Will the G1 work on AT&t's iphone data plan?

[purplepenguin04]

My-father in law pays for my cell phone service and it's almost time to upgrade everyones cell phone. I want a G1 and am thinking about getting one and unlocking it to use on AT&t or a Dev phone.

A few problems I have

My father in-law is an Apple fanboy and wont even consider an Android phone, He talks bad about Android all the time
If he found out I had an Android phone he would throw a fit and most likely ban me and my family from visiting his house
He's really pushing the iphone 3g on me

So if I end up getting an iphone 3g I'll be on the iphone data plan. Would it be possible to just put my sim into a G1 or Dev phone and use it just like normal (Minus the 3g)?
Would the iphone data plan cause any issues with a G1 or Dev phone?
Would he know if I switched phones, as in would AT&T put it on the bill or anything?

I plan on using the G1 as my primary phone and just swapping back to the iphone whenever we visit the in-laws.

[ickyfehmleh]

Tell your father-in-law I'd be more than happy to be adopted by him, especially if he's handing out free iPhone 3Gs and paying for the service.

To the best of my knowledge, only the '3G' portions of the G1, be it a subsidized phone or a Developer phone, would not work on AT&T due to the frequencies used.

[rynosaur]

Oh man, you have a stepfather pushing iPhony on you? What is he, the cell phone thought police?

He's obviously a zealot, so reasoning with him isn't going to work. My advice is to:

[purplepenguin04]

Well, he's not paying the full bill. My wife and I would be responsible for the data portions of our service, but $60 for two smart phones is a lot cheaper than the $140 we would need to pay if we decided to go to T-mobile and foot our own bills.


I'm guessing the iphone data plan is just a more expensive version of AT&T's other data plans but I'm not 100% sure. I remember reading somewhere that MMS messages won't work on other phones since the iphone can't handle them.

[GasBot]

Tell him that you like being able to send MMS messages, Copy & Paste, and actually have full access to your phone though. When you can do all of that with the iPhone, you'll let him buy you one.

[purplepenguin04]

Oh man, you have a stepfather pushing iPhony on you? What is he, the cell phone thought police?

He's obviously a zealot, so reasoning with him isn't going to work. My advice is to:

(Just say no picture)

He's my father in-law, my step dad is much less zealoty

He'll be paying for it though so it's not that big of a deal to me, I'm just curious if the Dev phone will still work as it should (Minus the 3G).

I guess if he finds out I'm using the Android phone I can just tell him I wanted to develop for a cell phone and it costs too much to develop for the iphone.

[rynosaur]

Well, he's not paying the full bill. My wife and I would be responsible for the data portions of our service, but $60 for two smart phones is a lot cheaper than the $140 we would need to pay if we decided to go to T-mobile and foot our own bills.


I'm guessing the iphone data plan is just a more expensive version of AT&T's other data plans but I'm not 100% sure. I remember reading somewhere that MMS messages won't work on other phones since the iphone can't handle them.

From what I understand, MMS doesn't work natively in iPhone and third-party/push email costs $100/year in AT&T. That said, G1 push email doesn't push much hehe. But it's free so who can complain. T'aint no Blackberry in the email department, but that's secondarily important in my eyes.

AT&T data and voice is more expensive, but there is rollover leftover from Cingular days. At&T 3G is more midely deplayed but slower than Tmo 3G.

What made the final decision for me between AT&T and Tmo? AT&T is politically affiliated in a way I'm not allowed to talk about, and they have relaxed their privacy standards for the NSA to watch their subscribers' activities without a court order. And then made excuses for doing so. FAIL!

[ickyfehmleh]

Tell him that you like being able to send MMS messages, Copy & Paste, and actually have full access to your phone though. When you can do all of that with the iPhone, you'll let him buy you one.

"Jailbreaking" the iPhone is much like gaining root on the G1; both are still unsupported ways of gaining "full access" to one's phone that subsequent updates from the respective manufacturers have attempted to "fix".

[elenaran]

i'm on AT&T with my G1 and I've got their "PDA" data plan. i dunno if that's the same one the iPhone uses, but it works great for me.