Prepaid Cell Phones: Promo Codes and Deals

Unlocking a Boost Mobile phone is pretty easy, especially if you intned to use it with Sprint or Nextel. Most Boost phones will work with Sprint/Nextel right out of the box, and the same applies for phones made for those phone service providers.

The reason you do not need to unlock the phone to use it on those services is because BM doesn’t own their own cell phone towers or anything, they have an agreement with Nextel to use their network, which is why BM is a MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). Theirs phones work just like the other two companies phones because they are using the same network.

If your wondering how to unlock a boost mobile phone and intend to use your boost phone with another prepaid service provider your going to be out of luck, using a prepaid phone with another prepaid company is impossible because Virgin Mobile’s phones are custom made with custom programming options that would not be available on any other phone, as Tracfone’s phones are.

The only hope would be using a T-Mobile phone with Boost, or a Boost phone with T-Mobile, but it all depends on what type of phone you have. You will usually need to send the phone in to be professionally unlocked, or find a phone specific hack.

Thanks Brian for asking your question, and I hope I have answered everything you inquired about.

Virgin Mobile has said, in a press release, that they will be looking to add touchscreen phones to their lineup in the near future.

With the amazing popularity of cell phones such as the Apple iPhone or the T-Mobile G1, it’s no surprise that Virgin Mobile would like to be able to offer their customers a competing product. The issue, however, is the prohibitive cost of touchscreen smart phones.

The plus side is Virgin Mobile has released quite a few HTC phones that have been affordable, so working with HTC they can probably realize an affordable touchscreen phone that the average consumer could afford to purchase without a contract.

No details about a device have been released yet. It’s a safe bet that the first such phone will be an HTC, and don’t go holding out hope for Android. The data usage of an Android powered device would probably be prohibitive for most of their customers who want a cool phone but don’t want a huge increase in their monthly service charges.

Stay tuned for more information on a touchscreen smartphone for Virgin Mobile.

Does your prepaid provider never send you promotions? You could be the one at fault if you’ve ever wondered why they never send you any of these coveted coupons without you having to go searching for them.

Having worked for a prepaid provider, you would not believe how many customers they have name Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or Jon Doe. Much less surprising, many customers use the address “1st first street” or “Mickey Mouse Avenue”.

Most customers enter errorneous information like above when signing up for their prepaid phone, and than later wonder why they are not getting the latest promotions.  If you’ve never received anything from your provider, maybe you should call in and make sure you are not opted out of mailings, and that your mailing address is correct.

A little extra mail is well worth the promotions. For example, if you don’t add minutes to a Virgin Mobile account fo more than 60-90 days, they will usually send you a coupon code to use that is only valid for your account. This code is usually for $10-20 bonus, and if your living on Mickey Mouse Avenue, your probably not going to ever know you could of saved a few bucks!

T-Mobile is pretty adamant about you renewing your contract and adding their G1 web package to your account just to allow you the privilege of buying their G1, or soon to appear G2. If you really just love HTC phones and have to have one, which I do not – you should see my third replacement G1, it now has a cracked screen

I’ve owned a few HTC’s, and I’ve hated them all. But hey, maybe you won’t or maybe you want to have one of the first Android prepaid phones, so I will tell you how to use one with a prepaid account.

How to use a G1 or G2 on prepaid or without the G1/myTouch Bundle:

1. Get a g1 or G2 (T-Mobile myTouch 3g). You can find them on E-bay, Craigslist, where ever.
2. Get a friend with a g1 and the g1 web bundle.
3. Have your friend insert their SIM card in your phone and activate it for you, using your Google account.
4. Once the phone is setup, insert your prepaid sim card.

This will activate the phone, and if anything happens to the phone in the future such as needing a factory reset, you will need to have your friend set the phone back up for you using their SIM card (it doesn’t have to be the same friend).

The only issue I have come across with this is a friend of mine activated her phone using my SIM card. She called T-Mobile and the woman on the phone was angered that she did not have the required bundle, and made a big deal out of it and told her she was disabling her phone. Her phone still works, though. Only the HTC Dream is available at this point in time, but the steps will work for the HTC Magic, or it’s new official name the T-Mobile myTouch 3g.

When you create a new account for T-Mobile Prepaid and purchase a select phone, you will receive a free $25 prepaid card that can be used with your new phone. This can make some of their prepaid phone offerings a bit more affordable. The representative I talked to could not tell me when the promotion was ending, only that it is valid while supplies last.

Phones that qualify include:

• Nokia 1208
• Nokia 3555
• Samsung t349
• Samsun t239

The only starter kit bundle that doesn’t include the $25 promotional card is the Nokia 1661.