AT&T iPad SIM in unlocked iPhone 6 Plus?

[solmaker]

I've got the grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan in my iPad Mini. I'm thinking about experimenting with purchasing the unlocked T-Mobile iPhone6+ and swapping in this iPad SIM. According to various web pages, this should work in the iPhone to provide data-only service:
http://misener.org/ditched-voice-plan-went-data/
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5579806

However, I'm a bit vague how this would work and what risks there might be. Would the iPhone "just work" with this data or would I need to enter the IMEI for the phone into att.com/ipadlanding? Would the IMEI for an iPhone be accepted on that page? Would my data plan be messed up if I later wanted to switch the SIM back into the iPad?

Alternatively, I might consider the AT&T mobile share plans described at:
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=EcegNbhpn5J
The $50/mo plan for 1GB might work for me, and I could share it with the iPad mini for $10/mo (if I dropped its unlimited plan).

Even better would be the data-only mobile share plans described on that same webpage, which start at $30/mo for 4GB! The webpage vetoes use on smartphones, but I wonder whether it could be used on iPads if activated at an AT&T store or over the phone. Ideally it'd be great to share 4GB data for $40/mo between an iPad and a data-only iPhone6+.

BTW, T-Mobile's plans would be an option if they ever get LTE in my area instead of 2G speeds.

 

[TECHNOLOGE]

I've got the grandfathered AT&T unlimited plan in my iPad Mini. I'm thinking about experimenting with purchasing the unlocked T-Mobile iPhone6+ and swapping in this iPad SIM. According to various web pages, this should work in the iPhone to provide data-only service:
http://misener.org/ditched-voice-plan-went-data/
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5579806

However, I'm a bit vague how this would work and what risks there might be. Would the iPhone "just work" with this data or would I need to enter the IMEI for the phone into att.com/ipadlanding? Would the IMEI for an iPhone be accepted on that page? Would my data plan be messed up if I later wanted to switch the SIM back into the iPad?

Alternatively, I might consider the AT&T mobile share plans described at:
http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=EcegNbhpn5J
The $50/mo plan for 1GB might work for me, and I could share it with the iPad mini for $10/mo (if I dropped its unlimited plan).

Even better would be the data-only mobile share plans described on that same webpage, which start at $30/mo for 4GB! The webpage vetoes use on smartphones, but I wonder whether it could be used on iPads if activated at an AT&T store or over the phone. Ideally it'd be great to share 4GB data for $40/mo between an iPad and a data-only iPhone6+.

BTW, T-Mobile's plans would be an option if they ever get LTE in my area instead of 2G speeds.

1. The iPhone 6 would work for data only, you just work need to edit the APN to broadband in order for you to browse the web. Being that apple does not allow you to edit the APN, go to a site http://www.unlockit.co.nz/ from your iPhone and download the APN AT&T Broadband and once you installed that you would be able to browse the web

2. You dont need to update the IMEI number on the ATT.Com/iPadlanding page, you can try it, but site would decline it because, technically your not suppose to use the iPad Data Unlimited Sim card in a iPhone.

3. There would be no risk at all, you can swap in and out of your iPad and iPhone and use the data without no problem.

Hope this answers your questions.

 

[solmaker]

1. The iPhone 6 would work for data only, you just work need to edit the APN ... go to a site http://www.unlockit.co.nz/ ... 2. You dont need to update the IMEI number on the ATT.Com/iPadlanding page.

Thanks for this super-helpful response! Two secondary questions:

1. Would the phone possibly allow Personal Hotspot (vetoed by AT&T for unlimited plans) after going through the unlockit procedure?

2. After putting the iPad SIM into the iPhone, could a T-Mobile SIM be inserted into the iPad to activate the no-cost 200MB plan, then these two live SIMs freely swapped between these two devices? Any problem with having two plans for the same IMEI from two different companies?

 

[TECHNOLOGE]

Thanks for this super-helpful response! Two secondary questions:

1. Would the phone possibly allow Personal Hotspot (vetoed by AT&T for unlimited plans) after going through the unlockit procedure?

2. After putting the iPad SIM into the iPhone, could a T-Mobile SIM be inserted into the iPad to activate the no-cost 200MB plan, then these two live SIMs freely swapped between these two devices? Any problem with having two plans for the same IMEI from two different companies?

You would need to jailbreak the device in order to be able to use the Personal Hot Spot, and att does not allow tethering on the device, once you jailbreak the device you would be able to get a app called Tetherme which will enable the personal hot spot option on the device.

Yeah there would not be a problem with doing that, it will not conflict with your unlimited data plan account with ATT nor will it put it at risk, I have had a lot of people use the sim card in other devices without a issue, even one of my customers had it in a high power GSM modem and used a little over 300GBs of data and his account has not been touched. So there would not be a issue with swapping the sim cards between the two devices.

 

[sdsvtdriver]

AT&T will detect and cut your plan.

 

[TECHNOLOGE]

AT&T will detect and cut your plan.

False.

ATT does not monitor the iPad Data Unlimited Plan Customers as much as they monitor iPhone Unlimited Data Customers.

Session based support handles all calls for iPad Data Unlimited Customers, iPhone Data Unlimited Plan is handled through general customer service, its handled differently.

A lot of people have the iPad Data Unlimited Plan on the forum and have done some crazy things with them lol, using over 300gbs in a month, using it in only Android Devices, etc and ATT does has not touched there account at all.

 

[solmaker]

Thanks again, Technologe, for the tip about unlockit.co.nz using APN AT&T Broadband, which worked great.

Actually, I started my T-Mobile iPhone 6+ using a T-Mobile SIM activated with the free 200MB data plan in an iPad, and that worked right off the bat without any APN unlocking needed. When I swapped in the AT&T SIM, that did require unlocking per your instructions. Now I can swap in SIMs from either iPad plan and both work fine.

I only noticed two minor anomalies:

1) Settings->Cellular Data doesn't offer any way to View Account when the AT&T SIM is loaded (but this isn't a big deal since it can be accessed from att.com/ipadlanding).

2) For a short time after swapping the AT&T SIM out and the T-Mobile SIM back in, the iPhone was reporting spurious "Your cell plan is out of data" messages, even though T-Mobile View Account showed 197MB data remaining. Turning the iPhone and cellular data off and on didn't seem to help, but the problem corrected itself after web browsing in Wifi (which may have been a coincidence).

 

[biosci]

I have a few questions if someone can please clarify.

1. If you have an ATT iPhone, and want to put in the SIM from a TMobile iPad with that 200MB / month, do you need to have an unlocked ATT iPhone 6?

2. Likewise, would you need an unlocked device to even utilize the iPad data simcard whether or not it's ATT, TMobile, Verizon just because it's a different TYPE of plan that's on the SIM?

3. When you change your APN settings by visiting the listed site in this thread, will your phone be able to take your standard phone plan SIM and the iPad sim and switch between them? For example, I use the iPad SIM for data but eventually, I'll want my actual phone back... Worried about how it affects the APN and if can switch since we can't manually edit it.