Hacker News Reader

Comment by muhfuhkuh | Hacker News Reader

Could it be? Does this mean my wife and I can use our unlocked iPhones with voice-only (t-mobile, maybe?) sim cards and use this Karma thing as our data plan? We're paying US$15/mo each for 200MB data. It's ridiculous. And, we're on HSPA+, not even LTE (AT&T, don't even ask; I can have full bars and it still takes forever to load up text-heavy pages).

View on HN

Do you talk a lot? T-Mobile has an unlimited data, unlimited text, 100 minute no-contract plan for $30/month. I'm using it with my Nexus 4. Additional talk time is $0.10/minute.

How did you actually get that plan with your Nexus 4? I've been a T-mobile customer for several years, always owning my phone outright (now a Nexus 4), but they gave me a serious run-around, telling me that particular plan was a promotional thing that could only be used with a Walmart handset.

Bought a micro-SIM card on the website (Wal-Mart sells them too), popped it in the phone, chose the plan from the list when activating the SIM card on the website. You got a run-around because you talked to a real person when that's a web-only (t-mobile.com or walmart.com) plan for new customers.

I got it at a T-Mobile store (even though it says online/Walmart only). Maybe you just need a different CSR?

My ex had a similar issue. It seemed like they were trying to say that data plan was meant for non-smart phones. It was meant to cover the applications on the original Razrs and such but not the higher bandwidth needs of newer phones.

Being a T-mobile customer for several years is your problem. It's only open to new customers, and only online. http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans

I don't know about T-Mobile, but I think AT&T and Verizon both require smartphones to have a data plan, and they can detect if you have a smartphone and force you to have a data plan because of that.

I don't know about AT&T and T-Mobile, but Verizon and Sprint (CDMA) phones have the IMEI/MEID tied to the phone since there's no SIM. It works a bit like a VIN on a car I think. This means they know what phone you're activating during activation.

I have often wondered why...

In my experience with ATT, they only know what your phone is if you purchase it through ATT. If, for example, you buy a Nexus 4 from Google and tell ATT that it's a dumb phone, they won't know it's actually a smartphone since they don't have the IMEI on file.

Do you have internet at home? Do you have a wireless router? If you can use karma, why don't you just set up your own home wifi?

Well, be sure to check the coverage map, because there are some large cities with no coverage (like San Diego).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com