Expert: DebiN - 1/28/2010

Question
Hi,
My son has an old (4yrs) t-mobile (nokia) phone from Costo)pay-as you-go-plan. We would like to purchase a blackberry pearl from a co-worker. He would like to use his old SIM card(keeping same phone number and all his info on it) and transfer to the new blkberry. Can this be done? Is there any lock/unlock or fees to be had? Are there any features that would not be able to work on the blkberry? We would still use a pay as you go. Thanks,  CC

Answer
If the BlackBerry Pearl that your co-worker has is branded by T-Mobile, your son's SIM card may work in it (there's a possibility that it won't because it's prepaid, but it's worth trying). If it's not branded by T-Mobile, it will not work. The problem, however, is that even if you get a signal and it will allow you to make and receive phone calls and text messages, you will not be able to do anything else, i.e., access the internet or send and receive picture messages or send and receive email. You need a post-paid (contract) BlackBerry data plan ($24.99 with T-Mobile) in order to use a BlackBerry on the T-Mobile network. If the Pearl is T-Mobile branded and your son's SIM works in it, he will not be able to track the minutes he has been using or what he has left (from the BlackBerry), but he will be able to easily copy his contacts from the SIM card to the BlackBerry. Let me know if the device is T-Mobile and try it before you buy it to be sure it works. Thanks. DebiN