iPhone with no data plan?

[CurseTheSky]

To make a long story short, a friend of mine is giving me their old iPhone 3GS when they upgrade. I don't have data with AT&T (and don't want to get it, either), but I wouldn't mind ditching the LG Vu I'm currently using (battery life is poor, screen is sub-par, overall quality is meh, etc.).

Can I simply swap my SIM card into the iPhone and use it without a hitch? If I don't browse the web, download apps via 3G, or do any other data-related tasks on the phone, will I avoid paying extra fees every month, or does the iPhone tend to use data traffic even when it's "idle?" Please keep in mind that I have no data plan on AT&T whatsoever, so even 1MB used by the iPhone could cost a crap load.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[pm]

The iPhone is notorious about pulling data all the time and it used to be very hard to stop it from doing it - particularly on AT&T where the iPhone is "tuned" so that a lot of the settings aren't visible and can't be changed. Now there's a setting and so it's not so hard any more.

The next problem is that AT&T is known to scan through the devices on it's network and they may figure out what type of phone you have and then you will receive a message that you need a data plan. I've heard rumors that they will send you a message saying that they have "helpfully" added the mandatory data plan to your account... but that seems a bit too unrealistic to me and may just be an urban legend. If they did that to me, I'd file a complaint with the FCC very quickly.

What I would do if I were you, is first call up AT&T and say that you want data access on your account totally and absolutely disabled so that there is no way that you can ever get charged for data access. They can do this - I've done it on my wife's Nokia. Then plug in the SIM and hope that it doesn't unactivate the iPhone (it might... they are tuned to specific SIM cards). And then go to Settings -> General -> Network and turn Enable 3G off (saves battery life), Cellular Data off, and Data Roaming off. If you really want to be paranoid, go to http://help.benm.at and download any Mobileconfig there, and then go into Settings -> General -> Network -> Network settings and clear all the APN entries.

Then I'd use the phone until I got "caught" and then decide what you want to do at that point. There are people who have been using it this way for years and have never had an issue - but then I've also read that people got a message from AT&T within 4 days... so YMMV. I would take the risk if it were me. We can all argue iPhone vs. Android all day long, but pretty much everyone would agree that a 3GS is a nice phone and it's way better than a Vu, and worst case you'll use an iPhone for 4 days... but I'll bet you'll be fine for a long time this way.

 

[SLCentral]

The iPhone is notorious about pulling data all the time and it used to be very hard to stop it from doing it - particularly on AT&T where the iPhone is "tuned" so that a lot of the settings aren't visible and can't be changed. Now there's a setting and so it's not so hard any more.

The next problem is that AT&T is known to scan through the devices on it's network and they may figure out what type of phone you have and then you will receive a message that you need a data plan. I've heard rumors that they will send you a message saying that they have "helpfully" added the mandatory data plan to your account... but that seems a bit too unrealistic to me and may just be an urban legend. If they did that to me, I'd file a complaint with the FCC very quickly.

What I would do if I were you, is first call up AT&T and say that you want data access on your account totally and absolutely disabled so that there is no way that you can ever get charged for data access. They can do this - I've done it on my wife's Nokia. Then plug in the SIM and hope that it doesn't unactivate the iPhone (it might... they are tuned to specific SIM cards). And then go to Settings -> General -> Network and turn Enable 3G off (saves battery life), Cellular Data off, and Data Roaming off. If you really want to be paranoid, go to http://help.benm.at and download any Mobileconfig there, and then go into Settings -> General -> Network -> Network settings and clear all the APN entries.

Then I'd use the phone until I got "caught" and then decide what you want to do at that point.

This is no urban legend. I was using an Xperia X10a on AT&T which was imported (not available in USA) for a few months. I had a $10 data plan on the line that was for "feature" phones, not smartphones. Saved me quite a bit of money.

AT&T then announced about a week ago the Xperia was coming to their network, and two days later I got a text saying the correct data plan has been added to my account. Just like that.

 

[basslover1]

To make a long story short, a friend of mine is giving me their old iPhone 3GS when they upgrade. I don't have data with AT&T (and don't want to get it, either), but I wouldn't mind ditching the LG Vu I'm currently using (battery life is poor, screen is sub-par, overall quality is meh, etc.).

Can I simply swap my SIM card into the iPhone and use it without a hitch? If I don't browse the web, download apps via 3G, or do any other data-related tasks on the phone, will I avoid paying extra fees every month, or does the iPhone tend to use data traffic even when it's "idle?" Please keep in mind that I have no data plan on AT&T whatsoever, so even 1MB used by the iPhone could cost a crap load.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

The iPhone isn't like other GSM phones in the US, it's locked to one specific SIM card. Whereas with other AT&T phones, you can just pop in your SIM and off you go. What you need to do is like mentioned above, call up ATT and disable data completely prior to putting your SIM into the iPhone. You then need to jailbreak/unlock/hacktivate the phone using whatever tool is used these days.

As much as AT&T wants you to believe that you are forced to use a data plan on that phone, you aren't. As long as you do not purchase the phone from them, you aren't required.

I used a first gen iPhone for about 5 months (bought it off eBay). Two of those months without data, two of them with (the phone is kinda useless without it IMO), then even went back and turned the data off again because I wanted to save money.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Jailbreak (and hacktivate) and then unlock using ultrasn0w.

 

[robphelan]

i bought a used on on craigslist.. popped my wife's sim card in and activated through iTunes. I was never prompted to add a data plan.. maybe it was confused since i already had a data plan on my iPhone..

flash forward > 1yr & we haven't received the friendly notification that a data plan would be added.

I just checked my wireless account & AT&T does show us as having 2 iphones.

 

[GoSharks]

To my understanding (and experience), ATT does not require a data plan for a 2g iPhone. A 3G and newer iPhone is supposed to have one.

 

[kaerflog]

Heres another point to consider.
If you are out of contract, how can ATT force you to use the data plan with your iphone ?? You can simply leave ATT.

 

[richierich1212]

I was using an iPhone 3G for about 6 months before I got a text in June saying that they've added a data plan. Bastards. Same thing has happened to other friends as well. Wife hasn't been detected yet.

So you may be safe for now but they do scan your phone and will add data plans accordingly. The only phone that I know personally that isn't detected is the Nokia E63 (mother-in-law).

But we'll be getting Samsung Captivates soon so bye bye $30 per month.

 

[robphelan]

I was using an iPhone 3G for about 6 months before I got a text in June saying that they've added a data plan. Bastards. Same thing has happened to other friends as well. Wife hasn't been detected yet.

So you may be safe for now but they do scan your phone and will add data plans accordingly. The only phone that I know personally that isn't detected is the Nokia E63 (mother-in-law).

But we'll be getting Samsung Captivates soon so bye bye $30 per month.

with your Captivate... you don't need a data plan? just going to use wifi?

 

[richierich1212]

with your Captivate... you don't need a data plan? just going to use wifi?

Captivate requires data plan. So I'll sign up my wife and I for the $15 200mb plan.

 

[robphelan]

another thing to watch out for is not to tell AT&T (if you are in this situation) that you receive corporate 'push' email.

We have access to our corp email & that would normally cost an additional $10, i believe.

 

[AstroManLuca]

First gen iPhone is the only way

 

[pm]

But we'll be getting Samsung Captivates soon so bye bye $30 per month.

Captivate requires data plan. So I'll sign up my wife and I for the $15 200mb plan.

But you could sign up for this data plan with your iPhone now...? I switched my 3GS the day they announced it. Since you can sign up for instant notifications when you are close to the 200MB limit and they let you ping-pong back and forth between 200MB and 2GB whenever you want within a billing cycle, to me it was an easy decision. Even with synchronization to my corporate Exchange server and frequent web surfing (but not streaming), I'm at 30MB out of 200, 10 days into a 31 day billing cycle. Last month I used 110MB out 200MB. I was very happy when AT&T announced the new pricing.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

The only way to not get a data plan added for using the iPhone is to disable data entirely.

You need something like Unlockit.co.nz to install a fake APN and then no data will go through.

 

[richierich1212]

Yeah I currently have the 200MB data plan for my iPhone 3G. But I'm sick of it and can't stand some things.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

As long as you don't enable data in the settings it won't flag anything.