Want to "test" the 7100i

[jabruno101]

I have been a 7520 user with nextel for about 3 months. While I find it to be very decent I have not gotten over the PTT at the top and the screen resolution (I sold off my pocket PC with vga so this is a HUGE step down). I have had the opportunity to take a look at a buddy's 7100 and I am thinking I may want to switch.

For me to Upgrade to the 7100 from Nextel it would cost about $275 because I am so new into the contract on the 7520. If I were to buy one on ebay have it activated from nextel and then if I like it sell off the 7520, I would come out just about even. (less activation fees). Does anyone see any issues with this or has anyone done this before?

And what if I do not like the 7100 as much would it be easy to switch back?
All comments would be appreciated.

[greggebhardt]

Switching back and forth will have to involve Nextel and will cost you. The SIMs are not the same. Nexstel does not care how many times you do this as long as you pay.

[d_fisher]

If you buy a Nextel 7100i (your only choice with Nextel), just switch the SIM card from your 7520 to the 7100i. Go to the Nextel BIS site and change the PIN and IMEI numbers. Should work without any problems.

Switching back and forth will have to involve Nextel and will cost you. The SIMs are not the same. Nextel does not care how many times you do this as long as you pay.Are you sure? Just a week ago, one of my end-users had a 7520 die on her. I swapped her out with another 7520 until her replacement arrived. All I had to do was move the SIM card over. Granted this was a 7520-7520 and not 7520-7100i. I thought the SIM cards between the two were identical.

[driguez]

why would you pay $275?? buy it off of ebay then call nextel and make a switch, thats what i did and i had made my contract a week before i made the switch, btw get the 7100i (my opinion) i had a treo 650 and i felt the same way about going with the 7100, but so far so good cant complain and i havent had any problems with resets and lock ups, unlike the problems i had with the treo

[greggebhardt]

If you buy a Nextel 7100i (your only choice with Nextel), just switch the SIM card from your 7520 to the 7100i. Go to the Nextel BIS site and change the PIN and IMEI numbers. Should work without any problems.

Are you sure? Just a week ago, one of my end-users had a 7520 die on her. I swapped her out with another 7520 until her replacement arrived. All I had to do was move the SIM card over. Granted this was a 7520-7520 and not 7520-7100i. I thought the SIM cards between the two were identical.

You can switch SIM cards between "like" devices all day long and just change you PIN without a problem. I think you can put the 7520 SIM in the 7100i and its ok but it will not work the other way around.

[driguez]

You can switch SIM cards between "like" devices all day long and just change you PIN without a problem. I think you can put the 7520 SIM in the 7100i and its ok but it will not work the other way around.

i switched SIM cards from a i760 to a 7100i, i called nextel to make the switch, free of charge http://realgm.com/boards/images/smiles/icon_ows.gif

[jabruno101]

So Is what you all are saying is that I can swap out a sim card from the 7520 and put it into the 7100 without issue?

From thread id# 28911 (I have less than 10 Posts and can not post a url)


I get this:
Just got off the phone with nextel blackberry- Seems you can't switch a 7520 Sim card to a 7100i because the 7520 is a 36 memory Sim and you need a 64 memory for the 7100i. They are not interchangeable.

So I ned to get a phone off Ebay with a Sim?

[balibe]

You should have no problem. The difference between the 32 & 64 is the sim chip memory. The older i90/i95 used the 32 chip, when they introduced the i730 model they introduced the 64 chip.

The BB holds the contacts in the device, not the chip. I ran my 7520 on the chip from my i730 for the longest time with full data plan. All you should have to do is drop your existing sim in the 7100i, go to the Nextel BIS page and change the PIN of the device. Your IMEI will remain the same & does not have to be changed.

Only issues you may have is if you have insurance or such on the phone. The IMIE number states the type phone you have. So if you lost it, Nextel will still believe you have a 7520. There may be a way to get customer service to change the type phone registered to the sim.

[southwestcomm]

Actually you can store contacts on the SIM cards with OS 4.1 now.
The 7520 SIM will not function correctly in the 7100.

[Bradhar911]

Actually you can store contacts on the SIM cards with OS 4.1 now.
The 7520 SIM will not function correctly in the 7100.

When I upgraded from the 7520 to the 7100i I tried swapping the sim chip between the 2 and could not get the 7100i to boot up after powering on. Kept getting an error message that I cannot remember now. I had to get the phone home and reload the os software on the 7100i with the OEM chip in order to get the phone to boot up. (this involved a call to Nextel support first to make sure I did not have a bad phone) Once the software was re-installed I synced the device with desktop manager and viola! worked like a charm. Had a couple of issues with the double rings in the beggining but found solutions to that in the forums here. Have not had another problem since. I was also told that the Nextel system has to have the correct sim ship and blackberry in their system in order for mms to work. After that initial start up I look back now and wonder why I wanted to transfer the sim anyways and not just do a sync with desktop manager. All my important info is in outlook anyways! Just my 1/2 cents worth!

[jabruno101]

Bradhar911, Same with me, everythin is in outlook. So did Nextel charge you for activating a new phone? Also in retrospect now do you feel swithcing from the 7520 was the right choice?

[Bradhar911]

Bradhar911, Same with me, everythin is in outlook. So did Nextel charge you for activating a new phone? Also in retrospect now do you feel swithcing from the 7520 was the right choice?

No, no charge but I own a small company with 7 phones on the account and they have not cahrged me for any of the swaps I've done. Yes I made the correct choice with the switch for what I need. The 7100i seems to have a weaker reception then the 7520 (the strongest reception of any Nextel I've owned) but a easier to read screen and once I got used to Suretype it is a breeze to use. I have a user with a 7520 still and they love theirs and don't want to switch. The keys on the 7100i are slightly smaller though.

{Edit: I just looked at a personal bill and they did NOT charge me for a switch I made for my wife, I swapped out a blackberry to a i760, she didn't use the blackberry at all and wanted to go back to a small phone saves me $50 bucks a month so I will not argue. Sold the 7100i on E-Bay}

[Baylink]

I've just swapped out from an i730 to a 7100i, and while I didn't actually *run* with the 730 SIM in the 7100 in production, putting it in to pull the contacts off it seems to have done no harm.

Nextel will hem and haw, but the only reason why it's a bad idea, from what I can ascertain from sources of reasonably high confidence, is that Nextel gets confused if you do it.

But, as some people noted, they do keep track of what sort of phone the SIM is in for NSP and insurance purposes, so you will want to tell them what you're doing.

If you're going to buy a cellphone on eBay, get the SIM & IMEI numbers from the seller and call Nextel to make sure it's not on the Stolen list before you bid.

Reputable sellers won't complain, and Nextel simply will *not* activate a phone that's on the list.

[ And I see I've been promoted to "Knows where the search button is". Is the next level "knows not to piggyback a new question buried under an old thread"? :-) ]