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Can I do this?

omgitscro said:
Untrue. Sorry.
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Might want to try reading the Terms of Service that you (and anyone else using AT&T) agreed to.

"An eligible data plan is required for certain devices, including iPhones and other designated smartphones. [...] If it is determined that you are using an iPhone or other designated smartphone without an eligible data plan, AT&T reserves the right to add an eligible data plan to your account and bill you the appropriate monthly fee."

There's not a single word in there about "data plan only required when purchased with 2 year contract". If you don't want to believe the ToS, feel free to search this forum for the various posts from people who got an iPhone from a friend/eBay/etc and got slapped with a data plan.
 
joebobthehob said:
Might want to try reading the Terms of Service that you (and anyone else using AT&T) agreed to.

"An eligible data plan is required for certain devices, including iPhones and other designated smartphones. [...] If it is determined that you are using an iPhone or other designated smartphone without an eligible data plan, AT&T reserves the right to add an eligible data plan to your account and bill you the appropriate monthly fee."

There's not a single word in there about "data plan only required when purchased with 2 year contract". If you don't want to believe the ToS, feel free to search this forum for the various posts from people who got an iPhone from a friend/eBay/etc and got slapped with a data plan.
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You (a MacRumors reader) should know that few things are run by the book when it comes to the iPhone contract structure. I'd rather not go by information found online, for I myself know secondhand iPhone owners without data plans.
 
wordoflife said:
Hi
I was wondering if I can buy an iPhone (and add the $30/month to my plan) and then put the sim card into a non smart phone and tell AT&T that I don't have the iPhone and to remove the data portion of the plan, but continue with the service without paying a fee?

Thanks for reading, and thanks in advanced for replying. ;)
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Go to your online account with AT&T. It will show what kind of phone your sims card is in. They know.
 
I don't pay my bill nor am I an expert in iPhone data plans (seems like no one is lol) but don't you need to contact ATT to get your SIM to work with an iPhone? i.e. if you get an iPhone 2nd hand and plug in your SIM from a RAZR it wont work?
 
RichL said:
I don't pay my bill nor am I an expert in iPhone data plans (seems like no one is lol) but don't you need to contact ATT to get your SIM to work with an iPhone? i.e. if you get an iPhone 2nd hand and plug in your SIM from a RAZR it wont work?
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Not if its a 3g sim card. It should work fine. Thats the beauty of GSM networks. Sadly none of them in the United States are reliable.
 
omgitscro said:
You (a MacRumors reader) should know that few things are run by the book when it comes to the iPhone contract structure. I'd rather not go by information found online, for I myself know secondhand iPhone owners without data plans.
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I (until very recently an AT&T employee) am quite certain that there's no secret "off the record" way to use an iPhone on postpaid service without a data plan. You may very well know people currently using an iPhone without data - all that means is that their account hasn't been hit in a sweep yet. After all, AT&T just started doing the data plan sweeps a few months ago, and they have some 90 million subscribers to sweep. Once those people get hit, the party's over for them.

The situation right now for iPhone data plans is pretty simple: the only way AT&T will take your data plan off is if you tell them you no longer have the iPhone. But - as soon as you drop your SIM back into your iPhone and let it connect to the network, AT&T know you're using an iPhone, and they'll slap the plan right back in place.
 
joebobthehob said:
I (until very recently an AT&T employee) am quite certain that there's no secret "off the record" way to use an iPhone on postpaid service without a data plan. You may very well know people currently using an iPhone without data - all that means is that their account hasn't been hit in a sweep yet. After all, AT&T just started doing the data plan sweeps a few months ago, and they have some 90 million subscribers to sweep. Once those people get hit, the party's over for them.

The situation right now for iPhone data plans is pretty simple: the only way AT&T will take your data plan off is if you tell them you no longer have the iPhone. But - as soon as you drop your SIM back into your iPhone and let it connect to the network, AT&T know you're using an iPhone, and they'll slap the plan right back in place.
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If you say so.
They are definetelly not anywhere near that fast or efficient with adding a data plan as soon as you put your sim in an iphone.
Its been over 2 years now with a family member I know.
 
Wouldn't it be possible for someone to create an app for jailbroken phones that blocks the IMEI from being submitted to AT&T, and maybe sends a false IMEI (RAZR, Shine, Nokia, whatever you want)?

It would be cool if you could put in the IMEI of one of your old phones that is not being used, and use cheaper plans. As I said, it would only be available to JB phones.
(Nope, I'm not JB, have in the past, and don't care anymore)
 
vizkiz said:
Wouldn't it be possible for someone to create an app for jailbroken phones that blocks the IMEI from being submitted to AT&T, and maybe sends a false IMEI (RAZR, Shine, Nokia, whatever you want)?

It would be cool if you could put in the IMEI of one of your old phones that is not being used, and use cheaper plans. As I said, it would only be available to JB phones.
(Nope, I'm not JB, have in the past, and don't care anymore)
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No, the IMEI is burned into the hardware, it can't be changed, and it most certainly can't be blocked from being sent because then the phone couldn't authenticate onto the network.
 
yg17 said:
No, the IMEI is burned into the hardware, it can't be changed, and it most certainly can't be blocked from being sent because then the phone couldn't authenticate onto the network.
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RIF. I said block the original and send a user-submitted IMEI number, such as one from an old phone not in use.
You wouldn't actually be changing your IMEI number, but changing the IMEI number that AT&T sees.
 
I was messing with my buddy's I phone 2g today.

His mom had it from work, and they upgraded to 3g, so he found the 2g sitting around and popped in his sim card.

This was about a year ago, he's been using it ever since without the data plan.


he still obviously has wi fi but no mobile web.
 
I too worked for AT&T and I do have to shed some true light on the situation. The way the iphones firmware is built makes it impossible to use without data consumption - this in turn alerts at&t that you both have an iphone and are using data on it.

However, about the people using their iphones without a data package, thats true as well. If you jailbreak your iphone, (or even just downloaded a config for some firmware versions) you can keep it on the network for voice only and not use OR PAY for data. I know this because I did it for 2 months but reverted back to the regular data plan because almost nothing functions without the data package - not even the voicemail because of the visual voicemail built into the phone.

AT&T systems can tell that you have the iphone but unless you get hit with a sweep, cant charge you for data unless your actually using it.


Its against the AT&T contract - even non subsidized iphones - but people do it all the time.
 
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