I bought a Virgin Mobile phone at Best Buy for $30 with no intention of activating the phone. I just want to give it to my kids to use on WiFi. I set up Google Hangouts and was able to get it texting and calling through Hangouts with a google number, so everything is working how I was hoping it would and the phone seems to be great.
The only problem is that the phone keeps bugging me to activate it every time I start it up. Does anybody have any tips for me removing that notification? I also tried pulling the SIM card but then it complains about not having a SIM card.
jmdarling said:
I bought a Virgin Mobile phone at Best Buy for $30 with no intention of activating the phone. I just want to give it to my kids to use on WiFi. I set up Google Hangouts and was able to get it texting and calling through Hangouts with a google number, so everything is working how I was hoping it would and the phone seems to be great.
The only problem is that the phone keeps bugging me to activate it every time I start it up. Does anybody have any tips for me removing that notification? I also tried pulling the SIM card but then it complains about not having a SIM card.
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Hi,
I purchased HTC 510 for the same purpose. To use the phone without activation, I switched the Airplane mode on. After that I was able to browse the internet, install applications from the Play store and play media on the samsung TV.
Slide the notification bar down
Click on the square in the top right hand corner for settings
click on Airplane mode on.
Oh, great tip! I will try that when I get home from work. That's even less invasive than what I ended up trying.
Here is what I did:
I rooted the phone and then installed an app that has the ability to "freeze" unwanted applications. I froze anything related to Sprint or data and it stopped bugging me, although it still has a little icon telling me the SIM card is invalid, or something like that...
I didn't post an update on here telling what I did because I wasn't sure if I was done yet. There may be other changes I need to make, but I would rather just simply put it in airplane mode like you suggested.
Related
So my friend is giving me her old G1 since she got a new phone and it is basically sitting in her glove compartment. She has T-Mobile I have AT&T.
I am on a family plan with no data plan and my parents went so far as to put a data block on all the phones. I read a few sites and I heard from one that once the phone is unlocked it is a one time deal, if this is true this may be good for me.
A) Since my friends phone is obviously unlocked since it was hers and she used it, if I put my ATT sim card in (she's not gonna factory reset), will it work? What would I have to do
Since I dont have a data plan and my parents blocked all data (internet, not messaging) but I have Wifi, can i tell my friend before she mails me her G1 to enable wifi?
B) Since I don't plan on getting wifi anytime soon, this would be good no? Ofcourse if question A is correct that I wouldn't have to unlock it and activate it.
Ba) If question A is fail, could i still activate the phone via my wifi on the gmail account set up?
So those are all the questions I have, I would like to know what I should do when i get the phone in anycase because I would really like to use it, and i plan to use the wifi feature instead of paying for a data plan since my town has a lot of free wifi hotspots!
Let me know!!!
- Joey
you can also reach me at,
AIM: inability2sleep
If the phone is up to date, it should allow you to skip the account sync process (which is one reason data is required). That way it should allow you to get into the phone and activate wifi yourself.
Of course it wouldn't hurt to have you friend do it for you. Convenience and all.
you meant to say "Since I don't plan on getting data anytime soon..." right?
If she doesn't factory reset, you can add multiple accounts on a single G1 through settings. So give that a go too. The main thing is, that before donut, it was mandatory to sync over data service to activate your phone on a fresh G1. So you should be ok.
Hey Innovated,
Shouldn't have any issues doing that. If you pop in the SIM card, the phone will first say Emergency Calls Only. You have to go into Settings, Wireless Controls, Mobile Networks, then Network Operators and select AT&T.
If it pops up with an unlock code screen, then you need to purchase an unlock code. eBay is usually good, around $5.
After that, everything will work. As you don't have a data plan, and have a data block in place, there's no need to enter new APN details.
As for wifi, you can turn it on or off as you want. To turn on and off, click Settings, Wireless Controls, Enable WiFi.
Hope this helps!
-XBrav
Wow thank you so much for both of your fast replies! This will help so much and hopefully it is as easy as you say! I can't wait to have this cool phone!
My friend wants to know if it can still work if she can factory reset it, and add my gmail account to activate it before mailing me the phone... Would that still be the same as what she 'WAS' going to do in my first description?
As far as I know that can work. What the sync does is add your contacts, and allow the phone to sync with your google account. With 1.6 and higher, android allows you to skip the step, but it should be possible if she does it for you.
Worst comes to worse, you factory reset and hit "skip" . So yup. hope that helps.
even if im ATT and she's Tmobile?
If I buy a used G1 on ebay, can my neighbor just put her sim card in it without any web plan? She has a regular voice and text plan on T-Mobile with a cracker jack nokia flip phone and it's a hassle for her to send and receive texts. I figured she can get a phone with a keyboard and make her life easier.
Does she have to turn anything off so she doesn't get charged for web service?
without a data plan its gonna be hard to get past the activiation screen.
all she would need to do is
get a sim with someone who has data,
go through the setup creating her own gmail account
then when she;s at the home screen power off and swap sims again.
she wont have internet but the basics will work!
I have an iPhone on T-Mobile with data. So I can use my sim and put it in her G1 and where do I find the next steps in activating everything?
no sim = unpassable NO SIM screen.
sim without data = activation/learn how to use screen, cant continue after wanting to create gmail account
sim with data = get to step above but it will create the account and allow you through to the home screen.
so yes, as long as the sim has data, she should be ale to activate.
just remember to tell her that the phone is much more fun with data ;D
Thanks. Once I get her to see how much fun and easier to use a smart phone is I'm sure she'll eventually get a data plan.
actually I think the only way to get pass it is with a android data plan, Im not sure of the other data plans t-mobile has.
But I have had my G1 for a year w/o data.I got 5MB of free data when I bought it so you can try it even though your getting it used.I still had this problem when I was rooting it though because I had to log-in without the data.I did by going through the adb shell or something its kind of difficult.
Maybe someone else can give you more information
Ok I got it and I installed the sim card from my iPhone. I went through the activation process and I created a generic gmail account and have been using the G1 for the last 30 minutes. Have it also working through the wifi at home too.
Now I have to install her sim to see what happens.
Download APN droid so that her phone doesn't connect to data services. They will charge her per MB if she doesn't.
I got pretty good at modifying the iPhone and next week I have to learn the EVO. I hope what I learn with this G1 I can use with the EVO later!
I went into MARKET on the G1 and searched APN and all I got was APN Italy and APN Movilphone. Where do I get APN DROID and how do I install it?
The app's name is "APNdroid" by martin adamek. It's in the market.
I must be doing something wrong. I'm going into the market and searching for APNdroid and it keeps telling me
There are no matches in Android Market for the search : APNdroid
Do I have to be rooted or jailbroken or is it another Market not the one on the stock G1 ? Do I have to do it while connected on the cellphone or can I do it over wifi?
I'm not an idiot, I mean how hard is it to do a search, but this is making me nuts!!
OK Now I know what happened. I've been playing with the G1 since yesterday but for some reason today it decided to update its version. It asked if I wanted to update it and I said yes. Apparently the previous owner had never updated it. I now have a way prettier and more modern looking Market and it found the app quickly when I searched for it.
I installed the app and it's working great. I knew I couldn't be that dumb!
Thanks a lot for your patience.
So I bought a G1 at a really good price the other day. My first android phone. Basically in not so many words this confirmed I'm a wimo guy. So I gave it to my buddy to use. He's coming from a Gravity semi smart phone with the $10 data plan from Tmo. Well at first he plugs in his sim and no problems, he gets full 3G and creates a google account and all is great. He calls me later that night saying he's blocked from the internet now and its saying he needs to upgrade his script to the $25 data plan to use the phone. What wierd is I've seen this before and it always launches Tmo's web2go site saying you need to upgrade. His loads up google fine, can search google, but can't actually goto any other sites. I thought this was wierd but may be tmo give you a full connection for a couple hours to register the phone. So now he's ready to upgrade to the $25 data plan and he says every day it erases his contacts and he has to re import them from his sim card everyday. I'm wondering if the google backup is having something to do with this? Or have anyone else had an issue like this? I do have the full data plan and plan on testing this out this week to see if it happens to me too.
I think with Android Phones it syncs with Google Account and needs a Data Plan to sync contacts..
thats a simple idea, but im sure its not that at all jus an idea
That what I'm thinking. I'm figuring he's importing his contacts. It goes to update and merge them to google. Finds google empty or can't contact google, and wipes them all out back to stock. I'm gonna test it myself with my card here soon so If I figure anything out I'll post it.
If he can ask him if he can get on wifi and try to sync with google that way and see if they will stick
ilostchild said:
If he can ask him if he can get on wifi and try to sync with google that way and see if they will stick
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My test should be fine, he doesn't mind paying the extra money for the smartphone package he's just worried the phones broken. I on the other hand am leaning towards user error, needing a script to get to google, or software error. Which I would imagine I could cure by flashing a new rom.
O it would be the same as your test that you want be it wont require you taking out your sim, and putting it in the phone then turning on blah blah... jus quick and fast if it saves it then needs the data to work
That would be a good idea because I don't like taking out my sim. I've always had great luck with them till this phone. It killed 3 of my cards because it had a locked pin in the simcard port. I finally realized what was happening and jiggled it and it loosened up and fixed it. But I already took back the phone and wiped it so I need a data connection and google account to just boot it again. I'll just trade out my HD2 for a G1 for the week..
j/k I'll give this damn android a fair shot.
It seems like the update from a couple of days ago broke my network connection. Phone still works with WiFi calling. There is no signal at all. Very frustrating and no idea where to start. Airplane mode on off, restart, data off on. Tried to search for the mobile network, reset APN. Any ideas?? This really sucks.
Have you tried removing and reinserting the SIM? Other than that, I'm thinking you might want to take the most desperate step, and call 6-1-1. [emoji23]
You could try the SIM in another phone to determine if there is a problem outside your phone, and you could also try a factory reset.
I had a similar issue not too long ago on VZW...they needed to provision a new sim card for me. They didn't think it would work in the store but I insisted...they gave me the new sim card for free and thanked me for doing their job.
Well crap. That's inconvenient. I pulled the SIM and no luck. So weird that before the update everything was fine. It's really annoying to have a phone that only works on wifi.
Somehow if my efforts to level up Bixby they set my wifi calling preference to never use cellular. Damn I felt dumb in the store haha.
DC2CA said:
Somehow if my efforts to level up Bixby they set my wifi calling preference to never use cellular. Damn I felt dumb in the store haha.
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Dude, i have been having this issue for months and always factory reset my phone to fix the issue. This tip is gold. Made me come out of dormant status here on xda just to say thank you.
I bought a used t-mobile galaxy s8. The website I used said clean imei and I put my sim in the phone and it worked fine. After taking it home it stopped working. I played around with the settings to get it work and came to find that it works briefly after turning phone off and then back on. After about 10 minutes I can't make call or even perform a speed test via speedtest app. The dialer screen will not even load and remains blank, then no calls incoming or internet. If i restart then it starts again. This made me suspicious and I eventually found the t-mobile imei site which says it has an outstanding balance and may not be able to be used. I just find it weird it works then stops. Is that what is causing it? Will it eventually stop working completely?
call tmobile and describe your issue. they can help or at least tell you what to do.
OP, where did you buy the phone from?
I purchased one from S**p*a and have similar concerns.
I recently had the same issue.
I found out somehow an option was enabled that made it seem like i was network blocked or had a bricked sim card.
Under settings/connections/more connection settings/wifi calling
Make sure the middle option is selected and not "never use cellular network"
For some reason every samsung phone i have owned has enabled this option atleast once during ownership.
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