ATT prepaid for data only (for those who still have ton of remain data from 10 c/m )

**gophone** · 04-30-2012, 06:56 PM

this is a trick for any one want to use their remain data before leaving att due to att new data charge.

i have over 1.5gb of data in my data plan before att announce their new data policy for go phone user. since i have so much data remain in my account, i increase my frequently data usage by listening to internet radio, read more web site when i leaving home. however, my monthly data usage before was so low (10-30 mb ), after a few week trying, i still have roughly over 1 gb in my account. this also include the fact that att go phone data speed is so slow that youtube video is painful for watching.

so i thought i would just let the data expire next week. however, today i try to add the $5 50 mb data package to my account, it would not go though. then i accidentally clicked the option to move to the $25 monthly go phone plan. the $5 50mb is add to my account and i was not charge $25 because the money left in my acount is less than $10.

so for those still have a lot of data to burn, add another $5 50 mb to your acount and using it as a data plan only. you can't make a call though since you don't pay the $25 they want.

still great for me since i use this for google voice and gmail only. guess i have to carry a cheap phone for a few month until i burn those data completely.

**PL1** · 04-30-2012, 07:28 PM

Originally Posted by gophone

this is a trick for any one want to use thier remain data before leaving att due to att new data charge.

i have over 1.5gb of data in my data plan before att announce their new data policy for go phone user. since i have so much data remain in my account, i increase my frequently data usage by listening to internet radio, read more web site when i leaving home. however, my monthly data usage before was so low (10-30 mb ), after a few week trying, i still have roughly over 1 gb in my account. this also include the fact that att go phone data speed is so slow that youtube video is painful for watching.

so i thought i would just let the data expire next week. however, today i try to add the $5 50 mb data package to my account, it would not go though. then i accidentally clicked the option to move to the $25 monthly go phone plan. the $5 50mb is add to my account and i was not charge $25 because the money left in my acount is less than $10.

so for those still have a lot of data to burn, add another $5 50 mb to your acount and using it as a data plan only. you can't make a call though since you don't pay the $25 they want.

still great for me since i use this for google voice and gmail only. guess i have to carry a cheap phone for a few month until i burn those data completely.

Not bad. That does seem like a work around doesn't it? Just add $10 every couple months and a $5.00 data plan to at least use your data. I should have done that instead of donating it all.

**gophone** · 04-30-2012, 08:07 PM

i would donate if att refund money for those data we lost

**Pabster** · 04-30-2012, 10:36 PM

Can't verify OP but I did find my last GoPhone SIM laying around earlier today, still had $34.65 left and was to expire tomorrow (5/1). I added the $25 plan and 50MB and it extended my account expiration an extra 30 days, which normally would not happen if new funds were not added by the expiration. So they are doing some leeway. Now that I think about it I should have just donated the $34 like I did on my other SIMs but I wanted to poke around a bit LOL.

**gophone** · 05-01-2012, 01:24 AM

you could try and add $5 data plan next time.

what strange to me is that my account carry the expiration date from the 10 cent minute plan which is dec/2012?

**snowmoon** · 05-01-2012, 07:36 AM

I was thinking of doing a 60 day cycle.

Day 1, upgrade to $25/month and then buy data.
Day 30, buy data, downgrade to $0.10/minute plan

Repeat. It's not perfect, but at least I'm not throwing away 200 minutes every month just so I can get 3g.

**PL1** · 05-01-2012, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by snowmoon

I was thinking of doing a 60 day cycle.

Day 1, upgrade to $25/month and then buy data.
Day 30, buy data, downgrade to $0.10/minute plan

Repeat. It's not perfect, but at least I'm not throwing away 200 minutes every month just so I can get 3g.

And, if they charge you $10 each time you switch, there goes that idea. Which is probably going to happen after the first one.

**snowmoon** · 05-01-2012, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by PL1

And, if they charge you $10 each time you switch, there goes that idea. Which is probably going to happen after the first one.

Well then I guess I have 60 days to find an alternative.

I think we should remind the legislators of this the next time AT&T whines that it needs more spectrum for data networks.

**PL1** · 05-01-2012, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by snowmoon

Well then I guess I have 60 days to find an alternative.

I think we should remind the legislators of this the next time AT&T whines that it needs more spectrum for data networks.

Absolutely, As it is, can you imagine if they DID let Cingular (AKA AT&T Wireless) gobble up TMO? This is what was going to happen all along. And the DOJ (I think it was the DOJ), blocked it and made AT&T pay $3 billion. This must be how they are getting their money back.

**newcronos** · 05-01-2012, 03:35 PM

So, let's see if I got this right:

You converted to the $25/month plan without adding more money to your current balance that was less than $25? From what website did you do this?

I just looked and I couldn't find the options on paygonline.com.

Also, don't they usually disable data (even though you have data balance) if your voice balance is zero (or in this case, you haven't even paid for the month)?

**gophone** · 05-01-2012, 05:13 PM

no, it does not have option to convert to a different rate plan on the paygoonline.

it does, however, ask you to to move to the $25 or $50 monthly plan when you try to add the data plan to the 10 cent minute plan. you just have to select that option.

i thought they would not even let you make a switch to the $25 monthly plan if you did not pay upfront, let alone adding the data plan on top of that. i am sure we did not have this option before att make the change on 4/18.

**Pabster** · 05-01-2012, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by newcronos

So, let's see if I got this right:

You converted to the $25/month plan without adding more money to your current balance that was less than $25? From what website did you do this?

I just looked and I couldn't find the options on paygonline.com.

Also, don't they usually disable data (even though you have data balance) if your voice balance is zero (or in this case, you haven't even paid for the month)?

Yes, let me reiterate and perhaps be a bit more specific. This GoPhone account was set to expire (Account Balance) on 05/01/12. It had ~550MB of data set to expire 05/04/12 (which would have been lost on 05/01 if no money was added...) The balance on the account was ~$34. I simply selected the $25 monthly plan and a 50MB ($5) data package add-on. It took the funds for both of those from the existing balance set to expire today, leaving about $5 in the account. And reset the expiration for 05/29/12 for both the account balance and data. I did not add a penny to the account.

**newcronos** · 05-01-2012, 07:35 PM

Thanks for the explanation, gophone. I finally see that page where they ask you if you wanted to switch to the monthly plan. My balance isn't going to expire until 5/13 though, so hopefully this method will still be available!

Pabster, I'm pretty sure that's the normal behavior if you have more than enough balance to cover the features that you are buying. Since you have ~$34 balance and you bought the $25 monthly plan plus the $5 data package, it will just take the amount from your balance, extend the period for 30 days (of both, because they're both done at the same day), and leave you with the leftover balance after it was reduced by the $30. I actually never added new funds to extend my minutes (usually the $25 for 90 days) or my data package (usually $5 for 30 days) if I have more than what I need in my current balance.

**Pabster** · 05-01-2012, 07:40 PM

It may well have been normal behavior, I have no idea. Just an observation I made. I'm gone after that last SIM expires so I really could care less... 28 days and counting...

**newcronos** · 05-01-2012, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by Pabster

It may well have been normal behavior, I have no idea. Just an observation I made. I'm gone after that last SIM expires so I really could care less... 28 days and counting...

I'm counting my days as well here. I'd like to use up most of if not all of my data balance though so this method here may have extended that period a little bit.