Thunderbolt initial setup

[mcmkw95]

I'm getting my new thunderbolt tonight and have been reading something about the sim card and calling *228 to switch from my existing phone. Is there anything I should know before doing the transfer? Should I activate it online instead of the other way? Any help is greatly appreciated. I really don't want to screw this up. Thanks

[TBhouston · Accepted solution]

you should never do *228 on ANY 4G device. EVER. Even if they told you at vzw, don't do it. Call back and get tech, they will tell you not to do it.

 Make sure you switch your current phone off the line, let the store activate the sim card on the number you want and everything will Over the air activate when the phone turns on

I can't stress the star 228 enough here. I bought my phone today and a rep told me to do star 228 and i almost died inside..

If you did an alternate upgrade, you need to accept the terms and conditions and activate phone later, then they can activate the sim on the correct number for you...

If this process is done incorrectly it will ruin the first sim card, and while they are free to you it still costs you the extra hassle.

[mcmkw95]

Thank You

[msdsman]

This is very confusing.

The instructions that are emailed from Verizon with my thunderbolt order tell me the *228 is needed for setup. Phone will in a day and now Im not sure of the set up procedures.

Why is this *228 the wrong thing to do?

[PJNC284]

Apparently it hoses your sim card.

[bf1]

I ordered my Thunderbolt online and the set-up instructions that came with my phone never mentioned having to dial *228, so I didn't do it.  I had a problem tonight with getting ringtones and when tech support was trying to figure it out, he sounded surprised I didn't acitivate with the *228 and mentioned something about I "just activated solely on my SIM card."  Is this a bad thing?  I'd hate to mess up such a pricey phone I've been waiting forever to get.  Any thoughts?

[TBhouston]

Doing starr 228 doesn't mess up your phone but it usually ruins the sim card. In cases that it doesn't ruin the sim card it can mess up your profile on the network.. 

It is appalling  the lack of complete training some reps seem to be getting, but i guess that can happen when you have such a large corporation were things change so fast.

The way verizon sim cards work is they store your information about that line. What you're allowed to do and not do on the network, what your phone number is, what features you are paying for. So when your phone powers on the sim card goes out and matches that information with what is on verizons network. In the future you'll be able to take your sim card from your thunderbolt to your upgraded 4g decice and that's it. boom, you're service is transferred. (still have to get the data stored on the old phone off)...thats like a really basic overview..

the tl;dr verison is you did it correctly and don't worry.

What was your issue with ringtones though?

[bf1]

Thanks for your reply;  it was very informative to say the least. 

Regarding the ringtones, I went to VZW online and purchased some ringtones, received the confirmation text, but when I followed the instructions online on transferring them onto my phone (save to audio), I repeatedly got a message stating "unable to save attachement" or something like that.  I tried it repeatedly, called customer service, and the lady there told had me try calling *228, which my phone would end the call attempt each time I tried.  Then she transferred me to tech support, who then had me attempt the *228 again, and same thing happened.  He worked with me like 30 minutes or more, had me go into Android market and download VZW messages, got a message indicator on the top of my screen stating the download was successful, but when I tried to open it I got a message stating it was not downloaded.  He had me back out to the home screen, tap on android market again, but it then brought me to a different screen (news and magazines) that was advertising getting updates on the Tsunami in Japan and no way to close out that screen without backing out again.  He then had me take out my battery for 20 seconds, power up again, try the android market again (which now had the correct screen when I tapped on it), but still could not download the VZW messages.  He was trying this thinking that maybe I could set up my purchased ringtone this way.  In the end, he said I would not be charged for my ringtones since I couldn't transfer them to my phone anyway, and he recommended I get the VCAST Music or VCAST Media Manager app installed free and get the ringtones directly to my phone.  I looked into that after the fact and found you have to subscribe and pay something like $2.99/month for this.  So, needless to say, I'm not going to subscribe to either one of those because all I want is a couple of stinking ringtones.

Not to be redundant, but I've been told I'm a worry wart:  after your reply I wondered----do you think I messed up my SIM card when I followed the customer service rep and tech support's instructions to dial *228 (several times)??  I'm sincerely hoping your answer will be a firm no.....

[Jax_Omen]

Maybe, maybe not. The system is *supposed* to just hang up on you when you *228 on an LTE phone, but for some people it's not, and letting it go through all the way fries the SIM card.

[willzzz99]

First of ALL you are CONFUSING TWO THINGS.

Ringtones HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH DEVICE ACTIVATION.

Your ringtone problem is a problem with the VZW media store. To fix simply install the VZW tunes or whatever they call it now app in the Android marketplace. Run it and download. If it prompts you to save-as then save it to the phone.