Recently ATT started a go phone plan with unlimited talk, text, internet but that doesn't include smart phones. My question is how does ATT know what type of phone a non-contracted GO-PHONE user has?
just aint fair!
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Thought I'd share a story to anyone else in my situation or anyone thinking about picking up an Xperia.
I bought a X1i and I use AT&T here in the USA. Since they don't have cheaper plans when you are out of contract I thought I'd go ahead and get a subsidized phone (Iphone 3G) and then sell it to make back some money to discount the service.
Turns out if you get the Iphone plan whenever you check your voicemail or get a new message your phone is spammed SMS messages from AT&T. Also they block your account from using MMS even if you paid for the messaging packages.
I was able to call and get them to lift the block after an hour or so on the line and also had them disable the visual voicemail. Also AT&T has this system to track what type of phone you are using which you can check at wireless.att.com if you sign in. When I gave AT&T the IMEI of my new number they said it belonged to a Motorola V180 (some old color flip phone from 2005). Because of this the unlimited data for that phone is only $15 a month versus $30 for a PDA, yet there is no difference I still have the full 3G data connection.
Just thought I'd share my story in case anyone is in a similar situation as you might save $180 a year based on the cheaper data plan.
tl;dr version
AT&T's system thinks the Xperia X1 is an old P.O.S. phone which lets you get their cheaper unlimited data plan for P.O.S. phones but still works like the data plan for PDA phones.
I did the same, I went with the $35 everything unlimited data plan. My phone also showed up as the V180, however, you didnt have to get the iphone to get this to work, one of the free phones would of worked just fine. All you have to do once you swapped the SIM card is change the plan online and the changes are instant.
I ordered a HD2, And am on AT&T. Wouldnt mind killing my 30$ data plan, is there any way to stop it from connecting, and can AT&T tell I have a smart phone?
GamerMYJ said:
I ordered a HD2, And am on AT&T. Wouldnt mind killing my 30$ data plan, is there any way to stop it from connecting, and can AT&T tell I have a smart phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to answer your question first, yes you can cancel your data plan and stop the HD2 from connecting to ATT data (by not setting up your device during your first setup, or you can just delete the media net settings after setup is complete. i.e. selected AT&T as your network during the first boot up).
AT&T would not recognize your device, as it is not listed in theit IMEI bank under AT&T's system. (you can just tell the representative that you have an old flip phone, if they ever call you to get the imei of your phone since it is not going to appear in their system or at the time that you cancel your data service, as i am sure they will ask you why are you terminating the iphone plan). so make sure you have an old cingular or At&t phone that you can give out the IMEI when you made the call. (This will also benefit you in the future, if you ever decided to get a medianet unlimited for $15.00 which is the perfect data plan for HD2 under AT&T since your HD2 (assuming that it is a T8585 or a Tmobile brand phone and HSDPA or 3G will not be supported.)
Im sorry but i just don't see the use of having a device such as the HD2 without using the data. Im sure that you are aware that HD2's features such as weather, maps, facebook, etc.. require's an internet connection right??? so if you decided to cancel your plan, you can only be connected thru Wifi or if ever you permit, AT&T pay per use is extremely expensive.
1Cent = 1KB
opening yahoo.com webpage = assuming 1,024KB = 1MB = $1.00
so think about it really good if i were you.
cheers
I think one problem is that the T-mo HD2's are showing up as Blackberries so they are going to force the $30 data plan regardless. I'm 100% positive they think I have a blackberry but I'm hoping that someone can tell me that they don't enforce the $30 plan in this instance?
I just received my Focus from the Amazon $49 deal and was able to transfer my iPhone's unlimited data plan to it. This is only possible if you have a "grandfathered" device which already has unlimited data on it, as AT&T has dropped the unlimited plan.
Heres How:
Order your phone on Amazon. Choose any data plan, doesn't matter.
When your phone arrives, charge it, but, DO NOT PUT IN THE SIM CARD.
Have your SIM Card and Box out and available as you will need them.
DO NOT ACTIVATE THE PHONE AS PER AT&T'S INSTRUCTIONS on their web-site.
Call AT&T Wireless [1-800-331-0500]
DO NOT ACTIVATE YOUR PHONE USING THE AT&T MENU
Press "0" to speak to an agent.
Ask to migrate your existing plan over to your new Samsung Focus. This will move your Unlimited Data Plan to your new phone.
Provide the numbers from the phone box
Provide the SIM number from your new SIM.
Have the Agent activate the phone and call your phone to make sure it is working.
There, you should now have a fully activated phone with Unlimited Data.
This is how I was told to do it from Amazon and it works.
If you miss your Visual Voicemail from the iPhone, sign up for Google Voice (www.google.com/voice). You will never miss it!
Enjoy
should this work for any phone purchased through amazon wireless?
yes, I had activated with the $15 plan but then I called them to put back my old unlimited data plan.
my billing cycle is up today so tomorrow i have to see if its still unlimited if its not then im going to call them because on my plan now it still says unlimited.
I wonder if there is anyone out there who could shed some light on this?
I was not able to apply my $15 unlimited data plan that I was on before upgrading to the new Focus because my old device was not a smart phone? I upgraded from the Pantec Matrix.
Thanks,
konkie said:
I wonder if there is anyone out there who could shed some light on this?
I was not able to apply my $15 unlimited data plan that I was on before upgrading to the new Focus because my old device was not a smart phone? I upgraded from the Pantec Matrix.
Thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Smartphone and Non Smartphones are 2 different data plans. Since the Focus is a smartphone the only way for you to get unlimited data for a smartphone, you have to have had a smartphone and that data plan.
ShadowLegion said:
Smartphone and Non Smartphones are 2 different data plans. Since the Focus is a smartphone the only way for you to get unlimited data for a smartphone, you have to have had a smartphone and that data plan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, I've have a HTC Hermes since '07 with a UL Data plan. Ordered 2 Focus's today through ATT Premier (buy one get one free) and was able to apply the UL plan to it, 2GB plan to my Wife's.
psills said:
I just received my Focus from the Amazon $49 deal and was able to transfer my iPhone's unlimited data plan to it. This is only possible if you have a "grandfathered" device which already has unlimited data on it, as AT&T has dropped the unlimited plan.
Heres How:
Order your phone on Amazon. Choose any data plan, doesn't matter.
When your phone arrives, charge it, but, DO NOT PUT IN THE SIM CARD.
Have your SIM Card and Box out and available as you will need them.
DO NOT ACTIVATE THE PHONE AS PER AT&T'S INSTRUCTIONS on their web-site.
Call AT&T Wireless [1-800-331-0500]
DO NOT ACTIVATE YOUR PHONE USING THE AT&T MENU
Press "0" to speak to an agent.
Ask to migrate your existing plan over to your new Samsung Focus. This will move your Unlimited Data Plan to your new phone.
Provide the numbers from the phone box
Provide the SIM number from your new SIM.
Have the Agent activate the phone and call your phone to make sure it is working.
There, you should now have a fully activated phone with Unlimited Data.
This is how I was told to do it from Amazon and it works.
If you miss your Visual Voicemail from the iPhone, sign up for Google Voice (www.google.com/voice). You will never miss it!
Enjoy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
forgot to mention this only works for people already using the unlimited data plan!
Thanks everyone. Now I feel sad for not taking any upgrade offers to smartphones in the past
I did exactly what is said in the first post. Ordered from Amazon with 2gb and 1500 message plan. I called att to transfer my plan but the rep said I could not. The rep said that I could Not transfer my existing plan (media net 200 bundle with unlimited data) because my previous phone was not a smart phone. I told her I had htc fuze and she was puzzled. She talked to supervisor and still said I could not keep my old plan.
I put in my chip and it can't connect at all? Is there anything special I need to do to be able to connect to AT&T?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2021401
That thread should work. One thing to remember, if you don't have an LTE data plan on your account then you need to use "phone" instead of "pta," which is also mentioned in the post.
I called them last night, from the new phone, after popping my iPhone 4 (3g speed) sim in. Told them I wanted to re-provision my grandfathered unlimited plan to a Smarthphone 4g plan. When they asked I just gave them the IMEI off the Nexus and said it was an LG phone (Optimus G, I did have to re-iterate that a few times to them). Then used the 'phone' APN, 'pta' wouldnt work as I think thats LTE specific, and when they told me to reboot I had data. Checked my at&t account immediately after, and my old Unlimited Data for iPhone had been changed to "Data Unlimited SmartPhone Personal". Was pretty easy =)
I just picked up a galaxy s4 verizon and activated it on pageplus for the 29.95 subscription.
The issue that I am having is I flashed the CDMA portion and it doesn't work with the pageplus SIM out but when I plug the SIM in I have text and data but no voice.
I had to do the 29.95 subscription to get the phone activated but want to down grade to the $12.00 plan after the 29.95 expires. I am not a big internet user just need limited voice and text.
Any help would be appreciated...