yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Yup. I called and have her reverted back at 611. System pushed me back to 3gb after 15 minutes.

Edit October 7th, 2012: System did not push me back to the 3GB plan, that was the old message that I saw. To fix this I followed the guide here:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=32380929

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
Yeah, online it's not letting me choose anything but the 3GB data plan. We should be able to go to the 2GB plan if we want. Waiting for the online chat reps to get into work later.
[Galaxy S III General] b-eock:
No they won't let you back on the 2GB plan. You "cheated" them. Its in the TOS.
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
Uh yes they will, and it says that no where in the TOS.

Regardless, I've had things changed that shouldn't have been because you know why? I've been a customer with ATT for over 10 years. It's pretty easy for me to walk over to another carrier when my contract is up. Besides that, if it makes you happy I still get my student discount on my bill.
[Galaxy S III General] niftydl:
Yep, got an e-mail this morning for my white i9300 and had the data plan auto switched to 3 GB. Guess I'll have to shop around for a proper replacement device (with LTE) or switch to T-Mobile for mucho data.
[Galaxy S III General] mahendra1020:
Today after using the medianet for 3 months, att flagged my phone. I got a message saying that they have added a relevant data plan for me. :(

But still a dumb phone showing in the website even thought I saw he change in service for data plan.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Wow man. The word 'cheat' is very subjective! No one is cheating anyone :P

Anyway, I think I got myself back on the unlimited dataplan. Checked and everything is working fine now.

Steps that I followed -

0. Made sure that my account still shows generic phone by loggign into their website.

1. Called 611 and said that i put my simcard in a smartphone accidentally and system pushed me in the smartphone plan.

2. Customer care reverted back the data plan to unlimited one.

3. Checked Online and everything is set up now. its working from about 3 hours now.

4. I will give it a few days to make sure the change 'sticks'.

Please let me know if this worked for you guys.
[Galaxy S III General] b-eock:
Oh no I didn't mean cheat, but in their eyes you did. I give you props for finding a loop.
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
Party is over folks. Another sweep and.....
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Yeah, ignore that guy, ToS my ass. It's more "AT&T locks you into a 2 year data plan because you think smartphones are really worth only $199," which of course doesn't apply to any of us.

Got the message this morning too, called up my AT&T Business Rep, and he got it switched back immediately. Still not showing up as unlimited data like your online account already is, but it does show the 3GB option was activated and deactivated today (10/4). Additionally, I do still have data on my phone, so we'll see.
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
Is this only happening to gs3?? I hope.
[Galaxy S III General] Baldilocks:
Still no problem for me with my GS3 or my One X.
[Galaxy S III General] nnotis:
Can anyone even see what they're charging for these new 3 gig plans?
[Galaxy S III General] Baldilocks:
$25

A three second search would have given you the answer. ;)
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
Nope. $30 for 3GB. Spending 2 additional seconds would have given you an accurate answer. ;) ($25 is the 2GB)
[Galaxy S III General] Baldilocks:
Nope. Says $25 on my OLAM account.
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
That might be for your OLAM account, but if you go to att.com and set up for new 3GB data, it's $30. I also have the 3GB plan on my own i9300 (as I was long ago flagged based on my IEMI.) My wife has a a 2GB LTE on her i747 and that's $25.

Screen clippings from AT&T's billing system attached.

edit: more info: Here's AT&T's press release from when they introduced the 3GB plan: http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?p...ticleid=33672&mapcode=consumer|mobile-devices

another edit: Here's AT&T's current page showing individual data plans available: http://www.att.com/shop/wireless/data-plans.html#fbid=4gURGUt-_Xz (scroll down a bit to the chart with sizes and prices.)
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Actually both of you are correct. I get 20% off on 30 which makes it $24 for 3GB plan. :P

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] james11417:
What color and where are the phones from of those who are getting flagged?

I have a German Vodafone phone but my csc is xfdli1 from checkrom. Still no message yet. *knock on wood*
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Checked again just now... everything still good.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Nice. How'd you check this again?
[Galaxy S III General] b-eock:
*3282#
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
Thanks... bizarre. 104 came back saying both my unlimited non-smartphone plan is deactived and so is the 3GB plan they tried to push today. Funny thing is, I still have a data connection! :eek:
[Galaxy S III General] henrybravo:
This very thread may have been one of several factors that got AT&T's attention to this matter in the first place. Posting more info will just help them play the cat and mouse game.
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
Exactly. Tell me about it. I have used MediaNet for 6 years w/out issue. Currently, I have MediaNet in a (I-am-not-telling) device. I hope there wasn't a broader initiative by AT&T to reach out to manufacturers for more IMEI data.

Power pyramid:

| Apple

|| ATT, VZW

||| Samsung, HTC, Motorola

|||| TMO, ST, Cricket

||||| Pantech, ZTE
[Galaxy S III General] cmd512:
While your "sky is falling" makes for a good Hollywood script...

First, IMEIs are public information and readily available to everyone. There are international databases that have IMEIs listed (including yours and mine) and tied to the model/manufacturer. It all comes down to whether AT&T cares to go screen for it.

Second, AT&T's annual revenue < Samsung's, so you may need to revisit that "power pyramid."
[Galaxy S III General] jackleung:
No, it just happen to my International Galaxy Note (N7000) today as well.
[Galaxy S III General] @bushwilliams:
Ha, just when I was thinking "damn, sucks my GS3 got flagged, at least the Wife's Note didn't get dinged" Oh well it was nice while it lasted. Thanks for busting me ATT, I have been looking for a reason to switch to the Note II on Verizon anyways... Need coverage at the lake.
[Galaxy S III General] gadget069:
Glad I didn't try this, I'll stick with straight talk for now.
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
I just paid better attention to your post. Thanks! will try soon.
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
I wonder if this would work using the IEMI of a first generation GSM "dumb" phone... (I should have one somewhere around here. I doubt the battery is any good, but the IEMI is probably printed inside the battery compartment.)

argh - I found one.. but it's not a dumb phone. It's a nokia 3650 (symbian series 60.) I can't seem to find any of my old GSM flip phones. I did find an old TDMA/amps phone, though!
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Go to Walmart buy one ... and you will have 15 days no questions asked return policy. :)

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
Does walmart sell cheap unlocked flip GSM phones? I only remember seeing go phones (and I think AT&T knows the IEMI sequences on those in order to prevent them from being used on normal accounts.)

You know... if there are online databases of IEMI numbers, what would prevent a person from just making up a number that follows a pattern? For example, decide on a given "dumb" phone, look up the starting sequence of the IEMI of that phone (5 or 6 digits?) and then just fill in the rest with random numbers. Would that work?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I have made up a number in past... but be careful that you don't choose a number that accidentally matches a smartphone.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
Perhaps someone can make this easy and give me the first 8 digits of a GSM dumb phone they use with this?

(The 8 digits are the "TAC" which basically tells what kind of phone it is.) I can then make up a random 6 digit serial number and calculate the check number for the remaining 7 digits.

Thanks

Gary
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
If someone does this then please do it in pm.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
Agreed - no need to alert AT&T to watch for a specific set of IMEI's. On the other hand, there's no need to do this anymore. I just picked a random phone from memory and google'd for "international <insert model here> IMEI number" and got some hits.

From there, I took the first 8 digits and am now deciding on a serial number and will calculate the check digit. (google is extremely helpful.)

There are also websites you can use to check for valid IMEI numbers (google for something like "validate IMEI number".) This includes checks for valid TAC digits, valid check digits, and often will even tell you what model phone the IMEI belongs to.

Thank you, Google!

Time to start hacking my /efs partition!

Gary
[Galaxy S III General] enkur:
I had been on medianet plan for almost 4 months and today I got the message that they switched me to regular smartphone plan. is there any workaround or is this thing over. Anyone able to switch back?
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
Try an uncommon phone like Exhibit or some nokia device. Not possible with your current phone. Even if you switch back, another sweep in the future will get you.
[Galaxy S III General] enkur:
I have an old nokia phone but what do I do about the microSim? I would need some kind of adapter to put in the Nokia... any ideas?
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
Yes, buy from Amazon for $1-2 including shipping. Almost all Nokias (even really old ones) have tethering feature built-in, so you'd still be able to tether. Key is to stick to a phone when you've found that it works and not post here. Only exchange phone model in PMs.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Just confirming that everything is fine till now.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] Racer447:
Just FYI:

After only about 2 months of enjoying Medianet on my international I9300, I got the dreaded "Did you know a data plan is required for your smartphone" text from AT&T.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Did you read the post right above you or a couple of pages back? :P There is a possible fix to it already.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] Baldilocks:
How much data are you people using on MediaNet? I stay well under 2GB and I've been using MediaNet for years now without any problems.

Both my One X and GS3 are working fine with it.
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
You really want to know? About 500 to 700mb a month... still got caught. I have Wifi at work and at home that's why.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I was using about 2-3 gigs and then I started abusing the system. Recently I was trying to pass 10 gigs purposely and was downloading ROMs on h+.

I'll have to stop doing that i think. I'm my honest opinion, 2gb is more than sufficient.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] Baldilocks:
Oh, I don't know really. I was just trying to get a general sense if there was something triggering the system check.

My Galaxy Note 2 will be here in a few days. I'll try that one too.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I'm getting a note 2 as well. Where did you get it from and for how much? You can pm me.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
At least with the NoteII, the AT&T version of the phone phone will share the same guts with the international version(s), so any customizations should be portable. As long as the radio and RIL from the AT&T device is preserved, you should be able to even directly flash firmware from international devices...
[Galaxy S III General] Brockg:
I'm sort of confused as to how this owrks. You said when you originally had it reverted to medianet, they switched you back after about 15 minutes. I'm assuming this was because they had your phone info in the system as a smart phone. So they just take you for your word as "putting simcard in a smartphone" and will leave you on medianet? Wouldn't the same reason they put you back on data plan the 1st time apply here?

Still gonna try this method.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I'm sorry, I gotta edit that post. The second notification that I got was probably the older one and I forgot to mark read.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] Brockg:
oh... well i just talked to support and told them what u did and they switched it over back to medianet...we shall see how long this lasts
[Galaxy S III General] madmack:
less than 1G here. im mostly on wifi as well.
[Galaxy S III General] HaruSoul:
Switching over to the AT&T version of the phone now that I can no longer have unlimited data. If I'm paying $25 a month for data, I'm taking advantage of the LTE service I am already paying for.
[Galaxy S III General] Janax99:
I've been using ~300MB anyway as I'm mostly on wifi. Top speed I get on H+ in Cedar Rapids, IA is about 3Mbit and I live "on the border" where I often get Edge at the best. Yuck.

I got the AT&T text yesterday evening, so I don't think that it's the amount of data. If you've been on it for years, maybe they don't suspect you or it's taking longer to get back to "activation time". I just started using Medianet in June...
[Galaxy S III General] be1ieve1111:
I got the text as well yesterday unfortunately. Been using medianet for a couple years (had it with international gs2). Hoping ceo.mtcl's method works.
[Galaxy S III General] supersixevo:
Did not see such a fix. I have a old samsung D600 but the sim card is not the same size as my I9300. What do you suggest? as I got the message as well.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
This is what worked for me-

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=32380929

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
I still don't understand why you guys don't just switch to Straight Talk...In the 5 months I've been with them, I was throttled once for using 3-and-change GB of data, and it was on the last day of the billing period. Next morning, I was back up to 4-5 Mbps. It runs on AT&T's base network too, so you get full HSPA+ speeds. I see a lot of people saying, "I use less than a GB of data month", or "I use less than 2GB of data a month." I pay $49 a month after tax for ST AT&T, unlimited talk, text, and "data". If you're really concerned about losing your number because you go crazy with your data, do what I did:

1. Port your real number to Google Voice.

2. Get a ST SIM and let them give you a number.

3. Download GV app, set it to "Use GV for all calls", and text using the app.

Bonus points for being able to text and make calls from anything with a web browser and an internet connection (Tablet, Chrome extension on PC, GV website, a friend's phone, etc).

Ta da. So now if you use 30GB of data because you streamed a lot of Netflix, and they cancel your line, you just get a new number and change your Google Voice number (the real one) to forward to the new one.
[Galaxy S III General] brinboston:
might give this a try... one thing that is giving me pause is roaming data (I frequently travel to Canada and have the roaming 120mb plan). Any idea how this would work on straight talk? Thanks in advance
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
That would be one reason to stick with AT&T because ST doesn't do any roaming as far as I know, except domestically for voice and text. I have a lot of family in Canada and travel there frequently as well, so I know how bad wireless carriers are there cost and allowance-wise (I travel frequently to Ottawa a few times a year). I'm not sure about alternatives, but if there aren't any and you absolutely need those 120MB, then I guess I would say stick with AT&T.
[Galaxy S III General] brinboston:
Thanks for the quick reply.

I am wondering if there are ways around this with google voice? ie. I have one number main number that i would like to keep and use regardless of where I am, wonder if a local sim card with a data plan would work?

I currently do not use GV so i don't know how it works... as in, with a GV number how do apps like 'whatsapp' function, if at all?

(also as a reference the monthly cost for those 120mb is $30 is its a freakin ripoff as well, and i try to cancel for the months that i don't go to Canada)
[Galaxy S III General] Product F(RED):
Google Voice is a second phone number, but if you configure the Google Voice app, you can make all outbound calls go through using that number. Texts go over data using the Voice app. In the web interface, assuming you ported your primary number to Voice, you can set which phones you want to ring when someone calls that number.

For example, my real number (which is in GV) is 347-xxx-xxxx. My Straight Talk-assigned number is 917-xxx-xxxx (both NY area codes). Google Voice is configured so that when someone calls 347, it rings my 917 number on my cell phone. Nothing changes. Calls come in normally, as if they are direct. Minutes are calculated normally. Texts come in through the Google Voice app, over data. Same for outbound. The only thing that doesn't work with Google Voice is MMS. You can even configure Google Voice to ring your home phone, office phone, and cell phone at the same time, and at different hours. It's really awesome.

When I was in Germany on vacation this summer, I was able to continue texting back and forth from my 347 number using the Google Voice app, since it uses data (just like Whatsapp, like you said). I was on Wifi, but it would've worked if I had bought a local prepaid SIM. Texts are received normally by whoever you're texting. They'll show whatever number your Google Voice number is.

If you want to try out Google Voice, you can get a number for free and try it out. You're assigned one automatically when you open an account (which comes with your Gmail account, btw).
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
Hmmm, supposedly my friend got busted with a note and sgs2. Here's the funny part, he said they back charged him 7 months worth of data I wonder if this is true.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Haha they never back charge. That's bull star star star star :P

On October 4th when the sweep happened the customer service rep gave me a free upgrade and I got a new gs3 for $199.99 (my upgrade wasn't ready till next year) which I'll be selling to pocket more money lol. She was also kind enough to reimburse 10 bucks back to my ATT account since apparently ATT caused me all this trouble.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] SlimJ87D:
Man they love you lol.
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
I second that. AT&T is always up for freebies, you just gotta ask politely and state your request eloquently. That is one of the reasons I stick with AT&T. I used to have T-Mobile back in 2005 and used it recently as a prepaid, their customer service is bad, bad, bad. Back in 2006, their retention department barely did anything for me. AT&T has given me numerous credits: I've never paid activation fee, early upgrades, $100 credits almost annually, reduced rate for family messaging unlimited, waiver of charges for accidental international calls, 75% reduction on Canada roaming charges. With FAN discount and Medianet ::p, I think AT&T has been much cheaper than any other carrier would. Still we get ripped of in US on monthly charges, but AT&T has been the lesser evil so far.
[Galaxy S III General] anips:
I just put my sim in a dumb phone and called to switch to Medianet. The rep switched it and I placed the sim back and have been good for 3 days. Also in OLAM it still shows as a generic flip phone, not my previous smart phone in the system which was what it was changed to during the sweep for some reason..

I have a 16GB White S3 from India, use about 200-400 megs/month. Also what's to keep people from calling in and switching to medianet every time a sweep occurs? I guess if it instantly flags you and switches you to the 3gb plan like some people are saying, then it won't work, but for others where it lasts for months what is the downside of doing this?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
My thoughts exactly.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] garyd9:
How does this sound:

“Hi, yes, I don’t really haveany good reason for calling you today. However, I’m kind of bored and I’vefound that arguing with your call centers can be quite entertaining – and ifyou check my account history you’ll see it’s also been very profitable forme. So, I was wondering if you’d give me another $200 credit today. Now, before you answer, I realize that I don’t have a good reason for asking atthis point. However, in a couple hours when I’m still on the phonearguing with various supervisors about it, I’ll point out that I really shouldbe compensated for the several hours I’ve had to argue this (currentlynon-existent) issue. From there, I’ll likely end up being hung up on, atwhich point I’ll call back screaming that I was hung up on, demanding to bereleased from a contract and so-on. Based on my past history, I’ll likelyhave not only the additional $200 credit at the end of today, but you’ll alsobe sending me some free phones, offering me free wireless services for a coupleof months, and whatever else I can think of in the next couple of hours.”

“Now, I realize that this mightsound like it’d be easier for you to just go ahead and give me the $200, but intruth I’d rather if you’d argue with me about it until about 2pm ETtoday. You see, as I mentioned earlier, I’m kind of bored.”
[Galaxy S III General] gadget069:
As someone started why not switch to straight talk?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Haha... laughing out loud in office and guys from next cabin stopped by to ask me what happened.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] sumeet909:
I did that on nexus one quite a bit. After a while they increased frequency of sweeps. Don't know how this sweep thing works, but on iPhones it is instantaneous, like DB trigger. For other devices, seems more like a manual job local to geographical area, phone type etc. Don't know much, but sure you could call and switch.

---------- Post added at 09:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:34 PM ----------

Too bad the call didn't get disconnected because of bad reception all along. If it would, that sure would've helped. :cool:
[Galaxy S III General] mad_4u:
i just got SG S3 new unbranded

it cost me $550

i think it's cheaper then UK and US
[Galaxy S III General] 2BIG4U:
Hi, I am moving to LA from Europe (got a new job). I will leave my international GS3 to my brother. Is it worth buying I9305? I know that LTE will not work in LA because of the different frequencies. What about H or H+? Or I should buy international and forget about 2GB RAM? Thanks.
[Galaxy S III General] heartspeace:
plan already has unlimited data and will forever. thank you
[Galaxy S III General] be1ieve1111:
ceo.mtcl are you still on the plan? Did they do another sweep?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
I'm still on the same plan. No other sweep happened. You may have a look at the below screenshot.

All I did was make one phone call. :)

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] lude219:
Got swept again. there goes my 5yr medianet plan...all thanks to this thread for alerting AT&T.
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Wow!

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] uchup:
Hey ceo.mtcl

I got my international phone a week ago. Upgrading from Nokia N8.

I was on unlimited data for non smart phone.

This trick works for a week until today 10/19/2012 at 4pm pst, they sent me text they putting me to smart phone data.

I'm about to call them and to do the trick with non smartphone.

Just wandering if yours still work or not ?
[Galaxy S III General] ceo.mtcl:
Yup still works.

☞ sent from GS3 or Nexus
[Galaxy S III General] uchup:
I already cut my sim card to mini sim card to work on the S3, I cant plug it back to my nokia.

Do I call with the same number? or use the home phone? I'm not suppose to call them with my S3?

I do have my imei nokia ready.

Thanks,