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is the s3 worth getting even if i don't have a data plan? (tmobile)

B

btan219

Newbie
before anyone says i can't get it without data, this is not true. my friend works at tmobile and says i don't have to get a data plan even if i get the s3.

anyways, i was wondering if it was worth it to get the s3 without a data plan. my current phone is the exhibit 2 4g. im planning on giving it to my sister and then getting an s3 for myself.

i have access to wifi often enough and i don't need to be checking up on my facebook/tumblr/email every few minutes like my friends use it for.

one thing i found weird though was the s3 can't receive or send picture messages unless you're on the data. when my friend turned off her data and turned on her wifi she still couldn't get the picture. i don't have data on my exhibit 2 and can have wifi turned off and i still send/receive picture messaging. is there any way around this with the s3?

anyways, are there any other disabilities i might have by having the s3 and not having a data plan?

thank you! any help/advice would be appreciated
 
Hi and welcome.

Actually media messages DO use the data connection on EVERY phone. Even dumb phones. Sure, they're billed separately to your data plan - charged at a fix rate but from a Technical stand point, it uses the data connection.

To illustrate this, what most phones do is quickly establish a connection to the GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, HDPA+, LTE or WiMax network, download the media and close the connection.

How a phone connects to the data network is via an APN (Access point name). Its essentially a network username and password for your carrier and a few other connection details.

This APN is used for data. Browsing the web, receiving emails etc via the carrier network. Often it will also have the MMS settings embedded in the one APN. Sometimes the MMS settings have their own APN. This is better because if its all in one APN, if you disengage it, you won't get MMS (as with your friend) but if you have a dedicated "default" APN for data (which disengages on wifi) AND an "MMS" APN, this will allow MMS whether you are connected to wifi or not, so long as there is a GPRS, EDGE, 3G, HSDPA, HDPA+, LTE or WiMax in range.

I hope that helps to clarify. For me the S3 is a crucial device to have with data. I can't say whether its worth it for you though.

Hopefully you've learned something today though ;)
 
this was a lot of technical info to take in lol.

anyways, the samsung exhibit 2 is a smart phone as well, and i have my plan set up to not have data and have it disabled as well, meaning if my wifi was off i can't accidentally even go online if i wanted to. so im a little confused on the part where you say all phones connect to data to get pics

also, are all s3's incapable of receiving picture messaging unless on the data plan, or is it because of my friends phone plan?
 
Actually talking on your phone is using data also, everything thing that goes into /out of the phone is data, they just use a different radio.
 
Voice and sms use GSM or the global equivalent. Mms uses gprs upwards.

Like I said, plan is nothing to to with anything.
 
just to echo SUroot this is 100% accurate MMS needs data, carriers will make you get a data plan for a smart phone where if you have a dumb phone they will usually include MMS in a text messaging plan, or charge per MMS

to answer you question if you dont need MMS and are fine with browsing, emailing and other data type things on wifi only than sure it could be seen as worth it.

there are games that work offline, play music and movies off the storage, i personally like the call quality, and i like the big screen for texting.

im sure you still get the neat features like S-Beam(although this is not based on any facts, just dont think it uses data)

so ya its a dumb phone/media/mp3 player/portable game unit without data

would i ever have a smartphone of any kind without data......no i would not
 
In the UK, although MMS use 3G/HSDPA as the transport - we wouldn't need a data plan (by that I mean a bundle of MB). In the UK without a data plan, you will be charged by the MB for browsing and downloads. MMS however are individually billed at say, 40 pence per MMS sent.

So I have 1 APN. I created a second and only put the MMS details in it. I named it "3 UK MMS". I then renamed my original APN "3 UK WEB" and removed all the MMS settings.

So now 1 only does web. The other only does mms

Screenshot_2012-12-01-01-40-53.png


Now unfortunately, if I turn off "mobile data", neither APN work so I can't receive MMS. So what I did instead was to obscure the settings in the web APN so it cannot connect. See how I only have voice signal? No data? Now usually how I would do this would be to change the username in the web APN but my new carrier works differently so I had to be s little more devious to break mine.

So anyway, to test this, I sent a picture via the messaging app. My H to symobolise a HSDPA connection popped up and disappeared. The picture was sent. A few seconds later, it popped up again and the message was received. Exactly as I expected.

Hope this helps
 
You are both at least in part wrong.

OverByter said:
Actually talking on your phone is using data also, everything thing that goes into /out of the phone is data, they just use a different radio.
Click to expand...

One and the same radio.

Transmission is digital, so of course it is data, not data in the sense it is being talked about here and everywhere else i nthis context, though.

SUroot said:
Voice and sms use GSM or the global equivalent. Mms uses gprs upwards.

Like I said, plan is nothing to to with anything.
Click to expand...

What if I switch to WCDMA only? It cannot use GSM, as only WCDMA is used. Will I not be able to call anyone?
 
if you watch short little youtube vids or have movies in the internal memory, then sure the SGS3 is great to have. I would even suggest the note 2 cause of the big screen.
 
I had discovered with my old Exhibit II that I needed data to send/receive picture messages. I'm not sure how you got around it. I don't send many mms but when I wanted to, it was really annoying. I tried finding a way around it but never succeeded
I had the Exhibit II without data and thought it was fine since I'm always near wi-fi (such as yourself). I decided to get data with the S3 because T-Mobile gave me a good deal on the phone and plan when I called their retentions department. I don't think I can ever live without data now. It's handy for checking e-mails when my boss insists on bothering me about e-mails and I'm away from a computer. Well.... that's probably a downside... makes me work more...
I do have to consciously stop myself from using my phone too much, it's definitely addictive, data or no data, this phone is just amazing!
 
Szadzik said:
What if I switch to WCDMA only? It cannot use GSM, as only WCDMA is used. Will I not be able to call anyone?
Click to expand...

I'm using old standards to illustrate a point. My network is 3g only so obviously I'm aware of the mechanics of this however the OP was confused so I had to do so. Please try not yo confuse things
 
If it's really that important for you not to have data, you can use a third party application, such as handcent or goSMS pro for mms messages over WiFi.
 
flapjacky said:
I had discovered with my old Exhibit II that I needed data to send/receive picture messages. I'm not sure how you got around it. I don't send many mms but when I wanted to, it was really annoying. I tried finding a way around it but never succeeded
!
Click to expand...

hm thats weird. i didn't do anything special with my exhibit 2, ive always just been able to receive and send mms
 
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