Bypass data plan method?

I was wondering, is there anyway the data plan that comes with HTC Aria on AT&t can be bypassed? It would be great if the data plan can be disabled and only wifi could be used to access any internet related applications on the phone.

Has anyone tried doing this? Also, has anyone bought the Aria through amazon?

Thanks.

Oh wow, thanks Wingcaptain19 for replying....so I guess At&t is able to detect whether the phone that contains their sim card is a smart phone or not and accordingly charge the customer.
But isn't there an option to disable the feature that constantly contacts At&t towers to let them know about what type of phone their customers are using?
I remember coming across such a setting either for Samsung Captivate or HTC Aria, which allowed going around the detection system. Do you know anything about that? Or have you tried checking that option out?

Thanks

Scought, doesn't At&t have the lowest rates when it comes to individual and family plans though?

Hey fire angel- I've been looking and searching around but I haven't come across a way to get around AT&T's detection system.

I think these sites are all well in good to use to limit one's data usage but you still have to have one of AT&T's data plan. The second you insert your sim card into the phone and power it on  the receiving tower picks up on it being a smart phone and AT&T automatically adds a data plan. To my knowledge there is no way of getting around it. Let me know if you find anything else.

1. Find an old "dumb phone" that is unlocked and can accept the ATT SIM card and find the IMEI number. You will need it in Step 4.
2. Remove the SIM card from the Aria
3. Put the SIM card from step 2 into the dumb phone from step 1.
4. Call att and tell them your Aria is broken and you no longer need a data plan because now you have a dumb phone. Specifically tell them to opt out of the data plan. You don't need or want it.
5. They will ask for the IMEI number of the dumb phone. Have it ready (from step 1). They should stop the data plan and put you in "opt-out."
6. Wait for a few minutes for this to take effect, and then go online and verify that "data plan opt-out" is part of your account.
7. Take the SIM that's currently in the dumb phone and put it back into the Aria.
8. You should now have an Aria and a voice plan with the data plan opt-out.

Keep in mind that although text messages will still work (SMS), picture messaging (MMS) will not work because att uses their data network for photos.

This is what I've done with the past 3 smartphones I've owned. I'm nearly always near wifi, so no need to have a data plan. Data plans are a farce and fraud. Att defines a "smart phone" as one that has wifi. But if it has wifi, it doesn't need a data plan. Back Assward.

Good luck!

Dan


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Is that good or bad? Did you already try this?
It's a pretty standard method to get out of data plans. I've heard that some folks have had att "sense" their phone and "upgrade" them to a data plan. This only happened once to me, when I contacted att customer service to help with a dead SIM card. They didn't tell me, but they activated my new SIM card AND upgraded me to the data plan - those sneaky Petes!