Possible to use Note 2 as a data only device?

spinedoc · February 5th, 2013, 12:18 PM

Anyone successfully use the Note 2 as a data only device. I'm on AT&T and have an iphone 5 I'm happy with as a phone, but I hate it for anything like browsing the web. I normally carry around an ipad but lately I've grown sick of having an extra device in my hand. The ipad mini and even the nexus 7 are just a bit too big to fit into a pocket. I'd like to keep my ip5 as my phone but have the Note 2 as a "tablet". I doubt ATT would let me add it to my mobile share for $10, I'm wondering if I just took out my SIM from the ipad and popped it into the Note 2 and changed the APN settings if it would work for data?

Anyone try this?

bob60626 · February 5th, 2013, 01:40 PM

I asked a similar question about the original and never got an answer. I had wanted to try prepaid.
You could also unlock it to use the T-Mobile $30/5 gig phone plan if you have decent coverage in your area.

colnago · February 5th, 2013, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob60626

I asked a similar question about the original and never got an answer. I had wanted to try prepaid.
You could also unlock it to use the T-Mobile $30/5 gig phone plan if you have decent coverage in your area.

T-Mo Note 2 supports at&t HSPA, once unlocked, and may not show in at&t's system as a recognized device.

lcneed · February 5th, 2013, 04:26 PM

You have an iPhone 5 with you all the time.
You have an AT&T data share plan with free tethering.

You could just set up your iPhone 5 as mobile hotspot and connect your Note II thru WiFi. It would put a little more drain on your iPhone 5 battery but you don't have to pay extra $10 a month.

The Note II is big for a phone, but small for a tablet. I am really not sure about carrying an iPhone 5 and a Note II. I think you really should just replace and iPhone 5 with the Note II, but that just me.

JunBringer · February 5th, 2013, 05:07 PM

I was hoping to do this actually and as was said above I'm going to use the t-mobile $30 a month plan which gives you 5GB at full speed and I just won't use the 100 minutes or unlimited text.

spinedoc · February 5th, 2013, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcneed

You have an iPhone 5 with you all the time.
You have an AT&T data share plan with free tethering.

You could just set up your iPhone 5 as mobile hotspot and connect your Note II thru WiFi. It would put a little more drain on your iPhone 5 battery but you don't have to pay extra $10 a month.

The Note II is big for a phone, but small for a tablet. I am really not sure about carrying an iPhone 5 and a Note II. I think you really should just replace and iPhone 5 with the Note II, but that just me.

I know the smartest thing to do is to tether for free, but it's just a pita sometimes. on the ip5 you have to open up the phone and go to the tether settings and leave it open while the device connects to its network, it's a pita to do that every time.

Trust me, I've thought about just using the note 2 as a phone, but I really need to be one handed a lot of the time and just need my phone to be a phone, really the ip5 is overkill for me, but the size works nicely.

spinedoc · February 5th, 2013, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob60626

I asked a similar question about the original and never got an answer. I had wanted to try prepaid.
You could also unlock it to use the T-Mobile $30/5 gig phone plan if you have decent coverage in your area.

$30 for 5 gigs? Wow, I'm going to have to research that one. That sounds like it's right up my alley for occasional use.

bob60626 · February 6th, 2013, 07:45 AM

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/monthly-4g-plans

bob60626 · February 6th, 2013, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JunBringer

I was hoping to do this actually and as was said above I'm going to use the t-mobile $30 a month plan which gives you 5GB at full speed and I just won't use the 100 minutes or unlimited text.

I might do the same, but then I'd have two sets of that plan.

spinedoc · February 6th, 2013, 05:10 PM

Just to elaborate part of the reason tethering may not work is I'm seriously considering leaving ATT and going to straight talk, it would be much cheaper probably about half as cheap. I'm even considering just paying the $45 x 2 and having a plan for both my iphone and note 2, I use my google voice number mostly so it would work out well for me to just forward the number to whichever phone I was using.

spinedoc · February 6th, 2013, 05:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob60626

I might do the same, but then I'd have two sets of that plan.

Can you tether on this plan?

JunBringer · February 6th, 2013, 09:53 PM

Also keep in mind you can lower your AT&T plan to the 200mb plan and save the 30-50 dollars you spent on the 3GB-5GB plan on AT&T and use that cash for the T-Mobile $30 plan, which is 5GB. That's what I'm doing once my tax return shows up and I pick up my Note 2.

spinedoc · March 8th, 2013, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JunBringer

Also keep in mind you can lower your AT&T plan to the 200mb plan and save the 30-50 dollars you spent on the 3GB-5GB plan on AT&T and use that cash for the T-Mobile $30 plan, which is 5GB. That's what I'm doing once my tax return shows up and I pick up my Note 2.

I tried this, it works very well and is cheap but the only caveat is the awful T-Mobile service, I can't seem to get 4g or decent reception indoors anywhere.

JunBringer · March 12th, 2013, 08:03 PM

Yeah my reception isn't fantastic, but it'll do for me. Problem was that AT&T charges 20$ for 200MB and $30 for 3GB so I ended up just doing the 3GB on AT&T cause it was only ten dollars difference.