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How does AT&T work if you downgrade from iPhone 3g?

imac abuser

imac abuser

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 1, 2004
632
1
Wondering if anyone has gotten a 3G iPhone from AT&T, and decided to downgrade to a normal non iPhone? Will AT&T penalize me if I keep my contract less there outragious data plan? I can't afford the rip off charges for data, and texting anymore. If they didn't stick it to people for the texting maybe I could live with it.

Anyone do this yet?
 
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if it's within the first 30 days no problem. After that it will take some effort on your part.
 
Well I don't mind keeping the phone I don't want my money back I just want to get out of the data charges and texting fees go back to plain old cell phone. This they will freak on that?
 
imac abuser said:
Well I don't mind keeping the phone I don't want my money back I just want to get out of the data charges and texting fees go back to plain old cell phone. This they will freak on that?
Click to expand...

Remember that contract to which you committed.....? :confused:
 
I've read several times that its perfectly ok to downgrade to a non-iphone and ditch the data plan. You'll still be under contract for some form of AT&T wireless for 2 years but you don't have to have the iphone. It's all or nothing however. You can't keep service on the iphone *without* the data plan--that's what confuses people.

Contact AT&T.
 
Right I'm fine with the service just can't afford such a huge bill anymore
 
i have a black iphone 3g 16gb, 15% employee discount,and text business discount(1500 txt for 8.99, my bill is 76$ a month
 
I have a family plan 4 lines, 1 iPhone 3g, 1 iPhone Gen 1, 1 Black Berry Curve, and a near 300.00 per month bill. I think I'll ditch the iphones and buy an additional car lol j/k but I can't swing the 300 per month
 
imac abuser said:
I have a family plan 4 lines, 1 iPhone 3g, 1 iPhone Gen 1, 1 Black Berry Curve, and a near 300.00 per month bill. I think I'll ditch the iphones and buy an additional car lol j/k but I can't swing the 300 per month
Click to expand...

Seems like you can ditch the iPhones and save $55 per month in data and text msg fees. What I don't know is what the downgrade from a 3G does to your upgrade eligibility. In other words, you were eligible to upgrade your phone when you bought the 3G, will you retain that eligibility when you remove it from the account? If not, you'll end up paying full price for whatever you get to replace it, assuming you don't have an older phone lying around to activate and use.
 
Good thing I save my old phones ;) I have a Motorolla Rckr w/ itunes that will do the job ;)
 
I just did this same thing 15 minutes ago. I have an iPhone 3g, and due to my wife getting laid off temporarily and wanting to reduce some monthly expenses, I called AT&T and told them that I wanted to go back to my old Sony W300i and remove the data plan for a few months.

He had my swap the SIM card from the iPhone to the Sony, and made the change to my account. Done. It does not break the contract, I am still maintaining my 2 year commitment to AT&T. The iPhone has become esentially a iPod Touch for a few months.
 
redcupr - thanks man, yeah sucks to have to cut back but things like that are the first to go
 
ratbatblue said:
Seems like you can ditch the iPhones and save $55 per month in data and text msg fees. What I don't know is what the downgrade from a 3G does to your upgrade eligibility. In other words, you were eligible to upgrade your phone when you bought the 3G, will you retain that eligibility when you remove it from the account? If not, you'll end up paying full price for whatever you get to replace it, assuming you don't have an older phone lying around to activate and use.
Click to expand...

If it's anything like Rogers in Canada, they don't care if you're still using the equipment or not. All that matters to them is how many months have gone by since the last time they paid out an equipment subsidy. If you just recently upgraded to an iPhone 3G, then you've just had a subsidy paid out - and the counter for upgrade eligibility will be reset back to zero, no matter what phone is actually connected to their network.

Now, if it had been less than 30 days since you upgraded, then you could have returned the iPhone, and it would have been as though nothing had ever happened at all.

On the other hand, if you've gone over the 30 day deadline, then you could resell your iPhone on the open market and use the proceeds to recover some of the cost of buying another phone. (With Rogers in Canada at least, it is perfectly permissible to buy any cheap Rogers PAYGO phone and use it with the SIM from your contract service.)
 
imac abuser said:
I have a family plan 4 lines, 1 iPhone 3g, 1 iPhone Gen 1, 1 Black Berry Curve, and a near 300.00 per month bill. I think I'll ditch the iphones and buy an additional car lol j/k but I can't swing the 300 per month
Click to expand...

I also have a family plan with four lines. I have a 3g and a 1st gen as well as two non-special phone (so no blackberry) and I pay $174 a month which includes 700 minutes and an unlimited text plan for the family (which is $30 of that total).
 
just put your sim into the motorola, call cust service and when they put the new IMEI on the account it will remove the iphone data plan. its only required when using the iphone.
 
Haha not hating on AT&T it's strictly an expense issue. I like the phone the service has improved and I've been with AT&T for years just folks is broke these days lol Go OBAMA! I hope he helps we middle class like he says
 
well I just called AT&T and the lady I spoke with told me I had to maintian my data plan so basically no getting out of the iPhone is this right? I want to keep my service just downgrade to a non iPhone or smartphone???????
 
imac abuser said:
well I just called AT&T and the lady I spoke with told me I had to maintian my data plan so basically no getting out of the iPhone is this right? I want to keep my service just downgrade to a non iPhone or smartphone???????
Click to expand...

How did you phrase the question?

If you simply said that you wanted to get rid of the data plan, but you never mentioned the part about ditching the iPhone, then the representative's response that the data plan is mandatory, is perfectly understandable given the information she had available.

If you approached it differently, for example, saying that you wanted to make a hardware change, and that you already had the new AT&T-compatible hardware ready to make the swap, then she should have guided you through the process. After the new phone's IMEI had been registered with your account in place of the iPhone's, I'd expect that the data plan would no longer have been mandatory and it ought to have been possible to remove it.
 
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