Just this week, I upgraded my firmware from v2.1 on my iPhone to v3.0 using the iClarified tutorial. Everything was very easy and ran smoothly. Then a few hours after upgrading my firmware, I recieved a text from ATT saying the following:

"AT&T Free Msg: We need your help regarding your iPhone account. Your iPhone does not currently have the necessary data plan required for all iPhones. Please call us by Sept. 14. Just dial 611. We appreciate your business."

I only recieved this after I upgraded my iPhones firmware. To date I have never activated or registered my iPhone with ATT since I bought it back in August 2007. Instead, I have unlocked it and used it on the family plan I am on, paying $10 a month for the additional phone, and I upgraded my data plan to the same one you would use for say a blackjack phone or whatever... the unlimited data plan for $20 more. That way I bypassed the 2 yr contract agreement and all that hassle.

Anyone know why I received this text and what I should do...?

If you did a search you would find many others have reported the same problem. As far as I know it is not related to 3.0 and is more related to AT&T having changed their plans to push iPhone users to actually use the iPhone plans.

Something like 25% of the first generation iPhones sold were never activated on AT&Ts network under iPhone data plans. Many (like mine) went overseas to be used in other countries. Some (like yours) were used on a cheaper non iPhone data plan.

AT&T are cracking down on this now, despite the fact that 2G iPhones were never sold at a hardware subsidised price. They are comparing the IMEI (hardware identifier) of iPhones that are using AT&Ts network to their database of valid iPhone subscribers. Any iPhones that do not match (and are not roaming) will get the SMS you talked about.

Thanks for the response... I did do a search before posting but I assume that my search parameters weren't matching older postings regarding this info.

Anyway, regarding this information, am I now forced to change my phone over to a new data plan or is this sort of a a scare tactic to get me to switch it. Technically, I can just pop my sim card out and put it in my old phone and tell ATT that I dont have or use an iphone and that I just tested it out in a friends unlocked phone or some BS story like that. Just curious what my options are. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Olethros

If you did a search you would find many others have reported the same problem. As far as I know it is not related to 3.0 and is more related to AT&T having changed their plans to push iPhone users to actually use the iPhone plans.

Something like 25% of the first generation iPhones sold were never activated on AT&Ts network under iPhone data plans. Many (like mine) went overseas to be used in other countries. Some (like yours) were used on a cheaper non iPhone data plan.

AT&T are cracking down on this now, despite the fact that 2G iPhones were never sold at a hardware subsidised price. They are comparing the IMEI (hardware identifier) of iPhones that are using AT&Ts network to their database of valid iPhone subscribers. Any iPhones that do not match (and are not roaming) will get the SMS you talked about.

Keep us posted....

If anyone else has had this happen, please let us know...so far, not me but waiting....

The whole issue is typically very confusing and there has been a lot of contradictions reported on the tech news sites. The summary of it is AT&T had allowed a lot of users to use iPhones on plans that were never officially supposed to be used for iPhones and now they want to clean this up. If you contact AT&T customer support now, they have the correct latest information about this and can advise you appropriately.

AT&T have not been entirely clear about the reasons behind this. It's most likely to increase their revenue.

However a clean-up of users on non official plans may also be necessary to enable AT&T to finally switch on MMS and possibly tethering options on official iPhone plans. With MMS they have until now automatically blocked MMS for iPhone users to avoid calls from customers who complain they have been sent a MMS they can't open/view.

What I think will happen is that in September, AT&T will mass-enable MMS on all official iPhone accounts. Those who don't have an official iPhone plan will not get MMS enabled (unless they put their SIM in a non iPhone and ring up to get the MMS block removed).

This does not explain the termination of existing official iPhone AT&T goPhone plans though. These customers have also been told they need to move to an iPhone unlimited data plan.

Very Bizarre indeed.

What is weird is that not all non iphone plan iphone users on an old AT&T plan have received the text message with the threats to sign up for data or else?

I have the old blue At&T sim, and as of yet no detection from AT&T.


I do have edge turned off with SB preferences.


It will be interesting to see how this unfolds and if they can actually muscle anyone into a data plan they do not want....

Just received the following email from ATT:

AT&T

Dear Valued Customer,

We hope you are enjoying your iPhone! We appreciate and value your business but need to alert you to an important issue with your account.

As an iPhone customer, an eligible data plan is required as part of your service agreement. There are iPhone(s) on your account that do not currently include this necessary plan. To ensure you have the best possible experience with unlimited data usage in the United States, please help us update your service.

To add the required iPhone data plan, simply dial 611 from your iPhone or call our Customer Care team directly at 1-800-331-0500.

It is important that we hear from you no later than September 14 to avoid an interruption in your data service. Your voice and SMS services will continue to work; however without data services, you will not be able to email, surf the Web or receive Visual Voicemail. We very much want you to enjoy all the revolutionary features of iPhone so please contact us right away.

For more information about iPhone voice and data plans, please click here.

Thank you for being an AT&T customer. We look forward to continuing to provide you with a great iPhone experience.


Sincerely,

AT&T

I am not sure what the best course of action is yet, but I am thinking about just swapping out my sim and using an older phone for a few days or maybe a week so the system registers the old phone... maybe that will work?

Originally Posted by squirrelycc

Just received the following email from ATT:

AT&T

Dear Valued Customer,

We hope you are enjoying your iPhone! We appreciate and value your business but need to alert you to an important issue with your account.

As an iPhone customer, an eligible data plan is required as part of your service agreement. There are iPhone(s) on your account that do not currently include this necessary plan. To ensure you have the best possible experience with unlimited data usage in the United States, please help us update your service.

To add the required iPhone data plan, simply dial 611 from your iPhone or call our Customer Care team directly at 1-800-331-0500.

It is important that we hear from you no later than September 14 to avoid an interruption in your data service. Your voice and SMS services will continue to work; however without data services, you will not be able to email, surf the Web or receive Visual Voicemail. We very much want you to enjoy all the revolutionary features of iPhone so please contact us right away.

For more information about iPhone voice and data plans, please click here.

Thank you for being an AT&T customer. We look forward to continuing to provide you with a great iPhone experience.


Sincerely,

AT&T

I am not sure what the best course of action is yet, but I am thinking about just swapping out my sim and using an older phone for a few days or maybe a week so the system registers the old phone... maybe that will work?

Nope that wont work.

Originally Posted by ChaseSTi

Nope that wont work.

Can you explain in better detail by chance?