AT&T Smartphone

[lifeblood]

I want to use a Smartphone on AT&T without a data plan. I currently use a Palm Pixi Plus which has not triggered a mandatory plan yet, but the Pixi is beginning to fail and needs to be replaced. I wanted to switch to ‘Straight Talk’, but because it's associated with Wal-Mart my wife nixed that idea (she despises Wal-Mart and anything even remotely associated with it). She then renewed our cell service for another 2 years, locking us into AT&T until 2015. So, unfortunately I am stuck with AT&T.

My idea is to either 1) buy a cheap knockoff smartphone from an unknown Chinese manufacturer, or 2) just get an unlocked mainstream phone like a Nexus 4 or Samsung Ace 2.

I suspect I’ll have more luck avoiding getting caught by AT&T if I use a cheap Chinese knockoff since the AT&T software probably won’t recognize the IMEA, but then I’m taking a risk of getting a crappy piece of junk phone that crashes and falls apart. The Mainstream phones are certainly higher quality, but are more likely to be recognized by AT&T as Smartphones.

My questions are:
Does anyone have knowledge of what phones won’t get flagged as smartphones by AT&T?
Does anyone have experience using the cheap Chinese knockoff phones?

 

[cronos]

There was a list out there somewhere (most likely within HowardForums) of branded/popular international smartphones that would run on AT&T postpaid without adding a data plan. Having said that, this is really hard to pull off these days and most people just forget about it.

The logic is something like this: You want a smartphone without data plan which means what you want from the phone is the 'smart' functionalities (i.e. dumb phone won't cut it). This means that the performance of the phone itself is important. You don't want to get a crappy phone for this.

I am a little confused though, why/how did you renew for 2 years when you don't take advantage of subsidized price for a new phone? That just makes no sense whatsoever to me.

Is AT&T postpaid coverage (including roaming) extremely important for you? If not (and AT&T native coverage is good enough), have you ever thought of simply going to AT&T GoPhone or any other AT&T MVNOs?

 

[lifeblood]

I am a little confused though, why/how did you renew for 2 years when you don't take advantage of subsidized price for a new phone? That just makes no sense whatsoever to me.

1. My wife did, not me. She told me after the fact. Yes, a lot of yelling ensued following that announcement.
2. We renewed a voice & text only plan. My wife got a subsidized Pantech Renue (voice and testing only phone) out of the deal. I could have also gotten a voice and text only phone, but I didn't want one.

 

[ImDonly1]

Not sure how current the list is.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1446373

Read the last few pages, it seems people have a list they are only PMing to each other so that ATT doesn't see it.

If it has been less than 30 days, you can cancel penalty free right?
I would cancel if I could.

 

[GTRagnarok]

I'm using my Galaxy S4 on the AT&T GoPhone prepaid service without data. Before that, I was on an iPhone 4. They never flagged me or anything. The people at the AT&T store didn't care either. Costs me $100 a year.

 

[evident]

my international galaxy s2 finally got flagged after 2 years of use. they certainly are cracking down recently. YMMV with this and good luck. i would go with a cheap knock off chinese one or a model that isn't sold in the US at all.

 

[cronos]

I'm using my Galaxy S4 on the AT&T GoPhone prepaid service without data. Before that, I was on an iPhone 4. They never flagged me or anything. The people at the AT&T store didn't care either. Costs me $100 a year.

This is not a problem on GoPhone, only on AT&T postpaid account, which is why I suggested it in my first reply.

 

[bearxor]

I was about to suggest a Galaxy Nexus. I used one for several months and was never recognized by the system. It looks like AT&T began detecting those in late 2012, however .

 

[lifeblood]

Reading the xda developers thread, it seems you only get caught if you turn data on. For those who were caught, did you have data turned on? If not turning data on it the key here then I'm good. I only use WiFi anyway.

 

[Crono]

I wonder if they are detecting the ZTE Open (Firefox OS) yet.

 

[ImDonly1]

Reading the xda developers thread, it seems you only get caught if you turn data on. For those who were caught, did you have data turned on? If not turning data on it the key here then I'm good. I only use WiFi anyway.

Don't think I agree with that. They do IMEI checks.
Example iPhones start with a certain few numbers so everything with those numbers is blocked.
Same with Galaxy S4 and all.