Just got S3 from Metro PCS, can I somehow use it with Straight Talk?

[Everymanalion]

Just switched over to Metro PCS from Cricket, I live in NYC but I travel A LOT, im talking like 3-4 days out of the week and I heard you only get 1x(not evdo) in most of those areas AND they will kick you off if you travel too much out of home areas, now here is my question, my galaxy s3 is branded for metro pcs but it has a sim card slot in the back, straight talk uses sim cards as well, is there anyway I could switch to straight talk or ANY other carrier that uses sim cards and keep my galaxy s3? I love the phone but I cannot risk it being canceled on me when I am traveling....

I was going to post this in the metro pcs section but it said for root things only, there has to be a way to do this as metro is making me nervous and I am an idiot for not reading over their TOS in depth...thanks....

Oh and P.S. can you even get Data with 1x? lets say im in Wyoming for buisness and I need to check something on the internet on my phone, will 1x even load at all? Instagram picture? Albeit, very slow? I know ev-do is faster but yea, Thanks

I would be open to rooting and messing with internal stuff as well if it allowed me to switch to a more comparable pre paid carrier.

I guess a synopsis of my question is, and I have read elsewhere but nothing confirmed, that ALL galaxy S3 are capable of GSM and CDMA but its just a question of enabling it, im not asking HOW to enable it, im just curious if that is true?

 

[Everymanalion]

Oh and do you think when T-mobile and Metro merges that they will send an update to compatible phones, like making the S3 from CDMA able to switch to t-mobiles GSM network? This is more of an opinion question...

 

[UserName872]

The short answer to both questions is no. The internal radios and hardware for a GSM SIM device is entirely different from a CDMA phone like the MetroPCS phone you have. Unfortunately, you will never be able to use the CDMA device on any straight talk or t-mobile network as the phone you have does not have a SIM slot nor the proper physical radios to handle the change. Your best bet is to try and sell the GS3 you have and purchase an unlocked model GS3 that you could then use.

 

[teeitupmo]

You need a Unlocked GSM Galaxy S3 to work with StraightTalk. Easiest was is eBay, you search for exactly what you need.

 

[Everymanalion]

The short answer to both questions is no. The internal radios and hardware for a GSM SIM device is entirely different from a CDMA phone like the MetroPCS phone you have. Unfortunately, you will never be able to use the CDMA device on any straight talk or t-mobile network as the phone you have does not have a SIM slot nor the proper physical radios to handle the change. Your best bet is to try and sell the GS3 you have and purchase an unlocked model GS3 that you could then use.

But my phone does have a sim slot? errr, a mini sim or micro sim or whatever that is....why cant I use that?

 

[fdbryant3]

Simply put that SIM slot is to control the radios for the LTE network and is not designed for operating on the GSM Networks that StraightTalk uses.

 

[Airstream25]

Simply put that SIM slot is to control the radios for the LTE network and is not designed for operating on the GSM Networks that StraightTalk uses.

I just copied this from the Verizon web site for the GS3;

"Specifications
Network
LTE, CDMA/PCS/1xEVDO Rev. A (800/1900 MHz)
Global: GPRS/EDGE/GSM (850/900/1800/1900); HSPA/UMTS (2100)"

Looks like it does work on GSM

 

[UserName872]

I just copied this from the Verizon web site for the GS3;

"Specifications
Network
LTE, CDMA/PCS/1xEVDO Rev. A (800/1900 MHz)
Global: GPRS/EDGE/GSM (850/900/1800/1900); HSPA/UMTS (2100)"

Looks like it does work on GSM

He said he has a MetroPCS S3, not Verizon. I was incorrect that he does have a SIM slot but there is little information as to the Metro model S3 to determine what radios are on-board.