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Dodging At&t data plan w/ original iPhone?

A

AKfreeRider

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 29, 2010
17
0
Hello everyone, thanks for reading.

I recently was given a original iphone. I am currently with At&t, so transition to the iphone would be easy, except I really would like to avoid the data plan. I have read the forum and there are lots of reference to unlocking the iphone and using it on T-mobile without the data plan, but can anyone please give me some helpful information on using the original iphone without the data plan with AT&T? I know the original iphone is the very easily hacked and I am prepared to do what is necessary, but I would prefer a method with minimal tampering. Do I need to jailbreak, unlock, etc? or will AT&T notice my iphone and give me a data plan no matter what?

I love apple products and really would like to use this phone, but not at the cost of a data plan.

Thank you for the help.
 
I had the original iPhone for about 3+ years without data. Just made a plan on my previous phone without one, unlocked iPhone, swap SIM cards.
 
My friend has been using her iPhone 3GS for 3 months now without a data plan. Just make sure to turn off all data to your phone before you put your SIM card in it, so that it doesn't accidentally try to download something.

I followed this process:
1) Insert SIM into cheapo phone
2) Call AT&T and make sure they have the IMEI of the cheapo phone on your account
3) Take SIM card out of cheapo phone and put it into iPhone with data turned off
4) Enjoy iPhone without data plan

Note that Visual Voicemail will be unavailable, and absolutely under no condition should you turn your data back on. I can't remember if there is a setting in iOS 3 to turn off data (there is one in 4.0) if there isn't you will have to jailbreak your phone and use SBSettings to permanently disable your data.
 
We have an iPhone (3G) on our account without a data plan for a while. I think the reason was because we bought a blackberry (and at the time) you didn't NEED data, so we didn't get it. So when I put the SIM card in the iPhone, nothing changed.
 
wordoflife said:
We have an iPhone (3G) on our account without a data plan for a while. I think the reason was because we bought a blackberry (and at the time) you didn't NEED data, so we didn't get it. So when I put the SIM card in the iPhone, nothing changed.
Click to expand...
This is what I did, traded my Blackberry Curve for a 1G iPhone.
 
These are the providers that I know of that you can use their sim cards in an iphone without a data plan and without being jailbroken and unlocked because they use the AT&T network:
AT&T pre-paid
Pure Prepaid
Pure TalkUSA
7-11 Speak Out wireless (be careful some use sprint and some AT&T)
Consumer Cellular
GTC wireless
Jolt Wireless
Locus Mobile (be careful some use Verizon and some AT&T)
TracFone (be careful they use multiple providers including AT&T)

Personally, on the phones I do not want data plans on I use Pure TalkUSA. You can by a Sim only, with minutes that rollover for $10 and as little as $10 a month to keep it going.
 
Thank you very much guys. I appreciate the help.

I'm going to go unlock it and hopefully start enjoying my iPhone!

Thanks again.
 
still confused

hi im still a little bit confused about this issue.

i have a 2g iphone that i got from my sister. i dont have or need a data plan and i have to stay with ATT because my whole family uses a family plan.

so, if i were to use the sim card from my nonsmartphone it would work fine as long as i dont use data? and this is only true for the 2g iphone?

also, does jailbreaking mean that i can use my sim card without worrying about getting charged for data?

thanks.
 
You will be fine with a 2G and no data.
Theres also been people reporting that they will let you remove the data plan on it and they dont mandate it with postpaid accounts like all other iphones.
You said you're on a family plan so I dont think you'd be looking to go to prepaid or anything like that.
 
^^^thank you very much. you're exactly right that i would like to avoid going the prepaid route.

is there anything i need to do on the iphone like turn off data before putting the sim card in or should i be ready to go?

thanks.
 
With the 2G the highest you can go on is firmware 3.1.3 and that doesnt have the On/Off Cellular Data option.
Good choice would be to install a fake apn to make sure you dont accidentally use AT&T's data.
Go here with your iphone safari browser and install the fake config file.
www.unlockit.co.nz
 
^^thanks again. i dont really understand what you just said about the apn but i can look that up. but how would i visit that website if i have no data? can i use my sister's sim card in the 2g and install the file then put my sim card in?

thanks.
 
lazyboy006 said:
^^thanks again. i dont really understand what you just said about the apn but i can look that up. but how would i visit that website if i have no data? can i use my sister's sim card in the 2g and install the file then put my sim card in?

thanks.
Click to expand...

Use Wifi to access it from safari:D
 
i think my sister had to deactivate the iphone 2g when she got her new 3gs. now when i plug the 2g into itunes with my sim card in it, it says that i have to go through the activation process. im guessing that if i go through with this ATT will add a data plan, right? what should i do now?

thanks.
 
just one more question lol.

ive read a couple places that ATT does not require a data plan for iphone 2g's is this true? if so, can i just go to the ATT store and have them take care of everything. also, does this mean that wifi will still work for free?

thanks again and im pretty sure this is my final question lol
 
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