Would you get a Data plan even if getting a smartphone on contract didn't require one

[paperwastage]

I'm hypothesizing that the people who got caught didn't properly turn off data and accidentally used some and then got caught by AT&T.

it's hit and miss

go read this thread below. Some people have luck evading AT&T's scan, even with AT&T smartphones. Some people don't. you're welcome to try

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

 

[Chapbass]

Maps: Can't we just preload the maps? I can download blocks of SD, SF, NY, Paris, Munich before I go.

Backup tethering as WiFi is down: Is this really worth $30/month for 2gigs? How often does this happen anyway?

What I am trying to say is, that Apple, Google, Verizon, and all companies involved have created fragmented "services" in order to make sure we pay monthly premiums for smartphones. Why can't a smartphone act like a Garmin without data service?

Yes, it is absolutely worth 30/mo for 2GB, for me. Its the same reason people have insurance. Is your insurance worth x per month when most months you don't use it at all? But if I'm in a pinch (like i was the other day), then having this ability saves my skin.

Besides, unlike the health insurance analogy, I can use the data for other things too, which I use all the time (especially when on the road, where wifi is spotty and sometimes downright unavailable.).

 

[kyrax12]

No offense, but I think this is not a very smart question, because the answer is pretty obvious.

I asked this question as a general survey on what some of the ATOT mobile phone users think regarding data plans. I don't know how much people here generally make so I just assume most people here are middle class.

 

[kyrax12]

Honestly, most of the stories I hear are missing information about this. It's kinda like if you go search "wifi cannot connect" at Google, and you'll find 5 billion results probably. Are there that many defective devices/wifi routers, or is it user error? My mom has been using an iPhone 3GS without a data plan for some time now, and I helped my coworker unlock his iPhone 4 for his wife who doesn't have a data plan. No one has gotten caught yet.

Back in iOS3, iOS4 or even 5, there wasns't an easy way to turn off data. You had to use some fake APN stuff like unlockit.co.nz so that the phone wouldn't connect online. Now you can just switch off data.

I'm hypothesizing that the people who got caught didn't properly turn off data and accidentally used some and then got caught by AT&T.

Yea, I came to the theory before that ATT can only catch you if you accidentally use data. Had that happened when I got my first smartphone. Was freaking out and had to cancel the service.

Everything was fine until I used the damn data service accidentally.

 

[Cerb]

So what is it that people must have that requires data (and WiFi is no where to be found)? What would be a scenario?

The same things that require data when there is wifi around, except the wifi isn't available, and/or the mobile network is faster than the wifi, and that matters at that moment. Free wifi is not ubiquitously available for everyone, everywhere.

As it is, ironically, if they would start making more good phones PDA-like, but still be good phones (IE, not a SGN), I think I would care about data much less, because I would be spending more time using offline features, that are a PITA with the crappy touch screens that almost all smartphones have.

I use enough data for it to be worth it, even being on wifi at home and work (usually, anyway), and would have it anyway, but it does suck that you can't just have it turned off. If you don't want to use data on the go, you should be able to not have it on your plan at all. Needing it is a way to increase profits, and help hide the subsidy of on-contract phones, at your long-term expense. They could even serve both sides, and make a pure metered expensive data plan that you could choose.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

it's hit and miss

go read this thread below. Some people have luck evading AT&T's scan, even with AT&T smartphones. Some people don't. you're welcome to try

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

That's people actively using data and trying to get away with it on Media Net. I've tried it and I got away with it til 2011. They flagged my Nexus S then.

But what I'm pointing out is something totally different. There's not many people who are using a smartphone with data completely turned off. The ones who do probably aren't that into tech to begin with. Therefore they either don't know how to turn off data completely or run into accidents. I messed my mom's iPhone 3GS APN up so it could never connect. That's how we prevented it from getting online. Similarly, my coworker's wife has a data block and so his iPhone 4 was given to her last year and she's been using it since with no data.

I'm not saying it's definitely safe, but I just haven't heard enough data out there regarding someone with decent technical proficiency who's used a smartphone without data and automatically been upgraded to a data plan.

Also, a lot of people don't know but you can cancel the data plan. I bought an iPhone and I cancelled the data plan and went to MediaNet afterward because I claim that I sold my iPhone. You're locked in for 2 years for the minutes not the data.

 

[Belegost]

This discussion is why I continue to advocate moving entirely away from the current system.

1 - No more subsidized phones. You buy the phone and then get service for it. I don't go to my power company get a free lamp, and then pay them back by paying an inflated monthly rate for a whole pile of KW*hr I may or may not use. If carriers want to go the TMO route and offer loans for the phones - fine by me.

2 - No more giant buckets of bits. You pay for what you use - that only seems fair, but most people are not using the whole pile of bits, so why are they paying for them? Further this would equalize access for people of all economic status - if you don't have the money to pay for a lot of data you minimize your usage and don't pay.

Wireless service should be a utility, like power, water, and gas - each person pays some basic access charges, and then gets billed for what they use.

Of course everytime I bring this up (here and other places) I get yelled down, because the makeup of the people on websites such as this tend to be those with heavy data usage and they would likely end up paying more under this type of system. (Of course I don't doubt they would quickly shift a lot of usage to wifi to avoid paying, I would)

And of course the carriers are against this, they make fat piles of cash of charging Grandma 100MB/month (It's a traditional Norwegian name) for 2GB of data she never touches. Plus the subsidy situation here in the US keeps the carrier in power, they can setup 2 year contracts locking people in, they keep more control of their customers. If there were not subsidies the power would shift to the device makers, and carriers would (rightly) be relegated to being simply an infrastructure provider, a pipe for bits.

 

[jumpncrash]

Nope, I have a smartphone nopw, and no data plan. I'm rarely somewhere that doesn't have the internet already

 

[Cerb]

2 - No more giant buckets of bits. You pay for what you use - that only seems fair, but most people are not using the whole pile of bits, so why are they paying for them? Further this would equalize access for people of all economic status - if you don't have the money to pay for a lot of data you minimize your usage and don't pay.

As long as the charges were reasonable, sure. I think one of the hurdles is that we know from experience that they wouldn't be, if the telcos moved to such a system. They would make the average bill $10 lower, and then charge $20/GB (rounding up), even though 1 GB on average probably costs several cents--the reason being described in your last paragraph.

Also, as a P.S.:

So what is it that people must have that requires data (and WiFi is no where to be found)? What would be a scenario?

Today, I checked my work email, to see if there was anything that I wouldn't want to let wait until Monday, and clocked out, while a bit over 10 miles away from the office. Prior to leaving, but well out of wifi range, I came up my route to go a few locations, then get groceries, then go home; and in doing so, recorded my mileage before leaving. Considering that it's nearly impossible to save more than about $15/mo by having no or low data (AirVoice? Ultra?), that's an awful lot of convenience for <$200/yr. Compared to contract, though...I simply would not pay the cost of AT&T or Verizon, for anything but voice & text on a feature phone.