Smartphone without a data plan?

[slagman5]

Alright, I have a weird question. I just put my mother on my wireless plan with AT&T. She doesn't have a data plan because she has a non-smartphone (let's just call them "dumbphones" to make it easier to explain) and she wouldn't use it anyway, but she still gets some MMS pictures from my sister, but not enough that it's enough to buy her a data plan. Here's my question, if I buy an Android smartphone unlocked on my own, is there any way to use it without a data plan, and have the phone not use ANY data except MMS? Or is it only data on or off and that's it? Because I would like her to keep getting the pics my sister sends her, but don't want any background operations in the OS constantly using data which would cost me money. I've tried other dumbphones, she needs one with a bigger screen so she can see the pics better, and the "best" bigger screen dumbphone I could buy from AT&T is the Pantech Renue and it's amazingly terrible. It doesn't even recognize jpg pictures if they are "too big" to display... So all of the photos I stored into the sd card for that phone could not be viewed.

So I hope you guys know of a way to get a smartphone to not use any data except while receiving MMS messages, or if you guys know of a good dumbphone with a nicer screen than a flip phone, please let me know.

Thanks guys.

 

[Central n ohios best]

Basically a smartphone with no data is a dumb phone.

Sent from my T-Mobile LG Escape using Tapatalk 2

 

[slagman5]

I don't know, I've heard some people say that it would not work at all without a data plan, and others say that it'll use data in the background no matter what and will rack up the overages... I just want to know what the facts are once and for all...

 

[gone down south]

AT&T's servers will see a smartphone and automatically add a data plan, sorry.

Your best bet is to go with an MVNO offering a cheaper data plan than the carrier does.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[gdmin]

I don't know, I've heard some people say that it would not work at all without a data plan, and others say that it'll use data in the background no matter what and will rack up the overages... I just want to know what the facts are once and for all...

No it will work for call, sms, camera but will not work for app that requires internet such as browser, fb, instagram, etc

Sent via Tapatalk 2

 

[gdmin]

AT&T's servers will see a smartphone and automatically add a data plan, sorry.

Your best bet is to go with an MVNO offering a cheaper data plan than the carrier does.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

Wow I don't live in US so I never know carrier will add data plan automatically like that.

Don't u guys have prepaid sim card?

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[Kristina Green]

I gave my friend in Hawaii my old Thunderbolt. She uses it as a wifi only device. Everything works except the phone part because she did not activate it. We use google hangouts to text and send pictures. It works great. You can even use google talk and video chat if both phones have that capability.

 

[TeknoBug]

I went over a year without data a couple years ago with a voice only plan, needed to save some money and the phone was still very useful on wifi, but I missed being able to surf the web while on the bus and train going to work and such. Since then I switched back to data, still don't use that much data though.

I don't see a problem with that, my mother has a smartphone and has a voice only plan.

 

[slagman5]

AT&T's servers will see a smartphone and automatically add a data plan, sorry.

Your best bet is to go with an MVNO offering a cheaper data plan than the carrier does.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using AC Forums mobile app

Well, I am trying to NOT have to pay for ANY data plan... Right now it's only $20 more for her line, I'm sure even the cheapest plan that has voice and data would be more than $20 probably.

- - - Updated - - -

So I guess I'm stuck with trying to look for a good dumbphone. Anyone know of any?? Not a flip phone, that's what she has now, and the reason why I want to buy her another phone is because the screen is too small for her to see pictures well. My sister sends her pictures of her newborn and my mom always likes to look at them. So I want to get her a phone where she can see them better.