Good news Overlord! I'm not a "macfag" anymore because I have got rid of my Apple products. Well except the headphones cuse they're pretty comfortable to me. Anyway I had an iPad and hocked it to try out the "Google Phone" Nexus One. But I still loved being able to pay $25 a month for data and JUST DATA instead of getting a voice plan I didn't want to use. So I called AT&T and asked them what I would need to purchase to use my Nexus One on their network. They wanted me to pay $40 fucking bucks a month for a bare minimum required voice plan that had 450 minutes. Of course AT&T does have pay as you go voice plans where you pay $3 a day on any day you actually use the voice feature. But of course you aren't allowed to use that on a smart phone. So at a minimum AT&T wanted me to pay around $60 for a shitty voice plan and my current data plan. Yeah. Fuck that. So I kept the MicroSIM from my iPad because I liked only paying $25 a month that can be canceled and re-ordered any time. I toyed around with the settings for my APN but eventually I got the iPad MicroSIM working just fine on my Nexus One. TL;DR: Screw you AT&T. I'll keep my data plan thank you!
Nicely done. I'm kind of on the opposite side, I don't have mobile internet or a data plan, but I really wanted an iPhone for use as a Phone and as a slightly beefier iPod touch. I faked my APN and everything, and now I've got an iPhone 3Gs I bought off a friend that works as a phone with wifi capabilities. Screw you, AT&T!
What do you mean my APN, Trunks? I have access to a Blackberry 8800 that I can't use with my SIM card, due to it being from a prepaid AT&T GoPhone (the Blackberry is an AT&T phone, was my dad's before the company sent him the bold (before they even hit retail)).
Possibly. It wasn't very plausible a year or so ago but there are rumors Apple is getting their hands on a CDMA/GSM hybrid chip which would make this very possible.
So that's actually standard for smart phones? See, I got my current phone a good while ago, and I've been forced to pay upwards of 70CAD per month because they absolutely fucking insist that I subscribe to a 500mb/month data plan, of which I usually use 20mb at most, and every time I call them to ask if I can at least have that reduced so I can pay less since I really don't need that much data, they insist that it's absolutely required and I can't do anything about it.
Neat hack, I approve. Even moreso as it involves a move away from Apple, but this is cool regardless =P It is a shame that the US is ripped off in terms of data contracts - I'm almost certain you can get a plan equivalent to iPad's for just about any device in the UK.
That seems to be the status quo. If you buy a smart phone, they WANT you to buy a data plan. God forbid you buy it just for voice and wifi use on data. You MUST get a data plan with it. Even if you bought it off contract and completely independent of your provider. Really now? I know the UK is flexible but I didn't imagine you could get a data-only plan for a smart phone that easily. I'd imagine they'd be somewhat greedy and demand at least a minimal pay-as-you-go voice plan.
To be honest, I haven't had any problems with AT&T so far. Their reception range is great in this area and so far they haven't tried to screw me or my family over like Verizon has (hmm, day late on your $40/month payment? that will be $1500, plzkthx).
AT&T could be far worse. Especially in terms of prices. But being the biggest GSM network in the US makes it a bit of a pain when they have these strict rules for no reason other than to give themselves more money. I mean AT&T isn't the only company to have such restrictions of course. But if I buy an unlocked phone and its totally separate from my carrier, it should be up to me how I will use it and they should be happy I've chosen their network to do it on at all. T-Mobile is an entirely usable alternative to AT&T but I decided to keep them because the service was good. I just don't like the price they want to force on me when all I want is data.
Back when AT&T wasn't the biggest network (before they absorbed Cingular Wireless), they were far cheaper. Cingular was still cheaper on voice, but AT&T's data plans were much cheaper. When AT&T swallowed up Cingular, data plans got a horrible price hike. Since at the time, Blackberry users didn't require data plans (that changed when iPhone 3G came out), nobody was really affected since most smartphone users didn't use data plans.
It's kind of funny that the original Bell/AT&T monopoly was broken up in 1984 only to return to power (albeit in a diminished state). I think almost every cell phone company is out to screw you over, though. That's why each company has 2-year contracts and their own proprietary phones.
Hell, Colbert showed it best: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/colbert-...andt/2530522137 (only working link I can find. It is missing the quip about AT&T being like the Terminator and reforming =P) The US mobile phone market really does suck =|
Firstly, yay, fuck Apple. I just get my Sprint HTC Hero a couple days ago and might get married to it. Secondly, I have it on fairly good authority that Apple will be using Verizon this year. (I'm in the wireless industry now btw) Thirdly, Cingular and AT&T Wireless were separate companies. It's a confusing clusterfuck in which Ma Bell re-absorbed all the baby bells. AT&T was actually better than Cingular but they moved everyone ever to the Cingular system anyway.
I know this is late, but I figured this information was useful enough to post here. At this time, there is one carrier in the United States that offers something like what you want: T-Mobile. Their cheapest individual plan is the "Even More Plus 500 Talk + Text + Web" plan which is $60/month with no contract. Their cheapest DATA only plan is the "Even More Plus Smartphone Unlimited Web & E-mail" plan which is $40/month with no contract. T-Mobile is also the only carrier in the USA that doesn't require you to get a phone with a plan, you can opt to get a SIM card instead. If you opt for no contract, then the SIM card is $10, otherwise it is free. Depending on what you want, either of these plans may be desirable. More information about their plans are available here.
