Can I use this phone just on wifi and not activate it at all on T-Mobile?

saintforlife

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Just got this little puppy for $125 on eBay. What a steal!

Questions:
Can I just use this phone on wifi and not activate it at all on T-Mobile? What is the best way to do this without the phone warning "No SIM card" all the time? Put it in airplane mode and turn on just the wifi?

Also I want to download off-line HERE Maps to the external micro USB card and use it as my primary navigation device in the car. Is that possible with this phone? Does both search and navigation work without issues off-line?
 

jbjtkbw007

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You can't put it in Airplane mode and use wi-fi as that would shut down all antennas I believe. Not sure I know how to disable the No SIM Card message.
 

saintforlife

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On the iPhone you can turn on airplane mode (which turns off all antennas) and then turn on just the wifi if you want. I thought it'd be the same on WP8.
 

mrpuny

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On the iPhone you can turn on airplane mode (which turns off all antennas) and then turn on just the wifi if you want. I thought it'd be the same on WP8.

It does work the same on Windows Phone. Wifi and Bluetooth can be turned on independently of airplane mode. And on Windows Phone 7.X, I know that turning airplane mode on will disable the "no SIM" error message; I haven't tried it on Windows Phone 8, but I'd guess it still works the same.

To download the HERE maps to your SD card, I believe you'll still need to download the beta "Lumia Storage Check" app. I don't think that feature has made it into the regular storage check feature. The option to change the download location will be in the "Details" pane. The stock storage check just allows for downloading and deleting maps on the main phone storage. The beta allows changing the location to the SD card as well. It's been working fine on my 521.

Edit: Just wanted to confirm that searching in the DRIVE app works offline. (I put the 521 in airplane mode with WiFi off and searched for an address. It popped up a "can't reach the network" message with an option to search offline, which mapped the address correctly.)
 
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sirgrant618

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THe only problem with that is that you can't set up a Microsoft account on that phone without a phone number attached to it. Because of this, you cannot download or update any apps or use Xbox Music or Xbox live on the phone. I got the 521 for $80 from HSN and decided to just do the $30 pre-paid plan for a month that got me unlimited data, text, and 100 mins (it's a special offer for "new" subscribers).

I'm actually considering dropping my att plan for a while and just use tmo for both my 920 and 521, now that my 920 is unlocked.

After $50.01 worth of refills and I think 2 months of service they will let you unlock the 521 so you can use it with your exiting carrier. Otherwise I guess you could just do the one month of service, cancel, and then just be in airplane mode (and independently turn n BT and WiFi) and use it like an iPod touch. Keep in mind that formatting the phone will require you to insert the sim once more, so I would stay away from that.

Hope this helps!
 

thomas wojcik

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Got mine on friday, no sim card installed yet, signed in using hotmail, downloading whatever i want. So yes it works fine without a sim card. ( as a wifi device)
 
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shn'g

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Is this some deal in the US. I'm in Canada, got the phone, turned it on and signed into my Microsoft account. I am using it as a WiFi only device and no problems with Xbox music or updating apps
 

Scott Kenyon

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Got mine on friday, no sim card installed yet, signed in using hotmail, downloading whatever i want. So yes it works fine without a sim card. ( as a wifi device)

I did the same. You have to set up the Microsoft account after you set up wifi, but it works.

Sent from my HTC One using Mobile Nations mobile app
 

sirgrant618

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I did the same. You have to set up the Microsoft account after you set up wifi, but it works.

Sent from my HTC One using Mobile Nations mobile app

Strange, I stand corrected, then! I tried setting up my MSFT account after wifi but it kept saying that it couldn't connect. Oh well. I wonder why mine wouldn't work. Any ideas?
 

Scott Kenyon

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Strange, I stand corrected, then! I tried setting up my MSFT account after wifi but it kept saying that it couldn't connect. Oh well. I wonder why mine wouldn't work. Any ideas?

No idea. I bought this to learn about wp. I'm using Android as my daily driver. My three year old daughter has figured out more about this Nokia than I have. :)

Sent from my HTC One using Mobile Nations mobile app
 

hysonmb

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I just set one up today with my MS account, no issues. It did have trouble for an hour or so after setup where it said the account service was having trouble so I couldn't download anything but that has since cleared and it's working fine.
 

Shawn Magm

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I don't have the 521 but the 520 on the AT&T network. I have a post paid plan. When I don't have the SIM in, the local time does not set correctly and I can't use the device as an alarm clock. I think there may have some other issues with email, but I can't remember exactly since it's been a couple days since the SIM has been out.
 

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