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Can AT&T sign you up for a data plan if you put your SIM into an iPhone?

N

ndpitch

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 9, 2010
278
24
So my mom took my old iPhone 3G. We threw her SIM in it, and everything is up and running. So basically it's a phone without a texting or data plan - which she's fine with for now. On our account page it already shows her phone as an iPhone 3G.

Does AT&T have the authority to say "oh, you got an iPhone? Here's your data plan that you have to have with it!"
 
ndpitch said:
So my mom took my old iPhone 3G. We threw her SIM in it, and everything is up and running. So basically it's a phone without a texting or data plan - which she's fine with for now. On our account page it already shows her phone as an iPhone 3G.

Does AT&T have the authority to say "oh, you got an iPhone? Here's your data plan that you have to have with it!"
Click to expand...

From everything I have seen you they can and yes they will do it
 
ndpitch said:
So my mom took my old iPhone 3G. We threw her SIM in it, and everything is up and running. So basically it's a phone without a texting or data plan - which she's fine with for now. On our account page it already shows her phone as an iPhone 3G.

Does AT&T have the authority to say "oh, you got an iPhone? Here's your data plan that you have to have with it!"
Click to expand...

Yes, it automatically updates you to the data plan
 
ndpitch said:
So my mom took my old iPhone 3G. We threw her SIM in it, and everything is up and running. So basically it's a phone without a texting or data plan - which she's fine with for now. On our account page it already shows her phone as an iPhone 3G.

Does AT&T have the authority to say "oh, you got an iPhone? Here's your data plan that you have to have with it!"
Click to expand...

All smartphones do this. Blackberry, Droid etc...
 
I bought a iPhone 3gs off craigslist awhile ago and put my sim card in. Even though it showed on the AT&T website i had an iPhone, i didn't have a data plan or texting plan. The best part of this was when i upgraded to the iPhone 4, i was grandfathered into the unlimited plan through a loophole.
 
From experience, they will only do this when you activate the phone. If it's already activated, they won't add the data plan. However, if you ever restore the phone, it'll reactivate.
 
yifanlu said:
From experience, they will only do this when you activate the phone. If it's already activated, they won't add the data plan. However, if you ever restore the phone, it'll reactivate.
Click to expand...

This is correct. I too passed a phone onto a family member and he has not seen a data plan added to his account in the last 2 months. Mind you, he has the "cellular data" option turned off in network settings.
 
They did this to me when my dad got the bb torch and I stuck the sim from my second line (only voice, no data or text). The torch was actviated on my dads line but the day after I put my sim card in it they added a data plan to that line (2gb). So they can and will.
 
ndpitch said:
So my mom took my old iPhone 3G. We threw her SIM in it, and everything is up and running. So basically it's a phone without a texting or data plan - which she's fine with for now. On our account page it already shows her phone as an iPhone 3G.

Does AT&T have the authority to say "oh, you got an iPhone? Here's your data plan that you have to have with it!"
Click to expand...

Why wouldn't they do that? You expect just to use a iPhone and pay for it like a dumbphone?
 
I bought a used iPhone 3G from a colleague and tossed my wife's sim card in. Before doing so I called AT&T and blocked all data and text plans for her line. She's been using it for 12 months and we don't pay for a data plan.

Interestingly, if I log into our AT&T account it shows her phone as being an iPhone.

Now that I can get her a data plan for $15/mo I tried activating it on the website and it WOULDN'T let me because "the phone you are trying to activate does not support data" (or something similar).

I plan to walk it into a brick&mortar store this weekend.

I don't see how they can require a data plan for a phone that has already legitimately gone through its two-year contract.
 
Smtevo said:
Why wouldn't they do that? You expect just to use a iPhone and pay for it like a dumbphone?
Click to expand...

Sure. Prior to the iPhone, carriers allowed you to just pay for the voice side. Many people bought smartphones and only used data over WiFi.

Apple changed all that by colluding with carriers to require a data plan. Once carriers saw how many people went along with such a requirement, they added the requirement everywhere.

Just one more way that Apple "changed the cell phone industry"... and not for the better. However, in return we got slightly less expensive data plans.
 
kdarling said:
Sure. Prior to the iPhone, carriers allowed you to just pay for the voice side. Many people bought smartphones and only used data over WiFi.
Click to expand...

..and many others got hit with "casual use" charges that caused outrageous bills and subsequent complaints about it.

Apple changed all that by colluding with carriers to require a data plan.
Click to expand...

Sorry, I have my doubts that Apple's agreements with carriers also dictate how those carriers govern data plans on non-Apple hardware. And I further doubt that Apple's agreement with AT&T also binds Verizon to the same actions.

I think you'll have to look elsewhere for the villain in this.
 
scaredpoet said:
..and many others got hit with "casual use" charges that caused outrageous bills and subsequent complaints about it.
Click to expand...

That "problem" wasn't used as an excuse for mandatory plans until very recently. For that matter, you used to be able to get data access turned off and avoid the problem altogether.

Sorry, I have my doubts that Apple's agreements with carriers also dictate how those carriers govern data plans on non-Apple hardware.
Click to expand...

You misunderstood. When I said that Apple required a data plan, I obviously meant just for their own phone. However, the wide customer acceptance apparently opened the floodgates.
 
yifanlu said:
From experience, they will only do this when you activate the phone. If it's already activated, they won't add the data plan. However, if you ever restore the phone, it'll reactivate.
Click to expand...

Thats false.
They done it to me even though it was activated before with another sim.
They will and they have been doing it alot lately.
Once its detected in their system you just get a text from AT&T that an iphone data has been added to your account.
 
Here's how you avoid the required data plan: put your mom on pre-paid, if you want to stay with AT&T, or switch to T-Mobile.
 
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