# Possible to get a Smartphone without data service? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220 "2012-04-18T23:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![sachertorte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sachertorte/32/3727_2.png) [@sachertorte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sachertorte)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/21 "2012-04-19T16:58:27Z")
I use T-mobile on my iPhone. They do not require that I buy a data plan. At first I used a jailbreak to unlock an old iPhone (original model), then just put in my t-mobile sim. t-mobile didn’t care. I was on the phone with them for something else and the agent commented on the fact that I was using an iPhone. She offered to sell me a data plan, but was fine when I declined. Later I moved to a iPhone3GS when my husband bought the new iPhone 4S. I also needed a jailbreak to unlock it. – However, new AT&T policies are in place now and AT&T will unlock a phone that is out of contract, so a jailbreak is no longer necessary for old iPhones. After losing the iPhone3GS, I bought an unlocked 3GS from the Apple Store. No fuss. Just stick a t-mobile sim in and I was ready to go. I had to shell out 400 to buy it, but I like saving 30 bucks a month! ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/22 "2012-04-19T17:04:05Z")
I’m in the same aging boat as the OP. My Nokia was bought in 2005 and survived two dunkings in water. I have cell phone service only. No texts, no voice mail. It’s a cell phone. Can you still get a regular cell phone? Or is smartphones the only option? The prices for plans in this thread make my heart race faster. I buy $100 of prepaid minutes and that lasts me about 9 to 10 months. Then I buy another $100 of minutes. AT&T Gophone ---
**Author:** ![Anachronism](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@Anachronism](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anachronism)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/23 "2012-04-19T18:06:37Z")
> [@Keeve](#): > > That’s exactly what I thought too. Then AT&T told me that when you use the phone, the data stream includes info on what kind of phone you’re using, and that’s how found out I was using a Palm Centro even with out accessing any data. > > Side rant: > > When I asked WHY they’re putting me on the data plan even if I don’t use it, they said that it was for my own protection, because if I would ever use the phone for data access, and not have a data plan, they’d have no choice but to charge me high per-kilobyte rates. > > I responded that they certainly do have a choice: They could deny me any access to data. He didn’t know what to respond to that, other than, “Well, these are the rules.” I hate to be a one upper but I was paying extra for the ability to put limits on that line (AT&T Smartlimits, it was my sons phone) and I used the smartlimits feature to block all access to data from that phone and they still forced me to buy a plan. And to the OP - Why not just get another dumb phone and carry your iPod touch around? Unless you really only want to carry one device. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/24 "2012-04-19T20:02:41Z")
I’m in a similar boat as the OP. I’d like a smart phone but do not want a data plan. My main reason for this is that all 3 users in my house would like smart phones but, unlike phone air-time, data plans cannot be shared with my carrier (Verizon). Since the minimum plan they have seems to be $30/month I’m not about to give them an extra $90 just so we can check our email once in a while. First major provider that offers shareable data is going to get my smart phone purchases and my monthly business. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/25 "2012-04-19T20:26:42Z")
> [@Renee](#): > > I recently got the T-mobile pre-paid plan that’s [$30 a month](http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans) for 100 min of talk and unlimited text and data, and I’m loving it. I ordered my phone from them (refurbished LG optimus, $129), so it came with the sim card. With taxes, it’s $31 a month. I get much better reception than I did with Verizon; I’m very pleased. Hey, I really like the look of that. Do they care what kind of phone you use? It would just have to have 4g capability, right? ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/26 "2012-04-19T20:42:59Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > Hey, I really like the look of that. Do they care what kind of phone you use? It would just have to have 4g capability, right? I have the same plan, but on a different phone. They don’t care what kind of phone you have, and while you don’t have to have 4g capability, I highly recommend that you do get a phone that has it if you want decent, non dialup-like speeds. If you’re looking for an appropriate phone for that plan, whether new or used, I recommend reading the thread I linked earlier, particularly [my post here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=14852706&postcount=16). Since discussing data plans is a bit of a hijack in this thread, feel free to bump that thread or PM me, if you have any questions. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/27 "2012-04-19T20:47:53Z")
(adding a question on to the previous post, if I may): Would a 3g phone work with that 4g plan, too (like, say, the LG Optimus), if I bought the 99 cent sim card kit posted upthread and swapped it in? I’m curious now, because that plan is a better price than the one I’d be able to get with Virgin mobile–and it has fewer minutes, which is good because I never even come \*close \*to using 300. Plus, I already have Tmobile and I know my reception is good, so it’s a known quantity. It’d be okay if it wouldn’t get full 4g speeds–the phone is only 3g, so that’s all I’d expect. I just want to make sure this would be compatible before I get all excited about it, heh. Hey thanks Voltaire, I’ll take a closer look at that! (b^\_^)b ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/28 "2012-04-19T22:02:47Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > Either your math is way off, or mine is, but I come to roughly $2. > > ETA: Oh wait, I was calculating for a MB. Yeah, you’re about right. My guess is that’s their way of strongly encouraging the purchase of a data plan. It may now be a way of strongly encouraging the data plans, but that pricing went back to the pre-smartphone days, and even before those early attempts of web phones. Where you could take your phone and use a serial cable to get your laptop or desktop on the internet at a blazing 19.2kb/s, so consuming gb/s pf data was not going to happen. Very ironically back then I had a unlimited data plan included in my voice cell service, and I did use it quite a bit as I only had dialup that would, due to bad phone lines, not be much faster, It did register as faster 24.4kb/s, but it would often hang up and frquently renegotiate speed. I think I saw numbers like 800 b/sec sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220/29 "2012-04-19T22:38:57Z")
What provider are you with now? You can often buy used phones for the same provider and just start using that. If you have a SIM chip, you just swap them out. Otherwise, call your provider to start using your new phone. Just make sure the used phone is for the same provider you have now. They are usually locked to one and it is a pain (or impossible) to switch to another. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possible-to-get-a-smartphone-without-data-service/619220.md?page=1)