I think that there are three sides to this story.

Those who bought original iPhones did not sign a 2-year contract in the store, nor were they required to buy an iPhone plan, it is required for visual voicemail, however. These people were also free to use this iPhone with a Pay-as-you-go or other AT&T SIM card.

The second group are those who bought the 3G iPhone at the $200 "Qualified-upgrade" price. They signed a 2-year contract in store and were required to purchase the iPhone plan as a condition of their reduced price.

The final group are those who bought the iPhone 3G as it's full $399 price. They were required to sign a 2-year contract, but were not required to buy the iPhone plan, since the phone was not subsidized.

Only the first and third groups can legally use an iPhone without the iPhone-specific plan(s). The second group using their iPhones without the specified plan are in breach of contract, and AT&T is within it's rights to require them to use that plan. The same goes for PDAs and other devices. If the purchase price was reduced on condition of subscription to a data plan, it is perfectly fair to be forced to use the phone with the proscribed plan.

On the other hand, if AT&T begins to force those who do not fit into the second group to buy iPhone plans, then they are being unreasonable and may even be in breach of their own carrier agreement.

Sam.Nerd144

phate is correct. They have had quick interfaces for such searches for a good year or two. They started printing reports at the beginning of the year to follow the trends and see how many users are on "incorrect" plans. They are not just looking at iphones, but users who have PDA's on non pda plans as well.

its only a matter of time before all phones, not just iphones, get the crackdown letters. Considering 600 million dollar earnings warning, It was inevitable that the iphone would be the first to be enforced.

jayuup

@1timeonly: imei #, they know, they know.

jkr's bold comment

@1timeonly: When you use their network your device has to identify itself so that they can send phone calls, SMS, and data to your phone. It identifies by sending its IMEI number. The IMEI is specific to the device and cand be looked up in their big database of IMEIs. Also just like a MAC address of your ethernet port, they are assigned to manufactures so they can identify that way if its not in their database.

phate

@yablunk: Thanks for clearing that up.
Can you let us know when you pass the 7th grade?

Phenostar

@yuriythebest: It's their service, they can do what they want.

It was a notification anyways that they could be over charged. I think that would be a notification or warning over it being 'spam'.

ttech10

Boooo, what am I gonna do now? I love freeloading...
Oh well, looks like I'll just have to go back to jailbreaking

Pwnage

@yuriythebest: if ever there's an example worthy of disemvowelling, this dumb comment is it.

I feel a gentle crackdown coming from AT&T.

Dancing Milkcarton

I was a skeptic about the iPhone and now I own one. Long story short, I love it. I'm happier with it than I ever thought I would be. All of my friends who have converted feel the same as I do. It really is a fantastic device. It is certainly the best phone/media player combo out there.

They aren't a "waste of money."

tineras

how would they know? i can surf the web in safari and make it identify as what ever client i want, couldn't the same be don't on the iphone? or any pda for that matter?

1timeonly

... that's right, I went there.

yablunk

@yuriythebest: That's not spam, it's a notification. Your mom's a waste of money.

yablunk

sounds like borderline spam to me. Iphones are a waste of money anyways so who cares...

yuriythebest

How is this even possible, you have to sign a contract for one of the iphone plans at the store.

gamecrazychris

@Dancing Milkcarton: Ths s n xmpl f dsmvwllng.

xenti

@sroemerm:

this will continue to be a more complex issue the more the phones features grow.

In the past, WAP browsers were crap and honestly didnt hit as much data as HTML Browsers. They simply just couldnt do it.

Back then the difference between HTML and WAP phones was stark. 10mb vs. 70-100 mb with regularity. now for those of us who regularly hit 5gb caps, thats nothing, so putting asside the argument of HOW much to charge for each package, a WAP phone and and HTML capable phone are soely different animals.

jayuup

@yablunk: Oh! Oh no! You didn't? Oh no, you didn't!

BiZarRroBALlmeR

all your base are belong to at&t

blb

@Humble_Rat:

I know you use to be able to on 1st Gen iPhones with ziPhone utility, but people did have problems...usually hard to do without a proper data cable and software that usually on the carriers have, otherwise people could sell stolen iPhones, and then just change IMEI number to activate etc. You actually want this number, because it's the way the carriers turn it off if lost or stolen to prevent your account from being charged etc. but depends on why/what you want to do it for as well, probably a hard to achieve task if you ask me, but I'm no expert.

L.

Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass

@AndrewtheStudent: yes, they can tell. what, if anything, they will do about that particular sidebar is a good question. I do know that anyone who bought the iphone and activated through the standard activation process where terms and conditions were accepted, vs. purchasing a phone, unlocking it, and simply putting a sim chip in. The devil is in the details.

jayuup

I think this highlights how goofy their price plan for internet access is. I have to pay more for internet access because I have a PDA or an iPhone?

sroemerm

@Humble_Rat: I don't think so, but there may be a way to "spoof it" not sure. google is your friend, might require a jailbreak if even possible that is. Good Luck. Why do you want to do this curious? I don' know much about this sort of thing and if it's for some reason you'd rather not announce for whatever reason, no sweat either.

Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass

this reminds me of people claiming that tMobile was cracking down and shutting off Tzones service to people using it as a full data plan for iphone. They said the tzones hack would work for a while, but that tMobile was looking for iphones on their network and disabling it. I think its a fluke. Ive been using the tzones plan since January.

kellygeorge

@tineras: here here, fanboy or not, it is one damn sexy device that does alot of shit for 299.00 ANYONE would have to admit!!! and WinMob user, just give it up already, you know it's laggy and bug-ridden so quit, just quit. your argument is old!!!!

Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass

Is there a way to change the IMEI number on my iPhone 3G to my old phone's IMEI (it died). I couldn't get my iPhone to work after I canceled my iPhone plan.

Humble_Rat

@phate: What about in the case of an unlocked iPhone (first generation, of course)? Do they know that my girlfriend is using my old iPhone?

I don't know if it makes any difference, but she doesn't have a data plan at all. I unlocked it, installed BossPrefs, and turned off edge. She has been using it ever since (mid-July).

AndrewtheStudent

@kellygeorge: they were cracking down it - my tzones went down and i called in - they said that my iphone does not support tzones $5.99 plan

there is another apn from tmobile that works though - so back on the $5.99 internet

reactionsok

@1timeonly: Easy, they just look up the phone that you signed a contract on.

subsider34

@yablunk:
ZING!

bdk185

Just for the few that have been asking around:

While not impossible, changing the IMEI of you phone is illegal in most countries. While it does have its benefits and workarounds, it could get you into more trouble than it's worth.

oyumurtaci

@Some_F-in-ShiT_Ass:

I've looked around for how to change the IMEI with no luck. My phone is Jailbroken but I can't get it to work on AT&T after canceling my iPhone plan. Perhaps I need to wait for the unlock but I was hoping I could spoof the IMEI so I don't have to carry two phones. I'm around Wi-FI way too much to pay $30 for the Internet.

Humble_Rat

A Carrot and Stick letter:

The Stick being "overage charges", and the Carrot being "Visual Voicemail"

airmanchairman

I'm currently tethering with the iPhone 2G on the standard ATT plan. I've heard that ATT can suddenly change your service to per-kilobyte without notice, or just cut you off completely if they "think" you're tethering. What I'm really curious is if there are any reported cases of iPhone customers actually getting fucked for tethering?

markarian

@kellygeorge: tzones dosnt work in the iphone, because tzones is a branded service. What you SHOULD be talking about is the WAP gateway in the APN settings. Which is what I did.

Stacky Botrus

I've gotten this in the email, and via text message. The funny thing is I tried to get their data plan, PLUS unlimited text messages, and their system wouldn't take. So I ended up having to call them.

Anticitizen

@yablunk:

LOL

Stacky Botrus

And now a word from our sponsers, AT&T and Iphone:

Resistance is futile; you will be assimilated.

Blithering

This happened to me. I got a 3G (my first AT&T phone) and assumed that the Apple store set everything up correctly for me. Then my first bill came and it was a little over $1,700. Yep, AT&T charged me for all of my individual data usage.

I called, spoke with a very nice and helpful customer service person (rare) who fixed all the problems and restored my bill to it's normal fees. Two days later, I got the text message as seen above. I called again and was told to disregard it. Duh AT&T!

CampSteve

BGR is usually right.

Unknown2U

When is America ever going to say fuck these companies and their shady contracts and plans. The consumer is getting a crap end of the stick from these mobile carriers, and we let them!

YWFT_DG

this being locked to a service provider is bullshit... things gotta be more like asia where carriers offer sim card only plans and dont give a shit what you use em on...

urbanturban666

The new AT&T - Your world. Delivered. To the NSA. Again.

Super Sonic

I really wish we knew more on the story.
#1. did the person cancel his contract and pay the etf?
#2. did the person not cancel the contract and just used a different sim?

drewdoog

@Sam.Nerd144: Thanks for the clarification. Makes sense. If GBR purchased his phone at the reduced price, then he's contractually obligated to pay up. But, if he did purchase it at the reduced price, then he should already be under the "correct" data plan. It looks like they may be trying to scare people into doing something they're not obligated to ( like collection agencies scaring people into paying for a debt that they're not responsible for or doesn't exist ).

"unexpected data overage charges" -- What exactly is data overage? I thought data was unlimited ( unless, GBR is using some capped plan ), so this is just to scare.

"enable Visual Voicemail" -- This is nothing, they're just saying you can enable it.

There will probably be people who don't know how to read into these things that will succumb and "pony up" money for the plan.

ugar

@Stacky Botrus:

Yeah maybe. All I really know about it is that I activated the 5.99 tzones web plan on my line and installed the tzones hack from installer, and it has been working.

At one point the service dropped because tMobile changed something in the tzones access, but BigBoss was on top of it and within 24 hours and updated hack was available. No problems here.

Like someone up there said, I am on WIFI too much to pay 20-30 bucks for a data plan. 6$ is worth having some access when I am away from home or school (which is rare).

kellygeorge

@Sam.Nerd144: That's really rational man, i didn't look at it that way, thanks.

DozeUser

I love how fanboys jump to the defence of all these companies... get over your love of the product, you're still getting ripped off!

Posavoie

@yablunk: Nothing to see here folks. Just your typical iPhone owner butt hurt about his status symbol being bashed.

Scott

@Posavoie: north americas not with it yet... hard to find planes where you can get a sim and do what you want with it...

urbanturban666

Pullin' a sprint and axein' the data packages which are way cheaper than "plans".

Way to pull a D move.

mergedwarrior

@yuriythebest:

Your mom is a waste of money. :) j/k

Pay attention closely because your about to get charged out the waaaaazooooo by AT&T.

yoshi

You know what I find most amusing about all this?

You can't even leave a visual voice mail message with an Iphone. Sure you can receive them, but you can't send em.

KLanD

I've been getting these notices since I've gotten my iPhone 3G. Via text, email, and automated phone call saying I don't have an iPhone plan. My bill shows I do, and I even verified it at an AT&T store, but I'm still getting messages.

Of course, I went through the whole AT&T activation fluke, they sent me home with an "activated" phone, which when I got home I found out wasn't fully activated, the blonde who checked me out must have been playing solitaire instead of seeing the big error that probably popped up on iTunes cause the servers were down. God knows what else got screwed up.

rudefyet