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.
Hi guys,
This may really be irrelevant to android or the nexus s but since i spend the most time in these forums and i cant find anywhere else to put this question i thought i might ask it here.
I'll be travelling the US this coming April for 3 weeks. Since i will be calling US numbers a lot (to make bookings and stuff) i decided not to go for roaming. I also want a data plan so I can tether if neccessary.
Anybody know of any prepaid data and voice plans? Also, my phone is a Nexus S I9020T from the UK (unlocked). Thanks
Well if u have tmo bands, you're gonna have to get tmo plans (or their prepaid company, idk what its called) for 3g use/tether.
Unfortunately I'm not on tmo so idk what pricing they offer. You'll just have to research their sites. Sorry
Edit: I just remembered that tmo USA now offers a prepaid unlimited everything plan. Not sure how that affects tethering but I wouldn't be surprised if ur nexus was able to pull it off. Just search into that.
Sent from my Nexus S
T-mobile will offer both monthly no contract plans and prepaid.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
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?
Recently some of my family members took advantage of T-Mobile's offer to pay the ETF should they switch their lines to T-Mobile. We had older Verizon phones so we gave those to T-Mobile instead of the phones they most recently upgraded to. Since we have these extra phones, we'd like to sell them so that we can have some money to help pay the ETF but we're worried that whoever we sell the phones to will not be able to activate the devices because they are from an account with a broken contract that has not yet paid the ETF. Is it possible that they could have a bad ESN or anything that would prevent the phones from being activated normally? I've tried looking for VZW support documentation but I haven't really found anything. Thanks!
Bump.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
One more bump.
Hey guys,
Trying to figure out which phones would be able to USB-Tether with verizon. On an older plan where you have to pay $30 for hotspot usage. Are there any phones you can buy directly from verizon that would work? I just need my options and if not what can I do. Thank you!