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AT&T locking some GoPhone sims to prepaid phones! Will not work with iPhone.

A

Alleyoop

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 25, 2009
87
0
So if any of you have been following my immense amount of threads lately dealing with my frustration in not being able to get a prepaid sim to work in my iPhone 3G with 3.0, I have figured out why it wasn't working-even after unlocking the phone. Certain prepaid GoPhones from AT&T lock the sim to the goPhone. Supposedly even if you can get a customer service rep to change the IMEI, it still won't work. After reading through my pamphlets with the goPhone I did find the information..

"For new GoPhone customers, once the device and SIM are activated SIM cannot be used with any other device for a set period of time..."

I believe that is 180 days from reading threads about it in another forum.

Anyone know of another pay as you go sim that will definitely work? I need to get one asap. Thanks!
 
Did you try going to the AT&T store and just asking for a GoPhone SIM? That's what I did (about 2 months ago), and it worked perfectly. Its $25 before tax.
 
Funny, I was just about to start a thread on the same issue.

I'm in Ireland and had an O2 UK iPhone 3G which I had 3.0.1 unlocked with ultrasn0w. I recently upgraded to the 3GS and decided to give my old 3G to my girlfriend who is in the US for a few months with studies.
While I was visiting last week I tried putting her AT&T prepaid sim into the iphone; she got it as a phone&sim package. However it wouldn't work or connect to the AT&T network at all. I then tried a t-mobile sim I'd bought for myself for my stay and it worked perfectly, so I left it with her, but ideally she'd like to be able to use her at&t sim and keep her number.

I didn't have time to do any further research while there so though I'd ask when I got back, which I'm doing now.

So has anyone got a sim 'unlocked' from the handset it came with?
 
Alleyoop said:
So if any of you have been following my immense amount of threads lately dealing with my frustration in not being able to get a prepaid sim to work in my iPhone 3G with 3.0, I have figured out why it wasn't working-even after unlocking the phone. Certain prepaid GoPhones from AT&T lock the sim to the goPhone. Supposedly even if you can get a customer service rep to change the IMEI, it still won't work. After reading through my pamphlets with the goPhone I did find the information..

"For new GoPhone customers, once the device and SIM are activated SIM cannot be used with any other device for a set period of time..."

I believe that is 180 days from reading threads about it in another forum.

Anyone know of another pay as you go sim that will definitely work? I need to get one asap. Thanks!
Click to expand...

So have you tried unlocking your iPhone?
 
Jeffrosproto said:
Did you try going to the AT&T store and just asking for a GoPhone SIM? That's what I did (about 2 months ago), and it worked perfectly. Its $25 before tax.
Click to expand...

No, I haven't. I am actually scared to waist money on another goPhone. They made me register the goPhone at the AT&T store, so I don't really know how it works, but perhaps they could lock that sim to the phone on my account? I suppose I could tell them not to because it is for a friend or something. But I am wary that maybe some new goPhone sims will only work with goPhones.
 
SpaceKitty said:
It sounds like they really got it locked down now. I activated my GoPhone back on June 19 and I was able to use it with my iPhone right away. They must have just recently made this change then.
Click to expand...

Yes, I heard it was a very recent change; but can't recall off hand when it started. It may not be the case with every new goPhone account, however, but I do not know the specifics as to which ones.
 
Alleyoop said:
Yes, I heard it was a very recent change; but can't recall off hand when it started. It may not be the case with every new goPhone account, however, but I do not know the specifics as to which ones.
Click to expand...

Well I hope you get something figured out. I have added the unimlited data plan to my GoPhone plan and now my iPhone works exactly like my 3GS does complete with push. I almost wish I didn't have the contract on my 3GS still to complete.
 
What I did: (on or around August 8th iirc) I went to my local AT&T authorized retailer. I went to the guy working and said something like "I bought a used GoPhone and need a SIM card for it." He asked about activating it there, i just said no thank you. I used the online activation service and everything went smoothly. YMMV.
 
SpaceKitty said:
Well I hope you get something figured out. I have added the unimlited data plan to my GoPhone plan and now my iPhone works exactly like my 3GS does complete with push. I almost wish I didn't have the contract on my 3GS still to complete.
Click to expand...

Wow. How much is unlimited data on GoPhone?
 
Alleyoop said:
Wow. How much is unlimited data on GoPhone?
Click to expand...

It runs $19.99, the same as a 2G iPhone data plan.

I don't think AT&T is offering that data plan to everyone yet, just those who got a text message saying they could get it. I got the message on Friday and when I called on Sunday, I was able to sign up for it with no problems and it became active on 10-1. Other people have tried to get it and they get told that AT&T isn't offering it.
 
SpaceKitty said:
I don't think AT&T is offering that data plan to everyone yet, just those who got a text message saying they could get it. I got the message on Friday and when I called on Sunday, I was able to sign up for it with no problems and it became active on 10-1. Other people have tried to get it and they get told that AT&T isn't offering it.
Click to expand...

Pick your plan or pay as you go? Do you have to sign up for it every month or is it automatically recurring?
 
how do you get this unlimited??? the only option on the pick-your-plan option is the 19.99 100mb plan which would be used up in a single youtube video.

And the pay-as-you-go option seems like it would be really expensive. 19.99+1dollar a day connection fee = 50$ base
 
willpower101 said:
how do you get this unlimited??? the only option on the pick-your-plan option is the 19.99 100mb plan which would be used up in a single youtube video.

And the pay-as-you-go option seems like it would be really expensive. 19.99+1dollar a day connection fee = 50$ base
Click to expand...

You can't. I was only able to get it because they sent me an SMS saying it was available. When I called, the lady knew exactly what I was talking about and gave me the unlimited data plan. It's not available to anyone from what I can tell so it may just be a trial thing where only a few people are offered it.
 
kk. I'll try calling them in the morning and feining ignorance. I can't get a contract and i go through about 2 gigs a month of data on sprint so I need the unlimited data.
 
willpower101 said:
kk. I'll try calling them in the morning and feining ignorance. I can't get a contract and i go through about 2 gigs a month of data on sprint so I need the unlimited data.
Click to expand...

You probably won't have any luck.

AT&T used to offer the $19.99 unlimited data for GoPhones but too many people abused it including iPhone users.

I am very lucky to have it and because of that, I don't abuse it because I don't want it yanked away. I only use it to download a song or two a week and that's about it. Using a GoPhone sim in an iPhone while accessing data uses more battery power than a regular iPhone sim will. I'm not sure why, but this happens on all three of my iPhones (2G, 3G, 3GS) so it's nothing I am doing wrong. It also happens no matter what firmware version the phone has. It will drop as much as 5% just to download a song.
 
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