Originally Published: July 19, 2011 http://blogs.republicanherald.com/tech/?p=93
I realize that it’s been a while since I’ve shared some tech goodies with you guys, it’s summer and it’s busy, but this week I have something good. It involves using an iPhone 2G (first generation), pictured to the left.
So, why am I showing you guys a picture of such an ancient iPhone? Well, this gadget can help you get unlimited data for your smartphone, even though AT&T doesn’t offer the plan anymore. What I’m about to tell you isn’t illegal, it’s just a loophole in the system. Before we go any further, this only applies to AT&T since this is the service that I have and is the only provider that offered the original iPhone.
If you purchased a smartphone from AT&T in the past year or two, you probably have a limited data plan with either 200 mb or 2GB. Verizon recently switched to tiered plans, so you can’t get unlimited there anymore, T-Mobile still offers it, but they slow down your speed after reaching 5GB, plus they don’t have great service in the county, and last of all, Sprint offers unlimited data and again has bad service outside of major cities. If you still want an unlimited data plan with AT&T, fear not for there is a way. I saw this a while ago on a forum I read daily.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. You must have an iPhone 2G (non-jailbroken), and a SIM card that has never been registered to an iPhone 2G before. Borrow one from a friend or just buy one on eBay, etc. They’re fairly cheap now and you can always resell it.
2. Hard reset the iPhone, put in your SIM card, and register the iPhone 2G in iTunes. You will be asked to confirm you agree to $20/month unlimited 2G data + 200 text messages.
3. Check your online account, under “manage features,” to see if the plan went through, or call 611 and confirm, or just download the AT&T app.
4. Find a customer service representative that will change your iPhone 2G plan to unlimited smartphone personal. You can do this by calling or by going to a retail location.
5. Enjoy your unlimited data!
The way this works is when you sign-up for a 2G unlimited data plan, you get all the data you could want, but that’s 2G data. After this you just put your simcard in your 3G phone and tell them you have a 3G phone now and to switch you to the unlimited smartphone plan with unlimited 3G and it will be $30 a month. This is just $5 more than the 2GB plan and you never have to worry about overages, plus they don’t slow down data speeds so it is truly unlimited. You need to tell them that you want to keep your unlimited data and then there, you’re golden. To sum it all up, if you have an old iPhone, there is no other option but the unlimited plan, and once you have that, they can’t take it away.
From what I’ve read, everyone that tried it had it work for them. Some people said they registered it in iTunes and on the same day before the confirmation email came, put their SIM in their 3G phone and showed it to AT&T, saying they needed to use their phone. The rep then changed the data plan.
This is perfect because with new phones having features like Netflix streaming and video chat, you’ll want all the data you can get. If you have an iPhone 4, you will need a micro SIM converter, which can be found easily on Amazon, but if you’re coming from any other phone, you should be fine. I have an Atrix, which uses a normal size SIM card. I haven’t had to do this whole process though because I’ve had unlimited data since I bought the first iPhone in 2007. Just remember to be confident and good luck! Be sure to post your results, if any of you try this out!
For more information, check out this thread over on the XDA forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1008698
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