Question about GSM Sim cards and at&t

[Dave Blake]

One of the coolest things about switching to at&t for me was being able to just move my sim from one phone to another or so I thought. Long story short I got a Micro Sim from at&t to go with my Lumia 800 unlocked and something went wrong with the data and my data plan was changed from 4GBs/ month to 300 MB/ month I promptly contacted at&t to complain. I was told by the floor supervise that I couldn't be switching phones when ever I wanted that would mess up my data plan every time. My question is this true? I cant change devices whenever I want? Will my plan get screwed up every time? Someone who knows at&t pleas help.

The lady was rude and was on the verge of pissing me of when she told me my old plan was 4gs and $45/ month she could put me on a 3gb plan for $30/ month and if I go over its only $10/ gb so I can now get 4gbs for $40 win for me and she was pissing me off so I just said okay and got off the phone.

TIA for the advice

 

[Dave Blake]

I'm still wondering about this

 

[palandri]

Here's what I can tell you, on my personal phone which is a regular AT&T account. I had no problem switching SIMS between my Treo Pro & my Nokia N8. Both are unbranded/unlocked

On my work phone, I have an AT&T Pay As You Go SIM card. I was switching it between my HTC Trophy and my Samsung Galaxy S II and AT&T shut my data off. When I called AT&T they wanted the serial number off my Samsung Galaxy S II and I gave it to them. I told them I was switching between my Trophy and my Galaxy S II. It didn't seem to be a problem when I told them that. Both are unbranded/unlocked.

They are probably having a problem with cloning I would guess. A couple of years ago at work, I asked a guy why he wasn't answering his phone, and he said the call wasn't for him. I said, what do you have a party line? He said it was a cloned phone. I guess one person buys an unlimited plan and everyone shares off it.

 

[Thuoudo]

I was told by the floor supervise that I couldn't be switching phones when ever I wanted that would mess up my data plan every time. My question is this true? I cant change devices whenever I want? Will my plan get screwed up every time? Someone who knows at&t pleas help.

Outright lies. You can switch whenever you please and your plan should remain the same.

Have you tried going to a corporate store (not a mall kiosk)?

On my work phone, I have an AT&T Pay As You Go SIM card. I was switching it between my HTC Trophy and my Samsung Galaxy S II and AT&T shut my data off. When I called AT&T they wanted the serial number off my Samsung Galaxy S II and I gave it to them. I told them I was switching between my Trophy and my Galaxy S II. It didn't seem to be a problem when I told them that. Both are unbranded/unlocked.

What GoPhone plan are you on? The Trophy shouldn't be recognized by ATT's systems so you could probably get unlimited 2G data on the $50 unlimited plan. But for the Samsung, you would need to buy a data package.

They are probably having a problem with cloning I would guess. A couple of years ago at work, I asked a guy why he wasn't answering his phone, and he said the call wasn't for him. I said, what do you have a party line? He said it was a cloned phone. I guess one person buys an unlimited plan and everyone shares off it.

Cloning is basically using one cell phone's serial number and pasting it into another phone (illegally, of course). So you could use a Samsung Rant's serial on a Galaxy SII for Sprint prepaid even though the SII isn't allowed, for example. Sometimes, the idiot cloners will switch or reuse the "donor's" serial number

Ahh, the beauty of GSM.

 

[Dave Blake]

To clarify the floor supervisor I spoke to was in the call center not in a store.

I went and swapped my sim card again from one device to the other so far so good no immediate change to my plan. I am wondering if the guy that changed my Sim from the standard sim to the micro sim caused the issue?

 

[palandri]

...What GoPhone plan are you on? The Trophy shouldn't be recognized by ATT's systems so you could probably get unlimited 2G data on the $50 unlimited plan. But for the Samsung, you would need to buy a data package....

I have a text plan $4.99 for 200 messages and I buy 100MB of data each month for $15.00, so I pay $19.99 a month. I never really make any voice calls from the phone, the shop I work for texts everything to us.

 

[Thuoudo]

To clarify the floor supervisor I spoke to was in the call center not in a store.

I went and swapped my sim card again from one device to the other so far so good no immediate change to my plan. I am wondering if the guy that changed my Sim from the standard sim to the micro sim caused the issue?

Hmm, yeah, the micro SIM might have a 300MB plan "built in" because ATT believes only certain data-required phones will use them.

I have a text plan $4.99 for 200 messages and I buy 100MB of data each month for $15.00, so I pay $19.99 a month. I never really make any voice calls from the phone, the shop I work for texts everything to us.

That's weird, then. I use the PayGo plan as well and data worked out of the box on both of my ATT-branded smartphones. Theoretically, as long as you have a data pack, ATT will let you use any phone.

 

[Arlie Magnussen]

You should be able to swap the sim card back and fourth no problem. That was the whole point of GSM removable SIMs in the very first place. can't believe ATT are screwing with the system. I would probably leave ATT and get a SIM only contract with an alternative provider in their gonna be jerks.