Using G1 with an old plan?

(also posted in the T-Mobile subforum)

So, I'm at a crossroads. My four year old Razr V3 is dying, and I'd really like to have PDA and smartphone features in whatever I replace it with. Right now I'm looking at the HTC Dream/T-Mobile G1, but because I have a SmartAccess 1500 plan that is no longer available as a contract, T-Mobile wants to charge $399 for the phone unless I change plans to something that costs more and has less minutes. I haven't even gotten to the data plan part.

I found a vendor that sells the phone, for the T-Mobile network only, for $299. That doesn't seem quite as bad. What I'm not sure about is how to go about getting T-Mobile to acknowledge that handset change (if necessary, I haven't looked into what just moving the SIM will do or if that's even possible) and if there's something I need to do special to get them to drop the existing text messaging plan and adding the G1-specific data plan.

Any info from anyone who's gone through this would be much appreciated.

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Well I will tell you about my expierence. I had bought a G1 from T-Mobile with out upgrading, and had a Sim card that was about 2 years old from a T-Mobile Shadow. The phone did not pick up a 3G network at all, and the store said it was something to do with the Sim Card. They swaped out my Sim Cards and it worked beautifully. I ended up returning it because I needed the 400 dollars it cost me. Stay with me, because I got more.. lol...

I switched my plan back to the Shadow and all that stuff, and ended up coming across a G1 on Craigslist for 200 cash. I went a looked at it, and stole it (lol, it was a month old no scratches, so yeah it stole it for 200) and poped my Sim in (the new one). I had internet access, text messaging, and all that I had on the Shadow, but I could not access the Maps search, Andrioid Market, or anything that had to do specifically with the G1. I did add that on, and it was 24.99 for G1 "Unlimited" date and 400 text, which is good for me.

So I guess for all my rant, and I hope some of this will help you decide, the G1 was an added on plan, so I almost bet you can just add on the 24.99 G1 plan with 400 texts, and be good to go with your old plan, and not loose your min's.

Thanks! that's basically what I needed to know. The only problem part might be the SIM anyway, but I'll have to see. I did try my SIM in another T-mobile supplied phone (in this case another Razr like what I currently have) and it would only come up prompting for a code. But, it might be worth the attempt if it can be made to work.

We're also considering switching over to the unlimited plan that my wife was offered. She gets it for $50, adds me for $40 (if they'll transfer my phone number) and then we have to figure out the data services. Hopefully by doing that we can get the phone for the promotional price too, we'll have to see.