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Found a way to get an iPhone 4 without a Data plan from AT&T

L

lordking65

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 29, 2009
115
0
San Diego, California, USA
Tell me if i'm wrong, i never tried it, but I just thought of it right now.

So, I'm thinking of getting my dad an new phone, but all the phones AT&T sells for free or cheap suck, So I'm looking into the refurbished iPhone 4 cuz of the music player, photos, mms, text, and well, all the other basic phone stuff. (But he wont be using data, he doesn't want data)

But when ever someone buys a smart phone fron AT&T, we HAVE TO get a data plan with it or else they won't let us get the smart phone.

I was thinking, after the get the iphone with the data plan, i could just take it off when i get home... In AT&T's "MyWireless," it looks like i can simply take my data plan off my own phone or any other phones in my family's plan by simply clicking "I no longer want to add this feature" under "Web, Text & More."

So what do you guys think? is it possible? anyone tried it? what will happen?
 
lordking65 said:
No it doesn't, two of my friends have an iPhone with not data plan on them. One has a 3GS, and the other has a 4
Click to expand...

Yes, it does

You can not use an iphone on ATT without a data plan. No ifs, ands, or but's

If one buys and iphone off someone used and inserts their sim, you may not have data for a small period of time but ATT will detect you are using an iphone and will add the data plan automatically, whether you like it or not

But who am I kidding, try your plan yourself and find out
 
You can use an iphone without a data plan, if you don't have a contract. You can even use it on AT&T's network without a data plan, as long as you don't have a contract. The iphone contract = data plan, not the iphone.
 
actually, you can use a prepaid sim from a dumbphone and disable your cellular data. this is not condoned by at&t, but people have done it.
 
WIthout a trick like using a pre-paid sim or buying an unlocked phone from out of country (and thus the ID numbers for it not being tagged as a smart phone for AT&T, IIRC) there is no way to just sign up with AT&T, contract or no, without a data plan.
 
Contract or not makes no difference if you're on post paid account.
When their system detects an iphone with no appropriate data plan it will add one automaticly and send you a text message that is has been added to your account.
Try it and find out yourself.



crawsfire said:
You can use an iphone without a data plan, if you don't have a contract. You can even use it on AT&T's network without a data plan, as long as you don't have a contract. The iphone contract = data plan, not the iphone.
Click to expand...

That is false.
 
Applejuiced said:
Contract or not makes no difference if you're on post paid account.
When their system detects an iphone with no appropriate data plan it will add one automaticly and send you a text message that is has been added to your account.
Try it and find out yourself.





That is false.
Click to expand...

All of these providers use the AT&T network:
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)

So you can use an iphone on the AT&T network without a data plan. None of these companies have a system in place to detect if you have an iphone because they don't care.
 
You're wrong, it wont work. When I tricked my way into an unlimited data plan my iPhone had no data plan for like 2 hours. I then received a text saying that the phone was detected to not have a plan and it automatically assigned a data plan to my phone.
 
I have three iphones that have been running without data plans for over a year. Two are on Pure TalkUSA sims that use the AT&T network. The third uses a go phone sim. It would be impossible for AT&t to add data to the phones that are on Pure Talk because they don't even offer a data plan, and even if they did, they have no way of knowing I'm using an iphone, nor do they have the power to interfere with my Pure Talk plan.
The one that is on a gophone sim, I can use data without a plan, it costs 1 cent a KB because it uses GPRS. I use a fake APN to make sure it doesn't connect to data. Over a year and AT&T has not added a data plan because I don't have any type of contract with them, they don't track your phone if you don't have a post paid plan/contract.
 
Read again the OP's question and what you posted above.
The thread has nothing to do with all these other providers you're talking about or prepaid accounts. Wherever nonsense you posted about beeing under contract or not has nothing to do with not having the mandatory iphone data plan on AT&T monthly plans.

crawsfire said:
All of these providers use the So you can use an iphone on the AT&T network without a data plan. None of these companies have a system in place to detect if you have an iphone because they don't care.
Click to expand...
 
Had a family plan line that got unlimited data plan automatically added onto it after using iPhone 3G on it for one day.
 
I had a 3g for about a year with no data plan, but I also disabled the APN so it wouldn't get on the internet ever unless on wifi. I am sure if you had no data plan and you tried to use ATT's network they would find out and add it on for you.
 
The ignorance in this thread is absolutely mind-boggling.

Let me me absolutely unequivocally clear: you CAN use an iPhone with AT&T and have NO DATA PLAN.

I've personally been doing it for nearly a full year on my original iPhone.

It's really pretty simple:

Put SIM in non-smart phone.

Call or go into AT&T and tell them to put a data block on that line.

Get on WiFi on iPhone with NO SIM installed and browse to unlockit.co.nz

Install fake APN.

Put SIM into iPhone.

The iPhone will literally be unable to access the internet when not on WiFi. When you log into your account online, your device WILL show the iPhone but it will NOT automatically add the data plan.

I haven't tried this on my iPhone 4 but it should/would work the exact same way.
 
On an original iPhone 2G yes.
Try it with a 3G, 3GS or iPhone 4 and see how far you get:)

james92se said:
The ignorance in this thread is absolutely mind-boggling.

Let me me absolutely unequivocally clear: you CAN use an iPhone with AT&T and have NO DATA PLAN.

I've personally been doing it for nearly a full year on my original iPhone.

It's really pretty simple:

Put SIM in non-smart phone.

Call or go into AT&T and tell them to put a data block on that line.

Get on WiFi on iPhone with NO SIM installed and browse to unlockit.co.nz

Install fake APN.

Put SIM into iPhone.

The iPhone will literally be unable to access the internet when not on WiFi. When you log into your account online, your device WILL show the iPhone but it will NOT automatically add the data plan.

I haven't tried this on my iPhone 4 but it should/would work the exact same way.
Click to expand...
 
Applejuiced said:
On an original iPhone 2G yes.
Try it with a 3G, 3GS or iPhone 4 and see how far you get:)
Click to expand...

I didn't realize I needed to state every generation of phone I've tried it on.

I've just had it done on my first gen iPhone the longest and mentioned it so as to contradict the mindset here that AT&T will "catch" it.

So, since I must apparently "prove" myself, I did the same thing on my 3G for several months, and my friend's 3GS for several months as well. ;)

I don't care to do it to my iPhone 4, as I actually want data, but I am nearly absolutely certain it would work as well. Again, not my problem to "prove" it works on an iPhone 4. I'm just stating absolute fact and trying to clear up the sheer ignorance in this thread. If somebody wants to do an iPhone 4, Craig Whitmore's website states it even works with iOS 4.2 beta, so there's no reason it wouldn't work.
 
I did it on an iPhone 3G and it lasted for about a month until I got a text saying an iPhone data has been added.
So whoever wants to try it go for it. You might get lucky for a little while till AT&T system notices it and they have been cracking down a lot lately.
 
Applejuiced said:
I did it on an iPhone 3G and it lasted for about a month until I got a text saying an iPhone data has been added.
So whoever wants to try it go for it. You might get lucky for a little while till AT&T system notices it and they have been cracking down a lot lately.
Click to expand...

You must not have done the data block AND the fake APN. It is virtually impossible to be "automatically" detected with a data block and fake APN. It is essentially two layers of protection

The only possible way it could be detected is manually by a CSR but for that to happen you'd have to be contacting AT&T quite a bit and having somebody manually checking through your account to even put the pieces together
 
james92se said:
You must not have done the data block AND the fake APN. It is virtually impossible to be "automatically" detected with a data block and fake APN. It is essentially two layers of protection

The only possible way it could be detected is manually by a CSR but for that to happen you'd have to be contacting AT&T quite a bit and having somebody manually checking through your account to even put the pieces together
Click to expand...

I did both the fake apn and also the data block thru sbsettings so no carrier data at all was used and haven't called customer service for anything. You don't get it do you. They detect it by your phones imei, that virtually impossible and other nonsense you're saying is false. They might not catch it right away but they will eventually add the mandatory iPhone data.
 
Applejuiced said:
I did both the fake apn and also the data block thru sbsettings so no carrier data at all was used and haven't called customer service for anything. You don't get it do you. They detect it by your phones imei, that virtually impossible and other nonsense you're saying is false. They might not catch it right away but they will eventually add the mandatory iPhone data.
Click to expand...

Disabling data in SBSettings is hardly the same as a "hard" data block through AT&T :rolleyes:

I'm telling the OP anybody else interested how to truly have an iPhone and no data, but it has to be done exactly as I described and in the order I described. You didn't do it the way I described so therefore you really have no room to argue this IMO and are just plain spreading ignorance.

My "method" has worked for just under a year. Yours worked for less than a month.. Who "wins" here?
 
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