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Tmobile $5.99 Plan? Tzones?

I have a question for anyone that can be of assistance. I am looking to upgrade myself and my wife from our old antiquated HTC Wizard finally. The problem is I dont want to lose our grandfathered 5.99 data plan through the upgrade. I'm looking for 3g phones that people have upgraded to without problems. This also has to be done with a plan ( I know it would be easier to by a phone outright but unfortunately I don't have the money for that now.) So please any suggestions? Thanks for all of your help.

I sold an iphone recently to someone with a grandfathered plan and tmobile actually said they can remain on the grandfathered data plan. Have you tried calling your tmo customer support agent?

dont call tmobile support. just get a phone from another carrier. i have the cheap data plan on my lg expo.

Thanks guys. I know I can purchase a phone outright and do it. But unfortunately I don't have the money for that right now. So I have to go the extended contract route and upgrade phone. I have gotten mixed messages on this working for the G1. Some say tmobile finds out somehow and cuts this off after a while forcing you to upgrade data plan. Anyone else?

If at first you don't succeed, try try again..... Anyone else please?

Any luck with AT&T data plans not for smartphones?

Just wondering if you anybody has still be able to get passed AT&T's "smartphone" higher data rate.
I have an LG non smart phone that I am thinking about using to purchase the unlimited messaging and data plan for $30. Then swapping my sim back to my fuze.
But I dont know if AT&T has gotten wise to this or not.

yep they seem to catch ya quick now ....we signed up 3 weeks ago and got the unlimited data plan with our 2 pantech impacts ..then i bought a fuze a week later
and within 3 hours of turning on the fuze the nailed me and changed me over to the 2gb smartphone plan ...so unless someone knows a way around this looks like att gets to screw us some more
or if someone can figure out how to block the imei ..cause i think thats how they can tell

Just my experience but yesterday I had to go to the AT&T store to put the $30 data plan on my HTC Fuze. What happened was I put my sim card in my first gen iPhone so it activated the $15 data then I put my card back in my Fuze so for the last two months I had an iPhone plan running on the fuze and they never said anything but after about a week I stopped getting 3G service so I guess as the saying goes you get what you pay for. If you want to, try it but beware if anyone does have the $30 unlimited data plan if you even switch it off for a second you can't get it back good thing was that the iphone was a smartphone with unlimited data.

Signed up with AT&T years ago. Been staying with them contract free because I get the $15 medianet internet.
From what Ive seen, if you never call or contact AT&T, you're fine.
I have a Fuze and a unlocked Telstra Diamond, both with $15 a month medianet on our family plan.
Never been contacted about a change, and have been running on these phones for well over a year. (and on my phone, I frequently go around 5-10gb a month of data). Before these, we had a treo 750, and a palm centro on the medianet plan, and before that a Treo 650.
The 750 and up have all been considered "smartphones" yet Ive never been forced to upgrade.
I should note that I have never bought a phone through AT&T and all of these have been unlocked phones bought on ebay, and just switched out the sim.
As always YMMV.

Yeah IDK. When I swap in my sim card to the LG, AT&T online changes my device. Then when I put my sim back into my Fuze, it will pretty much instantly change it back on the website. Even if I go in and manually change it, it will revert right back my Fuze.
I just think it is a rip off that smartphones get charged more for the exact same network access.

[Q] Prepaid mobile plan for someone travelling to the US?

I have an AT&T banded unlocked phone (Nexus One) and I'm going to be travelling to the US at the end of the month and I'm debating getting a pre-paid SIM card and putting in in my phone while I'm there. Any ideas about where the best place to go for this would be and what I should expect it to cost? I would like to have data so that I can use email while voice would be nice, but not really necessary.
I'm guessing AT&T would be my first place to look, but I suppose I could go with someone like T-Mobile and just deal with only having EDGE speed. What's the best deal?

the problem with tmobile is their internet is not internet....its worse than wap. alteast on my prepaid... att is good would cost 20$ would unlimited texting including sending to canada...sim is free from a att store...data is 20$ for 100mb and 5$ for 1Mb unless they changed it

Only100 mb? I would blow through that in a day... I guess I'll wait and see what AT&T has to offer when I get there.

Found anything yet?

[Q] Phone's not in ATT's IMEI bank

Greetings!
First time poster, long time reader.
I have been using a SE Xperia X1a that I bought off Ebay since Sept. 2009. I have stuck with this phone because I have an unlimited Medianet HSDPA service that costs $10/Mo. I frequently tether as a wireless router for either my laptop or Ipod Touch 4g. ATT still has not recognized this despite using 2gb+/mo.
The hardware in the phone is breaking down. I am looking for a replacement device that can do a similar service for me- $10/mo/unlimited internet. Are there any foreign branded Androids that can do this?
I did do a search for about an hour before giving up and asking this. Thanks are coming your way for responding

I'm really not sure why you think your plan is tied to your phone? Just get whatever phone tickles your fancy and put your sim card in it.

I don't think my plan is tied to my phone. I'm sorry if that's how it came across.
I am able to capitalize on unlimited MediaNet data because ATT doesn't recognize my Xperia's IMEI- they think I have a dumbphone.
The hardware is failing on my Xperia, and I am looking into a replacement. I'm fully willing to buy an foreign phone out of contract if it's known that ATT can't recognize the IMEI.
If anyone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated :-D

They dont think you have a dunb phone(Non Smart Phone) They just havent cared to check. In my experience they only check what style of phone when upgrading services, such as data plans and such. As deathsled said, get any phone that makes you happy and insert yoour sim card. P.S. Make sure phone is able to accept a sim card, and if unlocked make sure its able to listen to the carries specific signal.

Well they do think I have a dumbphone. That's what I had to tell them when I signed up for MediaNet after purchasing the phone.
I don't want to buy a phone that they their system will instantly recognize and upgrade me from my MediaNet to a smartphone plan.
Is there a resource to check the phones that they know of? I could always just purchase the same model and continue doing what I'm doing if not.

Is the problem that nobody knows, or that nobody has seen this thread that does know?

Bamp 10char

Is there another forum I should be trying?

Donteventrii said:
Well they do think I have a dumbphone. That's what I had to tell them when I signed up for MediaNet after purchasing the phone.
I don't want to buy a phone that they their system will instantly recognize and upgrade me from my MediaNet to a smartphone plan.
Is there a resource to check the phones that they know of? I could always just purchase the same model and continue doing what I'm doing if not.
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I'm rather puzzled, why can't you just buy an unlocked phone from (say) Amazon? They do sell nice Nexus One units there...

I know exactly what you are talking about Donteventrii
I can give you a list of phones that might be suitable for you, that are unlocked and use AT&T 3G but their IMEI will still not be recognizable and therefore, you get to keep your $10 unlimited MEdiaNet data plan
Amazon: Any Nokia Phone - E72, N8, E7, E6 etc
NExus S - the one for AT&T which will have the 850/1900 3G bands - http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Googl..._1_1?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1310519566&sr=1-1
T-mobile Galaxy S vibrant - Unlocked. It has AT&T's 3G 1900 band so you will be able to get 3G speeds in many areas since 1900 is the more widespread one.
Any Rogers (Canadian telephone service provider) smartphone unlocked since it uses the same bands as AT&T for it's 3G. I'm using a Rogers unlocked Xperia Play that I bought off a guy who'd bought it off Ebay.
That's just the ones I can think off the top of my head. I'll post again if I remember some more

Thank you very much Abudabu!
I may have some follow ups, but I'm heading to bed.

I would just get another phone like tmobile

Abudabu, do you also use MediaNet for your Xperia Play? I see that ATT is getting Xperia play, do you think this will cause problems for you?
The Nexus S is quite costly still, though 2.3 has me drooling. I believe the Galaxy S may be my best option. I might buy it online and unlock it myself.
Any thoughts?

I don't use MediaNet actually. I'm on the $30 unlimited data plan that I opted for when I went with the iPhone 3GS.
You can swap your SIM card out of your current phne to any phone that does not have an AT&T logo on it and you should be fine. AT&T has the IMEI's of all the phones that IT sells, in it's database. So if you put your sim in an Unlocked Xperia Play from Rogers or from United Kingdom, you can continue using the MediaNet without any hassle. If however, you put your SIM card in a AT&T Xperia Play, the SIM recognizes the IMEI of the phone, and will transmit this data back to AT&T indicating you need to upgrade your plan since you are on a smartphone

Any reason you don't switch back to MediaNet?

I'm aware of the 10$ Medianet plan. But for those that use it with unlocked smartphones, how do you get around the texting?
I see a $30 unlimited data and messaging plan which defeats the purpose of the thread. Are you combining this with the 1000 messages for $10?
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

Donteventrii said:
Any reason you don't switch back to MediaNet?
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Click to collapse
Well couple of reasons:
1) I wasn't sure if they even offer it anymore. I was under the impression they have tiered data plans now. $15 for 200 mb, $25 for 2GB, etc.
2) I switch phones quite a bit. So I prefer to just have the $30 unlimited data plan standard and I switch sim's in and out irregardless.

Ah if you switch phones that makes sense.
But yes, they do indeed offer MediaNet unlimited for 10/month. I am sitting at 2.5gb this month with a week left in my billing cycle.
I mainly use it to tether my laptop while at work. We don't have wifi, and I don't want to use my work computer for personal business. In fact, I'm tethering it right now from work

so where can I find a list of smartphones, compatible with AT&T, not in the IMEI database?
Just to be clear, I can purchase a dumbphone with:
$30 unlimited messaging/mobile to mobile
+
$15 unlimited data
with no voice plan (like the $39.99 for 450 minutes), go home and pop the SIM card to one of these unlisted phones and done.
$45 + tax for unlimited everything on a smartphone.
I can use Google Voice for landlines and international without incurring call forwarding fees and such.

I don't think there is a list other than what's been provided already. I use the Unlimited family messaging and 10/mo unlimited internet.

[Q] Prepaid Infuse carrier?

Hey,
I'm recently got an infuse off contract, rooted it, etc, but I haven't been able to make myself transfer my service too it from my other phone. I'm really torn, as it is a great phone but ehhh.
Anyway.
I'm just wondering if there is some way I can use this phone on a pre paid network or something. I looked it up and saw straight talk was perhaps an option, but it seems very confusing.
Thanks.

well you could use simple mobile. (they have ads on this site alot) you could the infuse unlocking guide to unlock your phone and use it on this service. they use t mobiles towers and have 4g (hspa+) in certain areas. their plans are 40 unlimited talk and text, 50 unlimited talk text and 2g data, and 60 unlimited talk text 3g/4g data. you should check them out.hope all goes well my friend.

thank you very much! are there any cheaper options? do you know anything about straight talk?
can i use it on att month to month?

Well simple mobile is one of the cheapest prepaid gsm carriers around. And I know of straight talk. But the only straight talk smart phone is the nokia e71 I believe and that's the only straight talk phone that uses a sim card. So you would have to buy a 200+ phone JUST to get the straight talk sim card out. And yes you can use simple mobile from month to month but after 30 days of no payment they will take your number and deactivate your sim. And another good cheap prepaid option is walmarts family plan. The only thing is to start to see savings you would have to have multiple lines that's why it's good for families. Finally you could check out h20 wireless solutions they have similar rates to simple mobile but they use att towers.... Whew....that was allot of typing....lol

Itaer said:
thank you very much! are there any cheaper options? do you know anything about straight talk?
can i use it on att month to month?
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Click to collapse
Based on conversations on IRC with a ST user:
If your SIM was taken from one of th $200 Nokias, you can use in the Infuse. ST is a Tracfone reseller, which uses AT&T's network.
SIMs from all other ST phones are specifically locked to the phone.
ALSO: If you use a SIM from one of the $200 Nokias, you MUST keep the Nokia. If that phone is ever activated with another service, ST will drop service on your SIM.
Edit: Note, I'm an AT&T contract user, all of the above are hearsay from IRC a month or two ago.

i believe you need a $200 nokia smartphone on strait talk but never sell the nokia! the sim is locked to the imei somehow and if the nokia is activated again the old sim is deactivated. also i think strait talk is a reseller of many carriers, they have cdma phones and a few of the nokia smart phones are on t-mobile sim cards from what i understand. you can try it but i think ifg the sim has a "t" on it then you cant use it, only problem is you have know way to know which sim will be in the phone you are buying.
many of those prepay services have one of a number of methods to lock the phone to their network. do as much research as posible before dropping cash on a device that might be useless

I though Att itself has a pay as you go with no contracty plain also tat works for this for for $5 data (10 mb ha) and $.010 a min talk.

Dani897 said:
i believe you need a $200 nokia smartphone on strait talk but never sell the nokia! the sim is locked to the imei somehow and if the nokia is activated again the old sim is deactivated. also i think strait talk is a reseller of many carriers, they have cdma phones and a few of the nokia smart phones are on t-mobile sim cards from what i understand. you can try it but i think ifg the sim has a "t" on it then you cant use it, only problem is you have know way to know which sim will be in the phone you are buying.
many of those prepay services have one of a number of methods to lock the phone to their network. do as much research as posible before dropping cash on a device that might be useless
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Click to collapse
So theoretically, you could buy the 200 phone, and buy the cheap ass phone......in separate transactions, from Wal-mart and then use the expensive sim card, but put the cheap sim card in the expensive phone pkg and return the phone......only if you are evil!

I understand you could use the GoPhone plans, but you will need a new sim card, and also have to have a data plan to go with it, not sure how much the Simple Mobile plans are they talk about, but your looking at around 55-60$ for GoPhone plans with minimum data. 50$ unlimited talk and text and 5$for 10mb. Tops is 25$for 500mb, thats still not a lot of data though. I think 10mb for a phone is a joke, in my opinion. Maybe check out the Simple Mobile, you will have to unlock your phone for that though. Instructions for that are XDA.

emeralds5668 said:
So theoretically, you could buy the 200 phone, and buy the cheap ass phone......in separate transactions, from Wal-mart and then use the expensive sim card, but put the cheap sim card in the expensive phone pkg and return the phone......only if you are evil!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. If the expensive phone is EVER activated with another SIM, the expensive SIM you're using will get deactivated according to everything I've heard.

Entropy512 said:
No. If the expensive phone is EVER activated with another SIM, the expensive SIM you're using will get deactivated according to everything I've heard.
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Click to collapse
Yeah but if the phone is returned, after it has been opened, then its not returned to the shelf. I think it would be considered refurb. I dont know, but they would probably reassign the imei to another sim. Dont know. I think I will just keep my edge speed in the hope that when att buys t-mobile that I will finally gtr hspda.