yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] neyenlives:
the problem with his theory of it being too expensive is that it's false (for most people).......for my $150/mo i have 700 minutes shared on two lines, 1000 texts per line per month, and unlimited 4G LTE data

combined we have never used over 3GB of data in a month, however we use our phones like most people out there outside of xda, and we use about 50% of the minutes and nearly all the texts if not more but very little of the data allowance

for the same $150 give or take i can get on the 4GB or 6GB shared plan and never worry about a minute or a text.......and never worry about going over....heck I'll have enough headroom for my daughter to direct tether to my phone for her Kindle Fire on trips.....

google voice for free texting and calling, while usually ok, is not ok for me......before anyone suggests that, i don't care to give all my contacts an ultimatum to send texts to a different number.....
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
Unless something "big" happens that will affect us all you should be fine. Most of the people saying "AT&T knew I had a i9300" were on prepaid plans which doesn't seem to affect post-paid plans. I think the people on post-paid plans that have had issues did something that triggered an audit. Your phone identifies itself to AT&T and there's nothing any of us can do to stop it. So far, on post-paid plans, AT&T doesn't seem to care. In order of preference: 1) No IMEI on your account (me), 2) Valid dumb-phone IMEI, and 3) the real IMEI of your SGS3. If anyone needs a dumb phone IMEI all you have to do is go in to an AT&T store and get one off the floor model of something like a Pantech Burst which is a feature phone, not a smartphone. If AT&T's doing anything right now I'd guess it's comparing the IMEI in an account against a list of smartphones that shouldn't be on dumb-phone data plans. Purely a guess.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Thanks!

Ordered my phone though Negri Electronics, The sim I'm using is the current sim in my gs2, I'm just going to have it cut for the gs3. since it's an international it doesnt come with a sim. So the guy I'm buying the dumbphone from is also cutting my sim for me :) Cool that I found one guy to buy the phone from and cut my sim.

How long do you guys think I should leave the sim in the dumbphone before I swap it into the GS3? a couple of hours? 24 hours?
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
Dang, for a developer you sure are edgy. ;) As to your question, I truly think it doesn't matter. If anything, I'd say

never

put the SIM in the dumb phone so it

never

registers on the network. If AT&T were truly matching the incoming IMEI against whatever's in the account this thread would light up like a Christmas tree.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Usually it detects in a few hours. Try roaming around to make sure you go to a few cell phone reception towers (crossing through a downtown should be fine). One full day should be more than sufficient.

Hopefully this works. If it doesn't I'm going to request a mod to close this thread.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
lots of coffee... lol by profession I'm a programmer but I'm also a semi-pro rock musician. I guess that's where the edge comes from. lol
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
This sentence caught my eye. I COMPLETELY agree. I highly doubt they are figuring out IMEI's by contacting various sellers. I think ^^^ that is what they are doing. They are just comparing and taking a guess. They never say we know you are using a I9300 they just say "our system is detecting a smartphone (or a galaxy s 3)" and that is cause i think they are just comparing IMEI's.

Hmm negri might be fishy as they sell domestic and international devices. But i have no experience with international phones so i guess time will tell! Also are you using a pre-paid account or are you using a post-paid one?

Noooo! Don't have this thread closed! We haven't tried different methods! Negri is one seller. Maybe it works from a different seller? Maybe it works with post-paid as apposed to pre-paid? Personally i would like to get to the bottom of this!

If you don't mind me asking ceo.mtcl, where did you purchase your international s3 from? Once again just for the record so we can confidently knock sellers feeding IMEI's to at&t off the list.

also i heard any galaxy nexus you purchase off the google play store can be recognized by at&t as they have the imei. Im guessing it's cause those phones were *kinda* made for at&t yet they come unlocked. Can anyone confirm?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Ok we will wait on more confirmations then.

I got my gs3 from expansys and I'm still having no issues with unlimited data.

I have an international nexus which I am using as a WiFi only device and I'm honestly scared to pop in my gs3 sim in it for the first time. Anyway, things work for me and I wish they work for everyone else.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Well I should be able to confirm by tomorrow night. I'm also post-paid
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I'm looking forward to it.
[Galaxy S III General] jinksd:
Hello All & Thank You OP for this suggestion.

I don't know if it will work but I probably would have never purchased the Int GS3 if not for this thread (thanks google). From all that I can find out it is a better phone than the At&t version (JUST MY OPINION). I am not speaking for anyone else.

My pebble blue GS3 16gb from Expansys should arrive today.

I will let you guys know in a couple days if it worked.

Thanks for the thread.
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
They don't need to. The first 5-7 numbers of the IMEI indicate the make and model of the phone. It's already available to AT&T and other carriers in flat-file format and is updated on a regular basis. The SIM transmits the IMEI of the device it's being used in when it registers on the network. So at AT&T's disposal is file that will identify phones by IMEI and they're getting the IMEI of phone's registering on their network. All that's missing is having a bunch of temps go through the file identifying which are smartphones and for AT&T to write some type of s/w program that compares the incoming IMEI to the table and then verifies that the plan associated to the account (smart vs. dumb) matches. They aren't doing it but it doesn't mean they can't or won't. Hence the warning to people getting an international SGS3 just to save money.

It's true. Even for Nexi purchased internationally. My guess is that Google has the manufacturer provide the carriers with a list of IMEI's so their seen as “playing nice.” That ties to what I said above but rather than AT&T having to go through thousands of devices sold to identify which are smart and dumb they are being handed a pre-qualified list and their doing some form of the plan mapping/validation I described.

---------- Post added at 12:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:07 PM ----------

There is no soft cap on data for the dumb phone plans. My guess is that there's no auditing and filtering tools on the servers the Cingular APN routes through since they're legacy systems never designed to support smartphones. AT&T introduced the "Phone APN" when the first HSPA+ phones were released and the servers behind it were put in place specifically for auditing and filtering. Those servers are where throttling is being done. If they ever shut down the Cingular APN and redirect it to the Phone APN's "smart" servers we're all screwed. The Cingular APN is the default APN for international GSM phones roaming in the U.S. on AT&T so I'd guess that's one of the reasons they keep it.
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
Exactly, and i completely agree that just cause they aren't doing it doesn't mean they can't. They have everything at their disposal. We'll just have to wait and see!

Darn i was hoping to fall back on a nexus but i might just get the international and use it with data or just get a one x and try this same plan because it seems that the HOX people have been luckier in getting away without being caught.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Well got my phone :-)

I have to run take a final then I have class, then I'm heading to get the dumb phone and my sim cut
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
LOL yep. There is no point of them blocking imei numbers of phones. Maximum they can do is to add these phones in their database as smart phones

Sent from Rooted debloated stock Galaxy S3 OG I9300
[Galaxy S III General] :
I changed the apn from "cingular 310" to "phone" and speeds between those two are similar although with "phone" sgs3 connects to mobile data faster than the other.

Can anyone check if you can dial #3282* to check for data usage? I got "Connection problem or invalid MMI code" all the time -> I have no idea why :( thanks
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
It's star first not pound. For phone, what else did you put? Or you just changed the name?
[Galaxy S III General] :
Oops, I meant *3282#, but it doesn't work for me at all....

For apn, i just followed the setting for i9100 :D
[Galaxy S III General] Acapella75:
So, I just need to purchase an unlocked phone then activate it on AT&T? Will they give you a plan with no phone attached to it? If you have to go into the store to activate it, they will see its a smartphone. Step by step directions please.
[Galaxy S III General] dkotoric:
No they will not just order a sim card online and put in a dumb phone serial number

Sent from my HTC One X
[Galaxy S III General] Acapella75:
So I need to purchase a dumb phone too? Doesn't that still lock you in a contract? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding you here.
[Galaxy S III General] kirdroid:
1. Go to the store and ask you want to add service.

2. Salesman will ask what phone you want so that they can lock you into contract .

3. Say you just want month to month service and you don't have a smartphone.

4. If he asks for your dumb phone imei, say you forgot it at home and can give imei calling from home .

5. Once the account is opened, call customer care and ask them to add data plan for your dumb phone. Google for a dumb phone imei or giving the sgs3 imei should also be fine since international sgs3 might not show up in att system as smartphone.

Disclaimer : I think some users are reporting that international sgs3 are being flagged as iphone by att system, so this may not work. So you might have to add the regular smartphone data instead of unlimited dumb phone data plan, but you can first try adding the dumb phone plan.
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
No to your last part.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
It's not true. Just a rumor. Please direct us to post or reference for this.

Sent from Rooted debloated stock Galaxy S3 OG I9300
[Galaxy S III General] dkotoric:
even if that is the case samsung smartphones you can just root and delete the EFS folder and your good to go, resets the IMEI to a generic IMEI
[Galaxy S III General] kyan~:
is this some kind of self justice post for impulse buying international gs3 and not realizing u can buy no commitment price for 549.99? i rather have 55+mbps lte in my area than 4-6mbps hspa
[Galaxy S III General] dkotoric:
or for some of us lte doesn't matter for 4 reasons, 1 sucks battery life, 2 we are on $10 unlimited data plans that doesn't support LTE and would need to change our data plan in order to use the ATT GS3, 3 if you don't care about LTE international version is a much better phone with Exynos Quad core, 4 absolutely no branding
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
With limited data that's like saying I'd rather drive a ferrari in a closed parking lot...

If you do the math you can save up to 1000 in two years.
[Galaxy S III General] Zabalba:
Is this some kind of self reinforcing post to convince yourself you are going to purchase the better variant of the phone?

There are plenty of threads where you can argue that up and down all day. This is not one of them.

The point of this thread is to exemplify the benefits of using a international variant on ATT airwaves here in the states.

Enjoy your fast speeds, data tiers and move along.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Am I impulsive for technology? - Yes!

Do I have regrets? - No, beacuse I have the best phone in the market for cheaper price.

Answer this question for your self - Between us (early adoptors) and you who is holding the best smartphone ever created and who is playing the waiting game? With patent infringements may be you may not even see the face of carrier locked down version of GS3 till months (I hope that is not the case though).

www.fosspatents.com/2012/06/apple-may-request-temporary-restraining.html?m=1

This is a true android:

This is an iPhone

And this is the Carrier locked down Android:
[Galaxy S III General] ronj1986:
The US carriers will start blocking IMEI #s for stolen or lost devices.....PROOF

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303815404577334152199453024.html

Sent from my GT-I9300
[Galaxy S III General] kirdroid:
That is good but how is it relevant to the current discussion?
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
But what does that have to do with blocked international phones?
[Galaxy S III General] tg9413:
i guess in case carriers start to exchange these list, then there is a chance international phone could be properly listed as smartphone in their database? just guessing...
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
Anybody succeeded in getting the unlimited data pack meant for dumb phones to work in a go phone prepaid plan on international S3???
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Should we hold your hand and search the thread for you? Your answer would have been answered if you had searched.. should I get a spoon out to feed you?
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
I'm usually a lot softer than graffixnyc on virgins with ten posts. But seriously, did you even read the first post in the thread?
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
I did search the thread and didn't find any one who succeeded, So I asked this question just in case if anybody succeeded and hadn't posted the result yet!

Also I am new to this forum. Haven't used it much. So instead of trying to abuse a newbie, a simple answer saying "Read the whole thread before asking a question" would had been enough IMO.

Anyways I will mention that I have read the whole thread before I post a question again!

Thanks!
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
I am sorry. I am New to this forum and also don't understand few things as I will be coming to us in a while and have no idea about how things work there on US networks. I don't mean to offend anyone here. Just here to clear my doubts.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
f1 h1 or l1b?

☞ sent from my GS3
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
Its F1 Sir. :)
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Well then you are here for at least two years plus 27 months of opt. Get an att post paid plan with two years contract.

Since you do not have any credit history you either need to find a student who is already in your university and is willing to get a phone for you. If not then they will make you put some money down.

☞ sent from my GS3
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
Thanks for the suggestion. I will surely check it up with my seniors. :)
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Pm me if you have more questions.

☞ sent from my GS3
[Galaxy S III General] rohitruls:
Sure thanks alot. :)
[Galaxy S III General] jinksd:
Well my GS3 arrived and I have been playing around with it. I currently have my sim in a dumb phone and I added the 10 unimited non smartphone plan online.

Should I wait a day or two or should I go ahead an put the sim in now? I am thinking of waiting a little while. It is driving me crazy though. I took the sim out of my BB so I don't want any hiccups.

Also I tried to swap the phone image over to a samsung dumb phone but after a few hours it was back on the my real dumb phone image. So evidently one can't arbitrarily swap the phone on their site at least not where it will stay.
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
Are you using a pre-paid plan? or post paid?

I think you should wait a little and then put it in and keep an eye out. Where did you get your international S 3 from?

You swap the phone image but it changed back because it is detecting your actual dumbphone that the sim is in.
[Galaxy S III General] suleiman.aql:
So they put me back into the limited data plan after 3 days of unlimited...

Summery of my case:

Call#1: gave them my s3's IMEI number and they told me literally "this is Samsung Galaxy SIII, you can't use this plan"

Call#2: gave them my s3's IMEI number, they said "this phone is not eligible" so I told them there must be a mistake, here's the correct number (the number of the dumb phone) and they said okay. I got the unlimited data plan.

Three days later, I'm back to the 3gb limit without even a notification.

Any suggestions?
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
OK so the Sim has been in the dumb phone for about an hour and a half. When I get home in 10 minutes I will attempt to put it in the gs3. Now if they flag it how long after I put my Sim in would it take for them to flag it? Minutes? Hours? A day?
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
Well seeing as the guy above you had three days im guessing a few days, so we're going to have to keep an eye on it.

And for suleiman: i think try calling them and be angry and tell them you dont have an s3?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Looks like they never put you on the unlimited data.

How do you know that you were on unlimited data? Did you check your account online as mentioned in second post to verify it?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Do check account online to make sure that you are correctly switched to unlimited data.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
They did, I also got an email saying the change was done. I will check now
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Ok, so the website shows I have unlimited data, but it's still showing my GS2 as my phone. Does that take a bit to update?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Great. There's no point in waiting now. You can go ahead and put the Sim in gs3 now.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Hmmm that's strange... Don't switch till you make sure it shows a flip phone there. Talk to them about it.
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
calling now..
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
ok, they said they are seeing the dumbphone on their end. He even told me the model.. ok.. here goes the switch.. lol
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Fingers crossed... Let us know you experience.
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
That's interesting. Was the dumb-phone you used one that was sold by AT&T? Otherwise, if they aren't reading IMEI's, how would he have known what kind of phone it was?
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Because when I called them to have it switched to the dumbphone they asked me the make and model of phone after I gave them the IMEI. Which I thought they would have been able to pull up since it's a cheap ATT phone.

Made the switch, and am currently on wifi (letting the market DL all my apps and crap) as soon as it's done, I'll turn off wifi and do some tests.

BTW this phone feels FU**ING AMAZING in the hand.. wow.. it's a sexy eff'ing device
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Haha you bet.

☞ sent from my GS3
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
Shut up i can't wait to get my hands on one! I really hope this works! I would rather have unlimited data than a SGS3 though. If need be ill get a HOX since there seems to be less cases of getting caught if any with the HOX.

Good luck sir! I hope you can enjoy your new s3 exactly the way you want to.

Btw how hard was it for the guy to cut the sim? I haven't looked into it, but i know ill need to do it, so it would be great if you could tell me what he did if you know!
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
Well.. bad news.. I just got the text saying "Did you know a data plan was required for your smart phone? we added the appropriate plan"
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
cutting sim very easy.

☞ sent from my GS3
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
and just checked my account... they added the 3gb data plan :(

I'm going to call them up and see if I can get back my "grandfathered" 4gb data plan with tethering.. this sucks
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
Try telling them it's a mistake and that you aren't using a smartphone cause it broke and that you are using your old dumbphone till you can get a new smartphone?
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
I just tried calling them, They closed at 10(I go through enterprise care), I'll have to call in the morning.

I hope they can at least put me back on the plan I was on.. because I had tethering with it. They told me that once I switched to the dumb phone plan I wouldnt be able to get my old data plan back. But I'm hoping if I call them tomorrow and say "I called yesterday because my smartphone broke and I didnt have $ to replace it so I got a dumbphone and switched data plans, when I got home my gf had a surprise waiting for me, a new phone... is there anyway possible you could please put me on the plan I was on, it was only 1 day..." I think that will work, if not I'll ask for a supervisor
[Galaxy S III General] jinksd:
I am on a post paid and have been for years.

I probably will wait a day or so.

I figured that about the image but I thought someone on here said it could be swapped.

Thanks for the reply. :o
[Galaxy S III General] foehammer92:
Do keep us updated as to whether you got changed back or not! Also where did you get your international s3 from?
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
Well, that's a new speed record for being flagged. Some thoughts, guesses actually:

1) What APN were you using? Cingular or "Phone." Phone is smart, Cingular is stupid.

2) They could be programmatically flagging all smart>dumb data plan downgrades.

3) They could have added the i9300 to whatever screening file they're using to detect smartphones (EG: XXXXX_________).

4) They could have something in place that's only screening new accounts and changes to existing accounts (for the time being).

5) In the presence of a IMEI in the account, they're detecting when a SIM's transmitting from a different IMEI number which triggers a database validation. It’s something automated for you to have been flagged so quickly.

A couple of suggestions for whoever's next up at bat.

1) When you're changing your existing data plan, at the end of the process when the CSR asks for your IMEI, try the old, "Shoot, I don't have the new (dumb) phone with me; I must have left it at home. Do I have to start over or can I call the IMEI in when I'm ready to activate it?" They may say yes and you won't have to activate the SIM to start using it.

2) Once they've changed your plan after you've given them the dumb phone IMEI, put the SIM directly in the i9300 rather than the dumb phone first. Based on graffixnyc's experience you have nothing to lose.

Good luck out there….
[Galaxy S III General] graffixnyc:
using the cingular apn. Like 10 minutes after I turned off wifi and started using mobile data and was doing some speed tests and what not I got the text.. sucks.. I'm hoping if I ***** enough they give me back my grandfathered 4gb plan with tethering
[Galaxy S III General] BarryH_GEG:
Once you're flagged, it's recorded in your account history. So when talking to a person they'll see what's happened on your account and probably be less than sympathetic. They'll do as you request if you do the smart>dumb switch again but I can't see the outcome being any different. As for going back to the plan you began with I can't see why they wouldn't accommodate that request. They still (on paper) value you as a customer.

---------- Post added at 07:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:41 PM ----------

Try being jovial and relieved. "Wow, I'm so glad that taxi driver was smart enough to call the last number dialed when he found my phone. I didn't have hundreds of dollars to buy a new one and thank God I'm not stuck with that dumb phone until I could scrape together the money for a new smartphone." S/he makes $10 an hour, they'll be sympathetic.