[Q] What can I do about this? - General Questions and Answers

AT&T found me out. I had given them the IMEI of a non-smartphone to take advantage of their data plans and now they're forcing me to go back to a non-smartphone completely. What I want to know is-- if I buy an unlocked phone that is not in their smartphone lineup, can they force me to buy a data package? I was thinking about buying something like a BlackBerry or Sidekick as long as it's from another carrier, unlocked.
Does AT&T have any rules about this? How can I come up with a decent phone after this?
Thanks

Related

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?

[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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
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] General ATT Data Plan Question

Hey Everyone,
Not sure if I should be asking here so let me know if I should go somewhere else. Here is my situation: I currently have a ATT GS2 (NOT skyrocket 4g) which I used my upgrade for about 6 months ago, but now I want the One X. I am on a family plan and I am grandfathered to unlimited data. Now, my sister is eligible for an upgrade and she wants a GS2, so I was thinking of using her upgrade to get the One X and we can just swap phones, win win right? Now the part I am confused about is would I get to keep my unlimited data since the One X is a 4G phone? Would the unlimited data be 4G speeds if I did get to keep it? Would she be able to downgrade to the cheaper non 4g data plan after the switch? It is all very confusing to me and any clarification would be appreciated.
Thanks!
kroovy said:
Hey Everyone,
Not sure if I should be asking here so let me know if I should go somewhere else. Here is my situation: I currently have a ATT GS2 (NOT skyrocket 4g) which I used my upgrade for about 6 months ago, but now I want the One X. I am on a family plan and I am grandfathered to unlimited data. Now, my sister is eligible for an upgrade and she wants a GS2, so I was thinking of using her upgrade to get the One X and we can just swap phones, win win right? Now the part I am confused about is would I get to keep my unlimited data since the One X is a 4G phone? Would the unlimited data be 4G speeds if I did get to keep it? Would she be able to downgrade to the cheaper non 4g data plan after the switch? It is all very confusing to me and any clarification would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People with Unlimited data are getting switched to unlimited LTE. No worries
And no difference in price for LTE, either. Just make sure they do it right, especially if done in store. If they mess it up and put you on a tiered plan, its very difficult to switch back.
redpoint73 said:
And no difference in price for LTE, either. Just make sure they do it right, especially if done in store. If they mess it up and put you on a tiered plan, its very difficult to switch back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Make sure they repeat back your data plan and features back to you to make sure and what I usually do is when I get home I call AT&T (dial 611) and double check with them as well.
If they do end up removing your "unlimited" data, and they try to tell you they "can't" switch it back, just request a regional manager, they should have someone local, and demand it. My local corporate store has, on two different occasions, (tried to) switch me to a tiered plan but I ended up getting it back.
Thanks for the advice everyone! One last question: would it be best for me to buy it from the ATT store to have the easiest transition, or, lets say if I got it from Amazon/Target/wherever its cheaper, would that be too much of a hassle or impossible to get the correct data plans?
kroovy said:
Thanks for the advice everyone! One last question: would it be best for me to buy it from the ATT store to have the easiest transition, or, lets say if I got it from Amazon/Target/wherever its cheaper, would that be too much of a hassle or impossible to get the correct data plans?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you buy onlinefrom amazon you have to choose a new plan at purchase so get it at a store.
It's a simple cross upgrade. You'll be fine. You'll be grandfathered into an LTE plan which means 5gbs of data before you get throttled. I always advise folks to go to an ATT corporate store over getting the phone cheaper at authorized retailers cos they usually mess things up. Amazon has weird contracts too. Something about they won't let you change your plan for 6 months? Idk
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

[Q] GSIII Sprint to ATT?

So xmas coming around I'm getting asked what I want. I have been wanting a new phone as I've had my OG Evo for over 2 years and my contract is up in March. I was thinking of getting the GSIII but my question is, I've also been thinking of going over to ATT once my contract is up... can I swap the phone over to ATT or do I have to get another again?
Naturesretard said:
So xmas coming around I'm getting asked what I want. I have been wanting a new phone as I've had my OG Evo for over 2 years and my contract is up in March. I was thinking of getting the GSIII but my question is, I've also been thinking of going over to ATT once my contract is up... can I swap the phone over to ATT or do I have to get another again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes you can but then it will be like taking another data plan so you might have to pay extra
I'd really look into this before doing this because everything I see after doing a quick Google search says that no, you can't - the Sprint GS3 has an embedded SIM for LTE that's soldered into the phone. So you can't just pop an ATT or T-Mobile SIM in there.
There might be a way to hack it to work, but, really, I wouldn't waste my time with it outside of "let's do this for a fun hobby" - not "let's do this to use as our daily use phone". For all the work you'd have to do completely taking the phone apart and replacing parts and doing who knows what to get it to work - you'd be better off selling the Sprint phone and buying an ATT one especially if you're not good with that sort of hardware and hacking thing.
I'm going to cut to the chase, and tell you as someone who used to be a Sprint and a Verizon technician, and also someone with common sense (no offense to anyone) that, no you can't make a CDMA phone with no accessible SIM card slot work on a GSM network. The Verizon works with some hacking around, but that's because the SIM card slot is accessible and the phone has the necessary internal hardware. You'd need either the T-Mobile version (it gets AT&T HSPA+, but not LTE), the International i9300, which I use (It gets AT&T HSPA+ but not LTE), or the AT&T version (it does LTE).
Thank you for the quick replies.... So it's safe to assume that any phone I would get on sprint would follow the same course of actions as they're all CDMA. Any advice on whether I could sell my sprint one for the same price or would ATT do an in store trade in for their GSM version????
Naturesretard said:
Thank you for the quick replies.... So it's safe to assume that any phone I would get on sprint would follow the same course of actions as they're all CDMA. Any advice on whether I could sell my sprint one for the same price or would ATT do an in store trade in for their GSM version????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd guess so.
You could try to sell the Sprint one used and buy a comparable used one and maybe break even or only lose a bit to the tune of eBay fees - if you're lucky and patient. And are aware of the risks of buying used and make sure eBay has you covered.
I don't know about in-store trade-ins. Do that do that with phones from other networks ? If they're going to recover costs, I'd think they're probably not going to give you the best deal. I mean, Sprint told me my old phone had a $5 trade-in value, but it's going for $40-50 on eBay (it was an old dumb-phone, so I wasn't expecting much - but $40 is still a lot more than $5).
Personally, I would check out the ETF you have left at this point and probably just pay it if you're sure you want out instead of waiting until March and having a phone that will deprecate in value that you were never intending to keep.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using xda app-developers app

To tmobile or not tmobile, this is my question

Im currently on verizon and am paying a little more than when I started. My contract is over but I cant take advantage of the upgrade because I would loose my unlimited data plan. My sister and I have a family plan, She pays for 2.5 of the phones and I pay the other 2.5(we both pay half of moms). So I am looking at switching to T-mobile but I have no idea what the coverage is like here in town. So first of I would like to know if anyone is from Waco, Tx. and what kind of coverage they get.
My other option is unlocking my razr and using tmobile for a month. I wouldn't want to loose my verizon plan just in case the coverage here is crappy so I would have to pay for both verizon plan and tmobile. But I want to know if theres a way I can do this without verizon knowing that I unlocked my phone and used it on tmobile. Can I just deactivate the device and activate another one I have?
My third option is using my nexus 7, but I dont think I can make phone calls through it. I was reading through the forum and dont think they ever got that issue fixed.
Any other options? Any ideas?

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