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16GB Motorola MOTO E5 Play AT&T Prepaid Smartphone Expired

$30
$99.99
+ Free Store Pickup
+55 Deal Score
61,900 Views
Best Buy has 16GB Motorola MOTO E5 Play AT&T Prepaid Smartphone (Black; XT1921-2) on sale for $29.99. Select in-store pickup where available, or shipping is free for orders $35+. Thanks SpyrusNViware

Note, select "Activate Later" if you do not wish to activate with purchase.

Specs
  • Snapdragon 427 Processor
  • 5.2" 1280x720 IPS Display
  • 16GB Internal Storage (expandable via MicroSD)
  • 8MP Rear + 5MP Front Cameras
  • Android Oreo 8.0

Editor's Notes & Price Research

Written by
This matches the price of the previous Frontpage deal from November. -Corwin

Original Post

Written by
Edited January 29, 2020 at 05:13 PM by
Best Buy has the AT&T Prepaid Motorola Moto E5 Play for $29.99 (choose activate later).

Motorola Moto E5 Play AT&T Prepaid [bestbuy.com]

Specs
Snapdragon 427 Processor
5.2" 1280x720 IPS Display
16GB Internal Storage (expandable via MicroSD)
8MP Rear + 5MP Front Cameras
Android Oreo 8.0

This deal from Nov is back, but without free shipping. You can order for store pickup for free though. ***EDIT*** Is now OOS for shipping. Deal is dead unless BB near you has in stock.Later it went to regular price, $99.99, and then on sale for $39.99. It's now back to $29.99. I think these won't be around for much longer, as they are a couple of generations old now.


Take note of the comments on the previous post to figure out if this is right for you.
https://slickdeals.net/f/13599010-at-t-prepaid-16gb-motorola-moto-e5-play-phone-29-99-best-buy-early-bf-price?src=SiteSearch


These seem to work on any AT&T MVNO as long as you don't power it on with the included AT&T prepaid SIM first. My son and I are using these as backups with FreedomPop 1yr pre-loaded SIMs with 1GB/mo, BUT, recently I was trying to run out of data and compare data usage of Hangouts Vs the FreedomPop app. All calls with the FreedomPop app (in/out/LTE/WiFi) were disconnected after 10 minutes. I know I've made longer calls in the past, so don't know what's up with that.
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Deal
Score
+55
61,900 Views
$30
$99.99

259 Comments

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Featured Comments

This is a very good phone for the price. However, be aware that AT&T pre-paid phones (including this phone) have a locked bootloader. This mean that this phone can NOT be rooted or have custom firmware installed. If you plan to use the stock firmware then this is a good phone, buy it (but don't buy it to root or install custom firmware)
Yup. You can use AT&T Prepaid devices on postpaid or any MVNO that uses AT&T
I think what OP meant is if you turn on the phone with the SIM that came with it, then the phone will be locked to that AT&T prepaid SIM, and cannot work on AT&T postpaid or AT&T MVNO's carriers.

I believe it was back in 2013 or earlier, those older AT&T Prepaid phones would not work with postpaid. They needed to be on prepaid for at least 6 months before they could be bought over to postpaid. Now some people still don't know that, so they thought that you could bypass that by simply insert a postpaid SIM or MVNO SIM first. They didn't realized that newer AT&T prepaid phone will also work on postpaid these days.

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Joined Oct 2014
L3: Novice
> bubble2 776 Posts
165 Reputation
RyanR5412
01-26-2020 at 12:46 AM.
01-26-2020 at 12:46 AM.
Quote :
These seem to work on any AT&T MVNO as long as you don't power it on with the included AT&T prepaid SIM first.
Whos a what now? That's simply not the case. It doesn't matter if you power it on with the included SIM or not. It'll still be locked to AT&T With that said all AT&T sold phones work on anyone who uses AT&T. The only exception to this rule is Cricket phones. Cricket sold devices must be unlocked from Cricket before they can be used on another carrier. Even AT&T.
Reply
Joined Jul 2008
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,890 Posts
1,067 Reputation
Original Poster
SpyrusNViware
01-26-2020 at 12:49 AM.
01-26-2020 at 12:49 AM.
Quote from RyanR5412 :
Whos a what now? That's simply not the case. It doesn't matter if you power it on with the included SIM or not. It'll still be locked to AT&T With that said all AT&T sold phones work on anyone who uses AT&T. The only exception to this rule is Cricket phones. Cricket sold devices must be unlocked from Cricket before they can be used on another carrier. Even AT&T.
I'm just stating what people have said in the previous deals on this phone. I'm not going to be the guy who tests the theory. I actually think this might be a myth going back to the Virgin and Boost phones being used on other Sprint MVNO's. But again, I'm not going to be the guy to test it.
Reply
Last edited by SpyrusNViware January 26, 2020 at 12:53 AM.
Joined Oct 2014
L3: Novice
> bubble2 776 Posts
165 Reputation
RyanR5412
01-26-2020 at 12:53 AM.
01-26-2020 at 12:53 AM.
Quote from SpyrusNViware :
I'm just stating what people have said in the previous deals on this phone. I'm not going to be the guy who tests the theory.
Really not a theory. It's a fact.

Source: I've done this myself dozens of times with AT&T locked phones. They are locked prior to selling the device. You powering it on without the SIM in it will not magically keep the phone unlocked.
Reply
Joined Dec 2006
L8: Grand Teacher
> bubble2 3,690 Posts
789 Reputation
Arkus
01-26-2020 at 01:18 AM.
01-26-2020 at 01:18 AM.
Quote from RyanR5412 :
Really not a theory. It's a fact.

Source: I've done this myself dozens of times with AT&T locked phones. They are locked prior to selling the device. You powering it on without the SIM in it will not magically keep the phone unlocked.
Would this exact model work as a backup for someone with an at&t postpaid sim?
Reply
Joined Oct 2014
L3: Novice
> bubble2 776 Posts
165 Reputation
RyanR5412
01-26-2020 at 01:19 AM.
01-26-2020 at 01:19 AM.
Quote from Arkus :
Would this exact model work as a backup for someone with an at&t postpaid sim?
Yup. You can use AT&T Prepaid devices on postpaid or any MVNO that uses AT&T
Reply
Joined Dec 2006
L8: Grand Teacher
> bubble2 3,690 Posts
789 Reputation
Arkus
01-26-2020 at 01:29 AM.
01-26-2020 at 01:29 AM.
Quote from RyanR5412 :
Yup. You can use AT&T Prepaid devices on postpaid or any MVNO that uses AT&T
Thanks, started digging into the old thread and found similar responses.

Haven't followed at&t prepaid deals for a long while and just wanted to be sure this was still true before suggesting this to a family member.
Reply
Joined May 2007
L6: Expert
> bubble2 1,783 Posts
1,001 Reputation
Pro
coldteadodd
01-26-2020 at 05:18 AM.
01-26-2020 at 05:18 AM.
How easy is to unlock this device?
Reply

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Joined Jun 2016
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> bubble2 359 Posts
58 Reputation
supermhz
01-26-2020 at 05:19 AM.
01-26-2020 at 05:19 AM.
Quote from RyanR5412 :
Really not a theory. It's a fact.

Source: I've done this myself dozens of times with AT&T locked phones. They are locked prior to selling the device. You powering it on without the SIM in it will not magically keep the phone unlocked.
I think what OP meant is if you turn on the phone with the SIM that came with it, then the phone will be locked to that AT&T prepaid SIM, and cannot work on AT&T postpaid or AT&T MVNO's carriers.

I believe it was back in 2013 or earlier, those older AT&T Prepaid phones would not work with postpaid. They needed to be on prepaid for at least 6 months before they could be bought over to postpaid. Now some people still don't know that, so they thought that you could bypass that by simply insert a postpaid SIM or MVNO SIM first. They didn't realized that newer AT&T prepaid phone will also work on postpaid these days.
Reply
Joined Jun 2015
L7: Teacher
> bubble2 2,133 Posts
242 Reputation
TheRedEyeBandit
01-26-2020 at 06:40 AM.
01-26-2020 at 06:40 AM.
Plenty of custom rom available for this phone including Android 9.0 lineage is rom
Reply
Joined Mar 2006
Blue Blazer Regular
> bubble2 1,057 Posts
515 Reputation
Perknose
01-26-2020 at 07:08 AM.
01-26-2020 at 07:08 AM.
Cheapest AT&T MVNO plan?
Reply
Joined Jun 2007
ღ ♥ (=^.^=) ♥ ღ
> bubble2 6,020 Posts
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Pro
Stars09
01-26-2020 at 07:12 AM.
01-26-2020 at 07:12 AM.
No way to unlock this to use on T-Mobile is there
Reply
Joined Feb 2010
L5: Journeyman
> bubble2 690 Posts
108 Reputation
FourSticks
01-26-2020 at 07:12 AM.
01-26-2020 at 07:12 AM.
Quote from Perknose :
Cheapest AT&T MVNO plan?
https://prepaidcompare.net/
Reply
Joined Mar 2006
Blue Blazer Regular
> bubble2 1,057 Posts
515 Reputation
Perknose
01-26-2020 at 07:16 AM.
01-26-2020 at 07:16 AM.
Quote from FourSticks :
https://prepaidcompare.net/
Thanks. Already googled by me. My bad, got lazy, asked first instead of investigating. This would be for a female friend, to bring her into the 21st Century . . . even though I know I'd then be her lifetime tech support: "The phone doesn't work! I pushed all the buttons." LMAO
Reply
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