parastar said:I want a phone to give to my mother...She would rarely use it, so does anyone know if these minutes expire on prepaid or could she use them whenever she wants?? (Example: use 5 minutes per month with no fees?)

The minutes do expire, and the expiration date depends on what denomination refill you used. The larger refills have longer expiration dates. T-Mobile has something called "Gold Rewards" which is probably the best way to go for your mother. By spending $100 on refills, you become a "Gold Rewards" customer, and one of the benefits of that status is that adding any demonination refill ($10 - $100) will extend the expiration date of ALL your minutes to one year from the date of the refill.

Example:
If you added a $100 refill to your mother's phone today, she'd get 1,000 minutes that would expire one year from today. Let's say that over the next year your mother uses an average of 5 minutes per month. Her balance after one year would be 1,000 - 60 = 940 minutes. By adding a $10 refill card she will get another 35 minutes, but more importantly, it will extend the expiration date of all her minutes (975 now) by one year. Another year goes by and she uses another 60 minutes. She now has 915 minutes. Simply add another $10 refill, and she'll have 950 minutes that will last for another year.

This is the ideal solution for someone who uses very few minutes, because after your initial purchase of the phone and the $100 refill, you need only spend $10/year to extend the life of your minutes. MUCH cheaper than any postpaid plan available.

BetterThanFree said:parastar said:I want a phone to give to my mother...She would rarely use it, so does anyone know if these minutes expire on prepaid or could she use them whenever she wants?? (Example: use 5 minutes per month with no fees?)

The minutes do expire, and the expiration date depends on what denomination refill you used. The larger refills have longer expiration dates. T-Mobile has something called "Gold Rewards" which is probably the best way to go for your mother. By spending $100 on refills, you become a "Gold Rewards" customer, and one of the benefits of that status is that adding any demonination refill ($10 - $100) will extend the expiration date of ALL your minutes to one year from the date of the refill.

Example:
If you added a $100 refill to your mother's phone today, she'd get 1,000 minutes that would expire one year from today. Let's say that over the next year your mother uses an average of 5 minutes per month. Her balance after one year would be 1,000 - 60 = 940 minutes. By adding a $10 refill card she will get another 35 minutes, but more importantly, it will extend the expiration date of all her minutes (975 now) by one year. Another year goes by and she uses another 60 minutes. She now has 915 minutes. Simply add another $10 refill, and she'll have 950 minutes that will last for another year.

This is the ideal solution for someone who uses very few minutes, because after your initial purchase of the phone and the $100 refill, you need only spend $10/year to extend the life of your minutes. MUCH cheaper than any postpaid plan available.

I couldn't have explained it any better. Your explanation is crystal clear.

Does anyone know if I can purchase 2 of these and get $10 FatCash back? I've already purchased one when the 2610 w/$25 refill card was FAR last time. Even though the last one was FAR, it was a PAIN to get the $30 rebate as many people had problems getting them to honor it. Eventually enough people complained/posted it on BBB that they had to honor it.

annicus said:DogFase said:I ordered a V195 recently after the $25 refill card offer was removed from the T-Mobile Web site. But when my phone came it still had the $25 cad in the box. Lucky me.
skotty4 said:i received my 1208 in the mail, and there was no $25 prepaid card in the box. My last prepaid phone the card was in the bottom of the shipping box.

And i did buy during the free $25 card promo.

Where did people locate their $25 card? Its not actually in the packaging of the phone is it?
I called into cust serv, and it was in india, and they just didnt understand what i was asking.

DogFase, you got skotty4's card! give it back! :-P

just ordered one. $15 after Cash Back isn't too bad for a spare phone. prob could get the motorola for mom.. how is sound quality on that one?

Sound quality on the moto v195 is good, better than the nokia 2610.

*nm* i answered my own question

Yes. It will work right out of the box, after you activate it by making a phone call. The $25 card is good for 130 minutes talking time. If you buy a $50 card they are good for 400 minutes, and a $100 card is good for 1000 minutes talking time.

YeaBabyYea said:Can someone tell me if I can remove SIM card from this phone and use it with my unlocked Samsung T809 (previously used with T-Mobile monthly plan). Will this lock the phone? TIA
No, the sim lock is in the phone software.

great phones IMHO - we buy phones for students to use each semester and then return, and we still have some of the Nokia 1xxx phones from 4 years ago. They can take a severe beating, and as another poster mentioned the flashlight is a helpful feature.

For those having trouble ordering online, Tmo is very strict about accepting orders, especially if your IP isn't agreeable to them. Even if it says "web only deal" you may be able to call them and put your order thru over the phone and mention you were denied online - I did that with my v195 order and still received the $25 card and the online price.

I got the phone and $25 card. So $25 = 130 minutes. What if I call to Canada? What's the rate then?

miserly said:does it come with a card? or do they credit your account after you start service?It used to come with a $25 refill card that could be used on any TMO to Go account. Now, it appears that they credit your account with $30 (in $10 increments) after you activate the included SIM. Click on the offer for further details.

azz777 said:*#060# doesn't work on my nokia 1208. anyone experience similar problems?Did you try *#06# as mentioned in the email? Maybe you just typo'ed, but you typed *#060# (extra 0), not *#06#.