Using 3g plan on S3

[sam2400]

Hello,
I have a situation. I'm using an old 3g data plan which I'm currently using on Motorola Atrix and it works great. Long story short, I'm grandfathered into this at&t unlimited plan and I do not wish to upgrade this plan and pay more money for LTE. I'm happy with the speed I get on 3g and 4g. Anyhow. I bought an AT&T S3 unlocked. The guy who sold me the phone put in a t-mobile sim and H2O sim card to show me as a test and the phone worked on both networks. Again this is an AT&T S3. I put in my sim and called At&t and gave them the IMEI number. They added the new phone to my account and all worked great except I couldn't use any data at all on the phone. I could make calls receive calls and txt but no data. Is there a fix for this? Do I need to change the APN? I would really appreciate some help. I paid full price for this phone and now it's being used as paperweight.

thanks

 

[Jeremy_Collinsworth]

Depends, what apn are you currently using? Are you absolutely sure data is turned on?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[sam2400]

Well I'm back on Atrix now but yes. I checked all possible data options in the phone menu and everything was fine. AT&T rep on the phone took about an hour to figure out the situation and he finally said, Sir you have the old data plan with isn't not compatible with LTE and in order to use data on S3 or any LTE you need the new data plan. Which is kinda dumb! I should be able to use my 3g data on the phone and just not get LTE speed.

 

[Jeremy_Collinsworth]

That's news to me, but it makes sense. It's a new phone, it probably needs the new sim card for data to work well.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[GlennTX]

That's Baloney. I have a grandfathered unlimited data plan on AT&T also, and I had no problems with them upgrading my blackberry to the Galaxy S3. They did give me a new sim card but it's the same data plan.

 

[sam2400]

well if that's the case I am using a go-phone sim card. I actually bought a cutter and cut it myself. This maybe an old card. I also went ahead and ordered a new micro sim card from ebay which was listed for S3 S4, iphone 5. I'll just call and have them activate a new sim card.

 

[mty msi]

AT&T will give you a new sim card for free either by mail or in person at one of their stores. If in person they will also activate it. I've had unlimited data grandfathered for a number of years from the original IPhone to my current S3. Anytime you upgrade the unlimited data plan is available to be grandfathered to your new device. The grandfathering includes 4G/LTE. If you're using a third party reseller which is kind of your circumstance you may have to call AT&T to have the unlimited data plan transferred. Of course it's really not unlimited anymore because AT&T severely caps the speed after you've exceeded the monthly maximum.

 

[sam2400]

I'm all set. I went to the AT&T store and picked up the new sim card. The guy at the store was extremely busy so he handed me a new sim card. I called AT&T moved my service to the new sim card and they asked for my S3 IMEI number. After that I went onto my old phone and looked for the old APN information and added it onto the my new s3 and boom! I had 4g icon and I also added the mms APN and I tested both. I'm now able to get to the internet and also send picture messages. Thank for your help. =D