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Data only SIM in iPhone

T

tasset

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2007
572
200
MacVault said:
I just chatted with AT&T support about this, see chat below. But everyone here on this forum I see doing this says it's worked for a long time and I see no instance where AT&T swept their account and added the "required" voice plan. Any experienced response out there?

me: ...
agent: I want to make sure that I understand. You are asking if you can put an iPad microSIM in your iPhone to use a no-contract data plan on. Is that correct?
agent: It might work for a bit, but the system routinely sweeps and it would be noted.
me: I see. So do you have a written policy that specifies between which devices a sim may be swapped?
agent: Thank you. Please bear with me for 2-3 minutes.
me: Sure, no rush, thanks
me: And when you say the system sweeps and notes this does that mean service is shut off, or just noted?
agent: Legal Terms for your AT&T contract.
me: Thank you
agent: The system sweeps and adds the required plans.
Click to expand...

Well, it is AT&T, so you can never put it past them to behave anti consumerist that is in the genes of their namesake. So I guess they 'could' do system sweeps much as they do to keep smartphones off their network that don't have a data plan.
But, that was not my experience during the months that I did this off-and-on for the last couple of years. I just tired of the performance of AT&T's "3G." If you already have an iPhone and tried, the most you could possibly be out-of-pocket is the remaining data for the month that you prepaid before getting turned off. And then you could just walk right back into an AT&T store, get a new free sim card, and setup ANOTHER account. Seems like too much whack a mole for AT&T to follow through doing system sweeps. And after all, you're getting nothing more than the service you paid upfront for. I just think the online rep you chatted with is ill-equipped to deal with such rare questions.
 
M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
So when I go into the AT&T store what do I need to ask for? An iPad 2 micro-sim, and ask them to activate it for me? I'm new to this. Should I not tell them what I'm really doing with it?
 
T

tasset

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2007
572
200
MacVault said:
So when I go into the AT&T store what do I need to ask for? An iPad 2 micro-sim, and ask them to activate it for me? I'm new to this. Should I not tell them what I'm really doing with it?
Click to expand...

I would go into an AT&T store, ask for a sim, tell them you don't have an iPad with you and would feel better if they activated it on a store demo unit. Then once it's activated, insert it into your iPhone right in front of them, and blow their frickin' minds. 99% of the in-store flacks have no idea what's possible.
 
benhollberg

benhollberg

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 8, 2010
2,170
7
MacVault said:
-- Is there any risk to changing the APN at unlockit.co.nz? Like is there a way to set it back to factory?
-- Does the phone have to be unlocked first?
-- Will the AT&T store reps put me in handcuffs once they realize what I'm doing? I just called them and they said they'd give me a free iPad Micro-SIM and assist me with activating it in the store
Click to expand...

You can delete the APN changes anytime in the settings application.

Phone does not have to be unlocked, just useable on AT&T.

When I asked AT&T for a SIM they said it had to be activated in store, with an iPad IMEI. They wouldn't activate it with my iPhone IMEI so I went to the Apple Store.

MacVault said:
I just chatted with AT&T support about this, see chat below. But everyone here on this forum I see doing this says it's worked for a long time and I see no instance where AT&T swept their account and added the "required" voice plan. Any experienced response
Click to expand...

When I originally did this it worked for six or so months, then I canceled it for the summer. Just redid it last month for the busy season on my iPhone 4S, I use 5 for normal phone now. Did the exact same thing and it works flawless,

MacVault said:
So when I go into the AT&T store what do I need to ask for? An iPad 2 micro-sim, and ask them to activate it for me? I'm new to this. Should I not tell them what I'm really doing with it?
Click to expand...

When I did this recently AT&T wouldn't give me a SIM because they said I'd have to activate it in store in an iPad. I told them what I wanted to do and they wouldn't help. Went to an Apple Store, bought an iPad 3G, activated the SIM, returned the iPad. The Apple employee watched me do this and said Apple does allow returns without SIMs. I told him what I was doing and said I'd be returning the iPad in five minutes, he was cool with it.
 
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T

tasset

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2007
572
200
benhollberg said:
You can delete the APN changes anytime in the settings application.

Phone does not have to be unlocked, just useable on AT&T.

When I asked AT&T for a SIM they said it had to be activated in store, with an iPad IMEI. They wouldn't activate it with my iPhone IMEI so I went to the Apple Store.



When I originally did this it worked for six or so months, then I canceled it for the summer. Just redid it last month for the busy season on my iPhone 4S, I use 5 for normal phone now. Did the exact same thing and it works flawless,



When I did this recently AT&T wouldn't give me a SIM because they said I'd have to activate it in store in an iPad. I told them what I wanted to do and they wouldn't help. Went to an Apple Store, bought an iPad 3G, activated the SIM, returned the iPad. The Apple employee watched me do this and said Apple does allow returns without SIMs. I told him what I was doing and said I'd be returning the iPad in five minutes, he was cool with it.
Click to expand...

Huh. Maybe it's your area, but I never had a problem with at&t giving me a sim card even if I didn't have an iPad on me. But if at worst scenario you had to get a sim card off eBay, all you would have to do is go to this site to activate. Last time I did this, I just went into an at&t store and got an IMEI/ICCID off a demo unit. Worked perfectly. https://dcp2.att.com/OEPNDClient/
 
M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
I went to my local AT&T store tonight. I told the guy straight up that I wanted him to activate for me an iPad micro sim so I could then put it into my iPhone 4 and use the data only plan. He said no problem, fiddled with his computer then came right back stating 1) he's unable to activate the sim unless I can provide him my iPad's serial number, which I'm assuming is the IMEI, and 2) "it won't be reliable service cuz the system will detect what I'm doing".

I'm going to try it anyway - somehow.
 
M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
AT&T iPad Micro-SIM

Where can I get an AT&T iPad Micro-SIM? Are the AT&T Store and Apple Store the only options? How about BestBuy?

Also, does BestBuy allow returning an iPad without the SIM, as does the Apple Store?

Will the AT&T Store give you a Micro-SIM for the iPad without activating it in the store?
 
M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
GoPhone SIM in iPhone for prepaid data?

Does it still work to put a GoPhone prepaid sim into an iPhone 4 or iPhone 5? And what would be the advantage of the GoPhone SIM / plans vs the iPad SIM / plans?
 
M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
Ok, I have an AT&T Micro-SIM now!
I want to activate it online at https://dcp2.att.com/OEPNDClient/
But it asks for an IMEI. Can I find an iPad IMEI online that would work?
What if I use an IMEI from someone else's iPad? Will I be interferring with their service?
Will they be able to track my location based on their IMEI?
Once I activate my Micro-SIM is it done? ie. If I activate it with a bad IMEI can I reactivate it with a new IMEI at will at the URL above?
 
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M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
Success!

Holy SMOKES! I got it working! Thanks to you all for the info!!!
Data-only iPhone 4! AWESOME! Should same SIM also work on the iPhone 5?

Any chance AT&T will notice and then add a voice plan to my account?
 
T

tasset

macrumors 6502a
May 22, 2007
572
200
MacVault said:
Holy SMOKES! I got it working! Thanks to you all for the info!!!
Data-only iPhone 4! AWESOME! Should same SIM also work on the iPhone 5?

Any chance AT&T will notice and then add a voice plan to my account?
Click to expand...

Super! No, there is 0.000% chance they can add a voice plan or any change to your service. There is in fact no "voice plan" in existence for iPad data service. The biggest rats they can prove to be is blocking access to data you had paid to for the month or cancel it. Yes, same sim will work for iPhone5 if you cut it down to fit and change apn settings through a new profile.
 
benhollberg

benhollberg

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 8, 2010
2,170
7
MacVault said:
Holy SMOKES! I got it working! Thanks to you all for the info!!!
Data-only iPhone 4! AWESOME! Should same SIM also work on the iPhone 5?

Any chance AT&T will notice and then add a voice plan to my account?
Click to expand...

Where'd you end up getting the SIM? AT&T let you leave with an unactivated one?

Also, I've been doing this off and now for over a year, AT&T hasn't noticed one bit.
 
M

MacVault

macrumors 65816
Jun 10, 2002
1,144
59
Planet Earth
benhollberg said:
Where'd you end up getting the SIM? AT&T let you leave with an unactivated one?

Also, I've been doing this off and now for over a year, AT&T hasn't noticed one bit.
Click to expand...

I had ordered it about a year ago on AT&T's website for $15 planning to do this very thing. I recently could not find it but then found it yesterday. Question: this should work on the Edge network too, right, in addition to 3G?
 
dave006

dave006

macrumors 68040
Jul 3, 2008
3,566
889
Just West of East
benhollberg

benhollberg

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 8, 2010
2,170
7
Just remembered. When I bought an off contract iPhone 5 at the Apple Store they gave me a new unactivated nano-SIM separately. They may give out microSIM also but not sure.
 
M

Mr.Bo$$dE

macrumors newbie
Oct 24, 2012
2
0
So!!!!! You guys are saying ~>With my IPhone I can leave it Locked and but this data plan for iPad and use apps to makes calls for like $30 for 2gb?
 
benhollberg

benhollberg

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 8, 2010
2,170
7
Mr.Bo$$dE said:
So!!!!! You guys are saying ~>With my IPhone I can leave it Locked and but this data plan for iPad and use apps to makes calls for like $30 for 2gb?
Click to expand...

You can use Google Voice and Talkatone to make VOIP calls. Additionally, Skype and services similar.
 
T

twotwo11

macrumors member
Feb 11, 2010
54
0
Mr.Bo$$dE said:
So!!!!! You guys are saying ~>With my IPhone I can leave it Locked and but this data plan for iPad and use apps to makes calls for like $30 for 2gb?
Click to expand...

No. $30 for 3gb:D. But you can use the ipad data plan on almost any phone or tablet
 
The Tuck

The Tuck

macrumors 6502
Jun 8, 2003
427
55
So, this thread is awesome. I have an old iPhone 4 since I got my iPhone 5, and I'm considering switching to one of AT&T's new "Mobile Share" plans with shared data since I have an iPhone and an iPad. They let you add tablets to the shared data plan for an extra $10 a month, so obviously I would get my iPad on for $10 a month.

My question is: do you guys think it would be possible to add my iPhone 4 as a data only "tablet" to a Mobile Share plan? This would be ideal, but like others, I'm worried about AT&T flagging it in their system as an iPhone and adding a voice plan.

This could be really cool. Looking forward to hearing some input.

Thanks!
The Tuck
 
benhollberg

benhollberg

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Mar 8, 2010
2,170
7
The Tuck said:
My question is: do you guys think it would be possible to add my iPhone 4 as a data only "tablet" to a Mobile Share plan? This would be ideal, but like others, I'm worried about AT&T flagging it in their system as an iPhone and adding a voice plan.
Click to expand...

I don't think we have had anyone try this but it sounds like a great plan and something I think I want to look at. I have been doing this for a long while now and it still works fine, I have even stopped the service for a few months and started it again and still good here.
 
N

newportbeach

macrumors newbie
Nov 4, 2008
11
0
Interesting thread thanks - so I have an old 3Gs and I'm going to finally upgrade to the 5. Can I add data only to it when I switch? Would be nice to stream some radio apps while working out.
 
RockNrolling

RockNrolling

macrumors newbie
Nov 10, 2012
3
0
MacVault said:
Holy SMOKES! I got it working! Thanks to you all for the info!!!
Data-only iPhone 4! AWESOME! Should same SIM also work on the iPhone 5?

Any chance AT&T will notice and then add a voice plan to my account?
Click to expand...

Where did you get the IMEI to activate it?
I just ordered an iPad sim to get a data-only plan for my iPhone 4 and the only detail I'm fuzzy on is where to get an iPad IMEI.
 
V

vistadude

macrumors 65816
Jan 3, 2010
1,423
1
I suppose you could walk into a best buy store and find the IMEI number from an ipad. Big question is whether an IMEI number can be registered with multiple SIM cards.

RockNrolling said:
Where did you get the IMEI to activate it?
I just ordered an iPad sim to get a data-only plan for my iPhone 4 and the only detail I'm fuzzy on is where to get an iPad IMEI.
Click to expand...
 
RockNrolling

RockNrolling

macrumors newbie
Nov 10, 2012
3
0
vistadude said:
I suppose you could walk into a best buy store and find the IMEI number from an ipad. Big question is whether an IMEI number can be registered with multiple SIM cards.
Click to expand...

That's a very good question. I'm sure the IMEI can be registered to multiple SIMs but I don't know about multiple SIMs at one time. I suppose I could just see what happens when my SIM arrives and I use an iPad IMEI from best buy.
 
RockNrolling

RockNrolling

macrumors newbie
Nov 10, 2012
3
0
benhollberg said:
I don't think we have had anyone try this but it sounds like a great plan and something I think I want to look at. I have been doing this for a long while now and it still works fine, I have even stopped the service for a few months and started it again and still good here.
Click to expand...

I just wanted to let you guys know that I got the data only sim card working in my iPhone 4. I used the IMEI from some random youtube video about the 3G iPad. AT&T took it no questions asked. I'm currently using my iPhone as a data only device with texting via Google Voice and calling with VOIP. :cool:
 
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