turn on cellular data or use Wi-FI to access data

[vong]

what does this mean? i just got my iPhone 4 today and i was on the road (apple store is an hour drive from where i live) and i was texing my friends, had:

celluar data: OFF
enable 3g: OFF
data roaming: OFF

and i kept getting this response "turn on cellular data or use Wi-FI to access data" anyone know how to fix this? am i suppose to leave Cellular data on? i turned it off because i thought it would be wasting data. (got 200MB plan)

 

[esadb]

Well if you turn Data OFF you wont be able to receive MMS messages..

I recommend leave Data turned ON. It wont use that much while just being ON..

3G will connect to the 3G and be faster if your doing browsing/downloading so you can leave that OFF if you want.

 

[-aggie-]

You should have cellular data and 3G on. You need cellular data for texting.

 

[vong]

okay thanks for the help. one last question. since i got unlimited texting and i guess (cellular data is to receive picture text) will receiving picture texts' waste some of my 200mb data?

 

[vong]

^ i got that part answered but when i turned of my Wifi; i am using this "E" thing that is next to AT&T on the top left corner. i am guessing that is Edge? and uses data but very little correct?

 

[draz]

There are several different symbols that appear beside the AT&T logo:

3G, E, o, This just means the type of network your phone is currently using. 3G means faster browsing, E and o stand for Edge and Gprs, and that basically means a slower browsing.

The other symbol is the WiFi symbol and that means it is using your WiFi network and will not use up your 200mb data plan.

Picture and Video messages will not use up your 200mb of data. AT&T knows when you are sending a Picture or Video Message and charges this as an MMS message. If you only send a text message it is an SMS message that is charged.

Although you are required to have Cellular data turned on to send and receive an MMS message, it does not use up your 200mb of data.



Note if you send pictures or video via E-mail then this uses your 200mb Data plan, unless you are connected to a WiFi then it doesn't cost you anything to send it. Tip: Connect to a WiFi network as much as possible if you have one at home, work/school, etc...

 

[Resist]

Unfortunately the 200MB data plan is not very much, so when you are using the cell network (3G, Edge, etc.) for data, you can easily go past your limit and end up paying a premium overage charge. If you are using Wifi you will have no worries. If you have your phone set to use the Cell Network and Wifi, it will always try to use Wifi first (for speed).

For texting I suggest trying an app that will provide it for free. Then reduce your texting plan from unlimited down to the $5 a month 200 message plan. Texting plans are so over priced it just makes to use an app that does it for free.