Using T-Mobile Prepaid Plan with overseas un-locked phone (credit, how much)

[Melanie Putra]

[SIZE=3]Hi Guys,[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]I will be in NYC for 6 weeks and planning to either buy a prepaid simcard to use with my SonyE W890i or Nokia E52 unlocked phones OR buy the disposable mobile. My main usage will be for communicating with my friend (who is already there and using T-Mobile prepaid simcard on her phone. She told me her empty simcard costs $40 before loading credit. I don’t know what kind of plan is that? But I feel that it is very expensive just for a blank simcard! Anyway, I thought by using the same service provider it will be cheaper for us to communicate. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I looked at the T-Mobile website and see that their Pay By The Day prepaid package looks OK for people who mainly communicate with other T-Mobile users -[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Pay only $1.00 per day for unlimited nights and unlimited nationwide calling to any T-Mobile number. All other domestic calls you make are just 10¢ per minute.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Question 1[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I read that in the Pay As You Go prepaid package, the 10¢ per minute rate is only applicable for if you bought the $100 credit and not anything lower. Does that apply to Pay By The Day prepaid package? If I purchased the $10 credit would the calls to a non-TMobile user still be 10¢ per minute?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Question 2[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Aside from the refill credit ($10, 25, 50, 100) what other cost is there? How much do I have to pay for the initial empty simcard? Do you need to put a deposit?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Question 3[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I read that if is very difficult to find this prepaid simcard and people usually ended up buying the prepaid kit with disposable phone. Is that true? I’d rather use my own un-locked mobile…[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I will be staying at The Residence Inn by Mariott (corner of W39th St and 6th Avenue). Would anyone know which of the T-Mobile retailer near there sells just the prepaid simcard?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Question 4[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]I read in [/SIZE][SIZE=3]http://www.consumersearch.com/prepaid-wireless/t-mobile-prepaid[/SIZE][SIZE=3] that [/SIZE][SIZE=3]if you already have an unlocked GSM phone, you can insert T-Mobile's $7 prepaid SIM card and use your phone on T-Mobile's prepaid network. I don’t see this $7 mentioned anywhere in T-Mobile website…[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]I hope someone will help to clarify the issue.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Thanks![/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Mel[/SIZE]

[Chava61]

In general, it is hard to buy a simcard without buying a phone.
In general, it should not be a problem to use any simcard in any unlocked phone. But if you are using a cellphone bought outside the USA, you have make sure that it is a tri-band as the American cellphones use a different frequency than the European ones (and ones from other places).