as stated previously, there currently are no price discounted data plans available for using a smartphone on prepaid service at at&t per their T&C's; and I'd think that with the Moto Q, you'd be interested in it's data features.

But the beauty of GSM is that you don't need the carrier's "permission/assignment" to use a particular phone - you just move your SIM card to the phone you want to use (provided it has the hardware for the appropriate GSM frequencies).

[Telekom]

Originally Posted by sandyandi

I recently bought a moto q cdma no contract phone from ebay and i wanted to make it my prepaid phone at alltel, but they said no. so is there ne way i can switch the phone to a unlocked gsm at&t phone so i can put a sims card in it? will it worK?

Sorry, you cannot mix technologies. Alltel, Verizon and Sprint are CDMA technology while AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM.

[MOTOhooligan]

If you used only the voice and text features of the Q, you shouldn't have any problems. Where the data issue comes into play is when the phone is checking the internet or using data to automatically check for new e-mail messages, etc. You can consult your user manual to turn the auto e-mail check off.

As for activating a Q on Alltel prepaid? They probably do have rules against it (I don't know, I've never had prepaid service with any carrier) but you can probably get around that by not telling them what kind of Motorola you're using.

You'd have to program the phone yourself but a quick search here on WA should give you the information you need for that.

[bikebryan]

Originally Posted by MOTOhooligan

If you used only the voice and text features of the Q, you shouldn't have any problems. Where the data issue comes into play is when the phone is checking the internet or using data to automatically check for new e-mail messages, etc. You can consult your user manual to turn the auto e-mail check off.

As for activating a Q on Alltel prepaid? They probably do have rules against it (I don't know, I've never had prepaid service with any carrier) but you can probably get around that by not telling them what kind of Motorola you're using.

You'd have to program the phone yourself but a quick search here on WA should give you the information you need for that.

Activate it it without telling them what kind of phone it is? Sorry, but that won't happen. The first question they'll ask is what kind of phone it is. Should they NOT do this, the system will recognize it as a smartphone and turn it off. The bottom line is that Alltel simply will NOT allow a smartphone to be activated uner Prepay.

[sandyandi]

thankyou EVERYONE for your input. Guess its back to the drawing board....lol.

[KogKendragon]

Originally Posted by bikebryan

No, they are NOT liars. Bottom line is that Alltel simply does NOT allow smartphones to be put on prepay. PERIOD. It's against their policy because it has created too many problems. Get use to this fact: YOU CAN'T USE A SMARTPHONE WITH PREPAY.

ya know....i probably shouldn't tell you how to get a smartphone onto a prepaid account, BUT, since you asked so nicely, here's how i managed it : i bought and activated a prepaid account, then called customer service to move the ESN from my motoQ onto the prepaid account instead of the z6m i started with. alltel customer service did it no questions asked...

upsides : when your minutes run out, the system doesn't deactivate your internet access.

downsides : you are billed per minute of connected to the internet, not too big a deal if you're on the pay per day unlimited plan and paying a month at a time.

when calling alltel customer service, however, don't tell them that the ESN you are changing on the account is a smartphone though... also, once you've done this, prepare to be amused every time you walk into an alltel store to pay for some more minutes or pay in person, and when the alltelu system sends your smartphone that confirmation text message you whip out a smartphone and say "ah.. it's so good to be bad"

^^

Kog Kendragon

[bikebryan]

Originally Posted by KogKendragon

ya know....i probably shouldn't tell you how to get a smartphone onto a prepaid account, BUT, since you asked so nicely, here's how i managed it : i bought and activated a prepaid account, then called customer service to move the ESN from my motoQ onto the prepaid account instead of the z6m i started with. alltel customer service did it no questions asked...

upsides : when your minutes run out, the system doesn't deactivate your internet access.

downsides : you are billed per minute of connected to the internet, not too big a deal if you're on the pay per day unlimited plan and paying a month at a time.

when calling alltel customer service, however, don't tell them that the ESN you are changing on the account is a smartphone though... also, once you've done this, prepare to be amused every time you walk into an alltel store to pay for some more minutes or pay in person, and when the alltelu system sends your smartphone that confirmation text message you whip out a smartphone and say "ah.. it's so good to be bad"

^^

Kog Kendragon

You won't be saying that when the system recognizes the smartphone and strips it off the account...and that WILL HAPPEN. Then you'll be saying "ah it's too bad my phone isn't working."

[KogKendragon]

hm... it hasn't recognized it yet and it's been about 6 months... *shrug* though, the same thing happens with any prepaid phone that's capable of accessing the internet...i once had a simplefreedom prepaid (simplefreedom being an MVNO on the alltel network..or it used to be iirc) that i bought minutes for once... then never paid again, and used the internet connection on that for about 5 months before they reassigned the ANI to another account since mine had been inactive for 6 months... go figure.

beyond that, they WONT strip the smartphone of the prepaid account, at least, that's what alltel customer service said when i asked them about it...they won't ACTIVATE a new prepaid account with a smartphone, but if you swap a smartphone ESN to a prepaid account, they just bill you airtime for internet usage, according to alltel corporate.

meaning, if you're on the internet for 1 minute (alltelu bills by 60/60 rounding btw) you use 1 minute of your airtime. but if you go with the pay-per-day unlimited, you end up with (again, according to alltel corporate, a friend of mine worked as an alltel sales rep, so i had him call and give his ID number to get this info) to find this out.
*shrug* or don't belive me if you want, doesn't matter to me

[bikebryan]

Originally Posted by KogKendragon

hm... it hasn't recognized it yet and it's been about 6 months... *shrug* though, the same thing happens with any prepaid phone that's capable of accessing the internet...i once had a simplefreedom prepaid (simplefreedom being an MVNO on the alltel network..or it used to be iirc) that i bought minutes for once... then never paid again, and used the internet connection on that for about 5 months before they reassigned the ANI to another account since mine had been inactive for 6 months... go figure.

beyond that, they WONT strip the smartphone of the prepaid account, at least, that's what alltel customer service said when i asked them about it...they won't ACTIVATE a new prepaid account with a smartphone, but if you swap a smartphone ESN to a prepaid account, they just bill you airtime for internet usage, according to alltel corporate.

meaning, if you're on the internet for 1 minute (alltelu bills by 60/60 rounding btw) you use 1 minute of your airtime. but if you go with the pay-per-day unlimited, you end up with (again, according to alltel corporate, a friend of mine worked as an alltel sales rep, so i had him call and give his ID number to get this info) to find this out.
*shrug* or don't belive me if you want, doesn't matter to me

Your "friend" is wrong. Yes, I know. I do CS for Alltel and deal with issues like this. Again, he iw WRONG. And sooner or later (looks like later in your case) they WILL remove the smartphone from the prepay account.

[bandit390]

Originally Posted by KogKendragon

meaning, if you're on the internet for 1 minute (alltelu bills by 60/60 rounding btw) you use 1 minute of your airtime.

That depends...When you use the data, the connection does not stay open. So it will continue to start and stop. Next thing you know, you just used x amount of minutes from your plan or at 15cents times x, in just 1 minute.

Only unlimited you will have is with two plans, the $70 plan or pay perday and even then it would just be during the nights/weekends which start at 9pm. Prepay + data does not equal cheap.