Posted: 6/26/2009 7:32:49 PM EDT
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Hey guys, I'm a customer with ATT (formerly Cingular), and I'm looking to upgrade my phone.
One of my biggest considerations was that I really needed a WiFi compatible phone. After narrowing the few available down, I decided on the Samsung Jack. The ATT Wireless website advertises it and lists it as being WiFi capable. Common sense would dictate that I could use the phone to connect to the internet anywhere with an open WiFi connection free of charge, since I'm not actually using any of ATT's resources (i.e. the 3G or EDGE network). So my question is, is this true? Can I connect on my phone anywhere with a public source without paying any data fees, or without paying for a data plan from ATT? My girlfriend is going tomorrow to buy the phone, and I told her what questions to ask the actual store employee, but I'd like to see if anyone here knows. Thanks a lot guys. Any help is welcome. 
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Quoted:
WiFi is free but will they sell it without the data plan? That's my understanding, yes. Since the WiFi doesn't use the 3G or EDGE network to transmit the data, I can't see any reason to charge for it. I could be wrong, of course. I'll figure out tomorrow I guess. 
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It is hard to say if AT&T charges for WiFi use. I know some CDMA providers are batshit insane and actually charge you data fees for connecting your phone to a computer via USB or BT. You'll hear lots of bull from the AT&T rep. They'll do anything to sell you on a data plan. Depending on the phone, you should be able to disable GPRS/3G/whatever and use WiFi only. You may also be able to take out the SIM card and try surfing. |
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Quoted:
Hey guys, I'm a customer with ATT (formerly Cingular), and I'm looking to upgrade my phone. ... So my question is, is this true? Can I connect on my phone anywhere with a public source without paying any data fees, or without paying for a data plan from ATT? ... Technically, you can. The question is if the phone carrier is going to charge you for the privileged anyway. Carrier-locked/branded phones can have sh*tty surprises like that. "What makes sense" does not matter here, guessing isn't safe. You could go ask on Howardforums, there are carrier forums there and someone will likely know. http://www.howardforums.com/ ––––- I have an unlocked GSM Windows Mobile phone (on T-mobile) and when it connects over wifi, it does not use the 3G connection at all. You can be certain because you can open up the connections dialog and see what type is being used. I bought it from somewhere else though, it's not a phone that T-mobile even sells. ~ |