The G1 and data plans

[ziltoid]

The g1 is a great phone and I would like to buy one. I don't want to pay $30/month for a data plan, but tmoble says that it is required. However, people from the internet say that they were able to cancel the plan after signing in to their phone initially. I'm wondering if the contract has changed, because tmobile makes it pretty clear on their site that you cannot change your plan.
What I'm really scared of is this:

If you switch plans you may be bound by existing contract term (and related $200/line early contract termination fee)

I need to know for sure that I will be able to cancel the data plan as soon as I get my phone.

Thanks in advance

 

[Rachel]

I found out in a long thread in the t-mobile forums that you are required to have the data plan for two years after getting a subsidized phone (I don't know about the new even more plus plans). However, I bought my g1 off craigslist, like new, and put the data plan on for less than a day - just activation and such. The rep didn't make it easy to take away the data plan, told me it would brick my phone, etc. However, it does work fine w/o the data plan, but make sure you know what you agree to. There are plenty of ways to get a g1 from a third party.

 

[pacothebandit]

I want to caution you. By eliminating your data plan you will be exposed to paying rates if any sort of data is used. Since the G1 is a data intense device it could be a problem if you are not careful.

 

[Sweed]

If your gonna get one without a data plan, your gonna have to buy it off of ebay(or wherever) and then switch sim cards with a at&t or tmobile phone.
I then borrowed a friends sim card to start the phone up rather than rachels mehtod

also: as pacothebandit has mentioned, you have a risk of being charged for data which will be way much more than the data plan cost.
however there are steps you can take to stop the phone from using datahttp://androidforums.com/members/pacothebandit.html