iphone w/ no contract

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antok86

[H]F Junkie
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Feb 26, 2006
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i have att and use a htc fuze. i dont have a data plan. what will att do if i get an iphone through other means. like forums or trade, second hand etc. will they force me to get a data plan or will i be able to even use the iphone with my current sim? i have iphone envy and want to trade my htc:p
 
I have heard that they will add the data plan to your account if they find that you're using an iPhone. I'm not sure how they know, but there are reports of identifying the phones over the air. If you are outside of a contract, I don't see how they can force this on users, but I'm no lawyer.
 
AT&T can tell fairly quick when someone is using an iPhone. I bought a second hand iPhone 3G after I sold my Blackberry Bold and my account online showed that I was using an iPhone 3G even though I never called AT&T to activate it or tell them I had one. I never got nagged for the data stuff though since Blackberries also require a data plan which was the same cost as the iPhone's.

Legally, I don't think they can add stuff to your account without you authorizing but I know they'll nag you via texts and possibly phone calls.
 
well i kinda was in the same boat...i have a blackjack from att and then i got a used htc fuze and when i logged on it showed my device as an htc fuze but they never added the data plan but it does charge my account if i do. but they didnt add a data plan
 
as far as I know, just pop your sim out and plug it into the iphone... it should work fine. As a matter of fact, I recall reading an article/writeup about getting it to work with a prepaid plan as well.

They 'might' be able to tell that you're using one, but unless you authorize them to add the data plan I don't think they can do anything about it. You probably wont have proper text messaging or internet acess and visual voicemail probably wont work correctly either.
 
antok86 said:
i have att and use a htc fuze. i dont have a data plan. what will att do if i get an iphone through other means. like forums or trade, second hand etc. will they force me to get a data plan or will i be able to even use the iphone with my current sim? i have iphone envy and want to trade my htc:p
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Nothing will happen. Like the dude above me said. Pop Your sim and enjoy! And cancel your internet plan if you want to save. (tho an iphone without internet is nothing basically :p , except for fun games!) :D
 
There are two ways to use data on AT&T ... a data plan and usage-based billing.

It sounds like your account is set up to enable data on demand, without a fixed montly fee.

While AT&T will not let you set up an iPhone plan without including data, if your account is already data enabled they are not going to push you into a specific plan. This is largely on account of the fact that the way the iPhone uses data means that without a data plan you will get a very nasty surprise on your next bill and AT&T will make a lot more money that way than with the standard $30/month plan.

And that applies even if you never manually use the browser or check email and so on.

Unlike the Fuze, where you essentially manually invoke any operation requiring data access, the iPhone does all manner of things that use it all on its own. There is no way, on the standard firmware, to disable these features without also disabling the phone aspects of the device.

There are ways around that using non-standard firmware.
 
yeah, the iPhone is pretty much useless without the data plan. you are better off just buying in iPod touch if you want the "cool factor" and don't really care about the data ability of the iPhone.
 
As Torq said, using the iPhone without a data plan is just gonna make for one heck of a surprise on your next bill.
 
Yes, ATT can tell what phone is accessing their network. It is similar logic to a MAC address. Each phone has a "mac address" that identifies it.
 
You should be able to just pop in your sim and use it however for data they might charge you by the kb if you do use it.
 
Pretty sure i saw in the att contract saying that by agreeing to the contract if you have an iphone w/o dataplan att is allowed to put one on i think you have to pay for retroactive months too, just try to buy an iphone throuh att website youll see the checkmark you have to click or they wont sell you the iphone.
 
I've been using an iphone 3g for the past year running on my old 2g plan. Didn't want to pay more for my service so I just dropped my old 2g sim into the new 3g phone. 1 year and a whole lot of data usage later, ATT has yet to change my plan or charge me for any overages :D
 
sonofander said:
I've been using an iphone 3g for the past year running on my old 2g plan. Didn't want to pay more for my service so I just dropped my old 2g sim into the new 3g phone. 1 year and a whole lot of data usage later, ATT has yet to change my plan or charge me for any overages :D
Click to expand...

The most they will do is ask you if you have a 3G iPhone and suggest the data plan. They cannot force the plan on you if you don't admit to having one. Happened to my friend when he called them up. He told them that he did not have one, and even though their computers showed he did, they couldn't change his plan.
 
sonofander said:
I've been using an iphone 3g for the past year running on my old 2g plan. Didn't want to pay more for my service so I just dropped my old 2g sim into the new 3g phone. 1 year and a whole lot of data usage later, ATT has yet to change my plan or charge me for any overages :D
Click to expand...


lol damn you. Thinking back, this is how I should of done it as well instead of saving a few hundred re-signing a 2 year contract. So you're getting 3G data speeds with the original 2G plan? Nicely done
 
Yup. That and I got to keep my old text msg plan which was $5 for unlimited with other ATT customers. Since my wife is on AT&T this is perfect for me. AT&T doesn't offer this anymore for iPhone users...
So I pay the $20 data, $5 for 200 txt and $5 for unlimited AT&T txt making my total data usage $30 per month. Sold my 2g for $300 the day I bought the 3g so I still only spent $300 for the upgrade.

I will be doing this again this week if I can find a 3gs in stock somewhere around me
 
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