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iPhone 3G: Possible to bypass a dataplan?

GuyInTheBack

GuyInTheBack

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 2, 2008
74
1
I used to have a first gen iPhone unlocked with AT&T. I never had any data plan and only hopped on free wifi spot (at college so they're a-plenty).

Anywho, it got stolen a month ago after 2 years of great service. I found another pretty cheap 3G iPhone on craigslist, advertised to be jailbroken and popped a new SIMs card in it.

It works very well EXCEPT for the fact that AT&T seems automatically sign me up for a dataplan every couple of days.

i wonder; is it that the phone wasn't actually jailbroken OR is it impossible to bypass a data plan on the 3G?
 
AT&T will automatically know that it is an iPhone as soon as you put your sim into it. The chances are great that they will automatically add a data plan within the first day that you start using the phone. Sometimes it takes a day or two and there have been a few people who claim that a data plan was never added at all even months down the road.
 
SpaceKitty said:
AT&T will automatically know that it is an iPhone as soon as you put your sim into it. The chances are great that they will automatically add a data plan within the first day that you start using the phone. Sometimes it takes a day or two and there have been a few people who claim that a data plan was never added at all even months down the road.
Click to expand...

Would that automatic detection + auto dataplan be avoided with another carrier (i.e. virgin mobile or t-mobile)?
 
After a bit of a screwup with ordering iPhone 4's on eligible lines that have iPhone 2G's on them and having extensive talks with Customer Care over the weekend, they were able to confirm that they could drop the imposed data plan on any line that had iPhone 2G's on them, but if I used anything newer, 3G, 3GS, or 4, the system would automatically tack on a data plan.

All I had to do was provide them an IMEI of the iPhone 2G.

That being said, the only way they will not add a data plan for any newer phone is if the IMEI is not registered with the carrier in any way. If you are on AT&T, you need to get an iPhone outside the country, where those IMEI's would not be recognized by AT&T and therefore "unsusceptible" to sweeps in their system to have data plans automatically added on.
 
BeyondtheTech said:
After a bit of a screwup with ordering iPhone 4's on eligible lines that have iPhone 2G's on them and having extensive talks with Customer Care over the weekend, they were able to confirm that they could drop the imposed data plan on any line that had iPhone 2G's on them, but if I used anything newer, 3G, 3GS, or 4, the system would automatically tack on a data plan.

All I had to do was provide them an IMEI of the iPhone 2G.

That being said, the only way they will not add a data plan for any newer phone is if the IMEI is not registered with the carrier in any way. If you are on AT&T, you need to get an iPhone outside the country, where those IMEI's would not be recognized by AT&T and therefore "unsusceptible" to sweeps in their system to have data plans automatically added on.
Click to expand...

That would explain why my first phone never got "picked up". I got it from canada.

Pardon the newb but could I got an IMEI from a friend and gave them that one when they called?
 
A buddy of mine has his 3G (AT&T) for almost a year without a data plan. I thought they would add it on when he got it, but they never did. He didn't mind having to pay for it, but since they never added it, he just uses wifi.
 
I don't know how common this is but can you "haggle" with them?

My contract is expired and I'm thinking of calling and saying that I am transferring to T-mobile unless they block my data plan. In a much nicer tone of course...

Any chance of that working?
 
GuyInTheBack said:
I don't know how common this is but can you "haggle" with them?

My contract is expired and I'm thinking of calling and saying that I am transferring to T-mobile unless they block my data plan. In a much nicer tone of course...

Any chance of that working?
Click to expand...

Something tells me that you could. Remember, it's just profit for them, regardless if you use it or not. Now, that it's tiered and they can tack on overages, there's no way they'd be losing money.

They were initially insistent that "the computer would automatically add it back on" until I kept insisting that it's an iPhone 2G. After several minutes on hold, they came back and said if I provided the IMEI of the iPhone 2G, they'd be able to remove it.

I think they were more inclined to help me since I already have two iPhone 4's and three iPhone 2G's on a family plan and was racking up in thousands of overtime minutes and add-ons such as FamilyMap and Roadside Assistance already.
 
GuyInTheBack said:
I don't know how common this is but can you "haggle" with them?

My contract is expired and I'm thinking of calling and saying that I am transferring to T-mobile unless they block my data plan. In a much nicer tone of course...

Any chance of that working?
Click to expand...

I told them that.

I went to a certified AT&T retail store and told them my problem.

I asked him if it was possible and he said 'no.'

Then I asked him when my contract ended which was somewhere around December. I asked him for his name and and he gave it.

Then he said it was "possible" but the chances of it getting picked up were high.

He said he'd done it on a person who got the automatic data plan in 3 months of usage, one guy whom it took about 6 months, and another about a year. I then asked him how I could do it, and he said that I would only be able to forward and receive phone calls; the iPhone itself won't function properly.

Then I told him that the previous year I called up AT&T and told them to DISABLE data plan for my BB and if I could just swipe that SIM into my iPhone and he said it was irrelevant. So I just paid the early termination fee, called AT&T customer support and filed a customer complaint to the representative, switched to T-Mobile,

and enjoying it! :D
 
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