Switch messages from one phone to another

[Rgarner]

Since my friend's LG X Charge is totally down, he can't receive messages. Is there a way to send them to my S5 instead? He's got some things he really wants to keep up with on there.

 

[Hadron]

Is the S5 your current handset or an old one? If he uses a SIM card (i.e. isn't using a very old CDMA phone) putting the SIM in another phone (that's not locked to a different carrier) will transfer the number to that phone and hence he'll receive the SMS there.

Otherwise the only way I can think of is contacting the other people and asking them to include you (or your number) in the conversation.

In principle it would probably be possible to use some app to forward SMS to another phone, but if the phone is dead that's not going to work (because the app would have to run on his phone). I seriously doubt that they can be redirected at the network level, but I suppose he could speak to his service provider and see.

 

[Rgarner]

His phone is SIM but mine is wifi only. His provider is Cricket. Would it work to put his SIM in my phone? The back on his is hard to remove.

 

[Hadron]

If your phone is not locked to a particular provider, and if his SIM fits (newer SIMs are smaller, so an adapter may be needed), then that should work.

 

[Rgarner]

I had to use a knife to get the cover off the X Charge. Under that is some kind of membrane. I guess the sim card is hiding under there. What do I do now?

 

[Hadron]

That sounds wrong. If the phone doesn't have a user-replaceable battery there should be a SIM slot on the side (or the top, very rarely the bottom). The cover will be flush with the phone with a little round hole at one end: you poke a special tool in to open it, or the end of a paperclip will do just fine.

 

[Rgarner]

I knifed the membrane off and now it looks the same as a regular phone. How do I open it? I'm not seeing anything obvious.

 

[Rgarner]

Hurray, I got it open with a safety pin. However, when I put the card in it still said no sim found. I have reinserted it maybe three times now and still no dice. What gives? Would a Cricket sim somehow not work with a (formerly) Verizon phone?

 

[Rgarner]

The phone stopped coming on, but now it's working again, a scary half hour. I put the Cricket sim card with the gold down and the angle at the upper left. Isn't that the right way? It still shows no sim in this S5.

 

[Hadron]

The SIM holder usually only fits the SIM one way up.

Is the S5 still carrier-locked to Verizon? If so it's possible it just won't recognise the SIM. I'm not an expert on CDMA phones and their use of SIMs, as we don't have that technology here (most of the world adopted GSM-based technologies).

 

[Rgarner]

I have no idea if it's carrier locked. I sure hope not. It's probably not CDMA (too good to be true). How do I know which way for the sim? I have it in with the gold side down and the Cricket logo up, notch at the upper left. Is it ever a different way? I'm pretty sure it's the lower slot because I have the SD card in the top one.

 

[Hadron]

If it was a former Verizon phone it's CDMA (VZW are a CDMA network - I know that much ).

The cut-off corner of the SIM card means it only fits one way. You could try to put it on the wrong side of the SIM holder, but in my experience it doesn't lie flush with the holder if you do that and so you wouldn't be able to put it in the phone.

 

[Rgarner]

If it is locked to Verizon, how do I make it recognize the sim card? We really want to be able to get his calls and messages. There's got to be a way.

 

[Hadron]

If it's locked to Verizon then the simplest way would be to get an unlock code from Verizon - but it's possible that only works for phones that are still connected to them. There will be third-party unlocking services, but reliability will vary and I can't recommend one as I've never used any of them.

 

[Rgarner]

Well, with this awful new cricket icon, messages are back. I don't know how to get back the old messages and any that might have been missed for about a month because of the broken LG X Charge. Help, please.

 

[mikedt]

Well, with this awful new cricket icon, messages are back. I don't know how to get back the old messages and any that might have been missed for about a month because of the broken LG X Charge. Help, please.

I wish I could help.