I was really excited when I saw this article so called 611 and talked to a customer service rep. She told me that the deadline had not been extended and still stands at Sept 6th. I called again, talked to another rep and was told the same thing. I then printed out this article and took it to an AT&T retail store. The clerk there told me that she had heard nothing about an extension. They are having a staff meeting in the morning and she is going to bring this up and then call me afterward. Bottom Line - It appears that AT&T has NOT extended the deadline.

For those of you who think you can take the sim card out of a dumb phone, place it into a smart phone and beat this new (and totally unfair) change in policy, I'm afraid you are in for an unpleasant surprise. AT&T is continually scanning the system and checking IMEI numbers. They can tell from the IMEI number whether the phone is a "smart" phone or not. Once they determine that it is a smart phone they then check their records to see if there was a data plan associated with that IMEI number on Sept 6th. If there was, they automatically start charging you the $30/mo. It doesn't matter if the sim card was in a dumb phone for 6 months and you just put it into a smart phone. It doesn't matter whether the phone is locked or unlocked. All that matters is if the IMEI is tagged to a smart phone that had a data plan on 9/6.

@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: ...dear lord, that's worse than the deal I get roaming in. US$1.40-something/MB.

Works great.

How about i drop the voice plan and just pay the 30 bucks for unlimited texting and data?

On Tmo if you buy an all in one device (all BBs exept pearl and pearl flip, and the shadow) you have to get a data or sms plan. for bb or winmo it's 15 sms 25 data or 35 combo of the 2). android (cliq, g1, mytouch) and sidekick is 25 data or 35 data and txt.

(works for tmo, and this is not a company secret I'm posting. Any CSr that does their job and reads the system can tell you this)

@pecan 3.14159265: I was able to obtain unlock codes for two prior phones without difficulty. The representative said that the only stipulation was -- and I can't remember which now -- that I had to have been a customer for a certain amount of time or that I had to be a certain percentage through my contract. I didn't have to give a reason.

I'll keep everyones' suggestions in mind, though, in case I run into any difficulty this time around. Going the prepaid SIM route is the only way to go, IMHO.

@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: I am aware of that, but thanks for noting it. My concern was spurred by reading enascar88's comment above, though. He said that when he put his SIM in a smartphone, AT&T contacted him and told him he had to add an unlimited data plan.

@pecan 3.14159265: I think you just outlined a foolproof method here for me. I really appreciate it. The question now is, can the g/f go one day without mobile web?

@Oranges w/ Cheese wants it to be winter already: 3G/3GS is required, but 2G (EDGE)phones can definitely drop the data plan. People raised such a huge stink after launch when they found out it was mandatory while Blackberry's was not that they reversed the decision a few months later. It was actually an option on the home page, but now you have to call and ask.

Yes, it *can* effect your visual voicemail, but your bill would only be ginormous if you have push enabled.

As for the third, the internet is your friend! There are far too many geeky kids with too much time on their hands to not have a counter to anything and everything. I know plenty of people with Data-less 3Gs.

I worded that very carefully.

The other system we use is the main one that contains all the categorization of why you're calling - notes, and also how we file tickets, etc. This one will show the IMEI of the phone you are currently using and provide us the make and model. This is helpful for us so if you're paying for an iphone plan, but say you don't use it any more we can prompt you for that and save you some money.

By policy, AT&T doesn't give out unlock codes strictly for international travel. But I'd wager a guess and say 9 times out of 10 the CSR will provide them to you. At least, I gave out many many many.

Plus, there's no way for them to know by looking at your account whether or not your phone is "unlocked".

Also, the type of phone you're planning on purchasing will have an impact on what sort of plans they'll push on you. What are you looking to switch to/ buy?

I don't have a smart phone, but I know how they feel. I use the internet on my phone maybe.. twice a week? To tweet or double check an address. That isn't worth $20 I'd have to pay for the unlimited plan. I got the $5 for 5mb plan when it was out, but I believe that was a limited time offer. Its better than the $2/mb plan they changed PPU to recently for all the other non-smart devices.

Nailed it

@Optimizer: To my knowledge, AT&T will not give out unlock codes.

@SDreamer: Data plans make sense in a lot of ways, chiefly that Wi-Fi is not always available. Wi-Fi isn't available when I'm on the road for 16 hours. The gas stations I stopped at didn't have Wi-Fi, so how else am I supposed to check e-mail or do anything else? We set our GPS to take us home, but we wanted to gauge how far we were from some point in the middle. I used Google maps on my phone to calculate how far we were from the landmark we were looking for. These are reasons why data plans are useful, but they shouldn't be mandatory.

Some more thoughts, after looking at the original Consumerist post about having to have an unlimited data plan for smartphones ...

The article says, "customers who activate or upgrade to a Smartphone will need to sign up ..."

This makes it seem like I won't have a problem: I'll be swapping my SIM into an existing, already activated, phone. She'll be getting new one (activating it) and wants the plan.

The article also says that unlocked phones are exempt from the unlimited data plan requirement. I intend on having AT&T provide me with the unlock codes for both phone prior to April, when we're slated to travel internationally (I want to be able to use pre-paid SIMs). Again, this *seems* like I'll be OK.

Thoughts?

@Optimizer: From what I've read, you might, but from what I've investigated you most likely won't. Some will argue, that AT&T can see the IMEI number of the phone (tells them what phone it is), and it is true, you can see on your OLAM, when you switch phones, after a few days it switches on there as well. However, it seems AT&T only stores the IMEI number that you activated (the reason you pay the 35$ activation feeon new contracts and 18$ on upgrades). I called AT&T, they apparently have my Moto SLVR L7 as my registered phone, which I did activate in store, and since then I've been swapping phones between an older Moto, and a Nokia 6102i, and also now I have an Fuze from them, and they still said they have my SLVR L7 as the IMEI. Not sure how long that will be when they start updating IMEI without telling you. The rep told me I'd have to call in the number myself in order for it to be changed. That's just my 2 cents on that.

@pecan 3.14159265: Qualify, not quality. I meant "don't qualify to drop the data plan.."

@Optimizer: What AT&T is doing is simply letting you drop an existing data plan. If you were going to inherit her phone and she was going to upgrade, I would have her drop her data plan, pass the phone onto you and then she can upgrade.

The reasoning behind this is so you don't inherit the phone and AT&T, through incompetency or just glitches in their computers, tells you that because you only got the phone October 22 (for example), you don't quality to drop the data plan because data was "activated" for you after the original Sept. 6 date.

If your girlfriend can get a new phone now (if the HTC ToughPro 2 is available right now, for instance) I would have her drop her data plan first (don't even mention the upgrade yet) then change her phone. And then after that was done, she should give you the phone and you can activate it under your shared plan.

The key with AT&T is to do everything in small steps. Don't try to make things complicated for them.

Data plans should be a choice these days since like almost all the new smartphones are coming with wifi. Enforcing data plans almost makes the wifi really useless (only use it if you need faster speed, but from my observation its a pain in the but if you're already connected to go through menus to connect to a wifi hotspot). I could understand with phones back then that didn't have wifi, but most phones coming now have wifi standard.

OK, help me out here: Girlfriend and I are on a shared AT&T account. She already has said $30/month data plan and is using a Samsung Epix. I have no data plan and I'm using a non-smartphone.

Girlfriend is going to get an HTC TouchPro 2 before next April. At that point, I'll inherit the Epix and swap our SIMs around. I *don't* need or want any data plan attached to my phone number (same as now).

Question: Am I going to be impacted by this policy change? Should the girlfriend get the new phone now so that I can get the Epix without a data plan? Or, is this non-issue? This is potentially very annoying.

I'm guilty of doing this, but since the advent of the Iphone, my 3G speeds have sucked and I figured if AT&T wants to over stress their networks, I'm done over stressing my wallet. I ended up giving them the IMEI for an old phone which I don't use anymore and went back to using an unlocked smartphone.

They can tell i'm using this phone, but in the end, they usually don't do anything about it until you start abusing the bandwidth. It's kinda like how I can tether my phone as well without the $60 plan, you'd just get in lots of trouble if you get caught.

@HomerSampson: I don't think I understand why you think this applies to you. If all you want is voice, just do that then. Don't add data, or if you have it, just drop it. No one says you have to buy a new phone or get a new contract.

@temporaryerror: I don't see how you would be charged a ETF for dropping data. The ETF refers to your overall contract. If you drop your contract entirely, you'd be charged a ETF, but you're not terminating ties to the company, only one aspect of your plan.

I doubt he was telling the truth. And I wouldn't go back there because obviously he'd lie just to get your money.

The iPhone will give you crap about "Incorrect data plan" which is when you point your browser (while on wifi of course) to [www.unlockit.co.nz] Download the correct ANI and then just kill the damn over priced data plan! Like visual voicemail? use Youmail instead.

I recently had problems with my Samsung Propel so I went to a back up phone which is a Samsung Blackjack II. After I inserted my sim card bout an hour later I receive a text message from AT&T informing me a data plan is required. I called up AT&T and was told if I did not upgrade to the $30.00 data plan that they would force it on me. I have since then got a another phone from EBAY and I will be cancelling my account with AT&T and going to Verizon. At least Verizon wont force a plan on me!!

I pay $20 bucks a month for Unlimited data on the IPhone, and Wouldn't pay more unless they gave me a free upgrade to the 3G version.

@morganlh85: Indeed. I like my LG Xenon for that too.

@TinkishDelight: I'm not dropping my data plan because I really like it, and when I went on my trip, I'd go through areas that had little to no cell reception but I had my data plan and I could still send emails if I needed to get ahold of family and friends.

I suspect that the sales dude was saying that to save his potential commission. Does anyone know if he was telling the truth?

@pecan 3.14159265: If you have an iPhone you'd also lose visual voicemail.

@YellowDucati: The fact that AT&T made a data plan on the iPhone mandatory was aggravating, but if it's true that they're letting you drop it, you could get an iPhone and not pay for data. Any of the smartphones with Wi-Fi actually. Just make sure they don't try to tell you that you have to have data if it isn't true.

Weren't iPhone users just granted the ability to DROP their data plans, like, yesterday?

Here is one place I sent my complaint.
[esupport.fcc.gov]

Anyone know a good way to get a smart phone (android would be nice) without getting a data plan?

I'm pretty sure if I swap phones again I can get the $15/mo plan back.

I considered this for about 10 seconds, but then I remembered the 3 months in which I was sitting in a cubicle with absolutely no internet access or Wi-Fi access (so I couldn't even use the Wi-Fi for my phone), and I bow once again before the data plan gods.