AT&T 3G activation?
Hi,
I have an older AT&T SR1 (only sends photos by text, not data). My PayGoOnline account was deactivated recently since I hadn't put money in it to replenish the account. (I will sometimes let accounts sit to save a little money if it's a camera we don't have in the field at the moment). Does anyone know if AT&T will still activate 3G devices if I try to get a new SIM card for it? I had seen before on their website they weren't activating anything 3G after Jan 2020, but that date seems to be gone from their site now. I know that 3G will be turned off in 2022 regardless.
On a side note, it seems that AT&T might be more quickly purging un-used paygoonline accounts now. I had a few others that I wasn't using because the cameras had been damaged or stolen. They've all been deactivated now. In the past I could still log in to them even though they hadn't had any money added for months.
Thank you
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All you can do is try. You might see if there is firmware that is available that would allow you to use a data SIM. If your just going to run for a few months, you can get either the 90 day plan for $30 or the 180 day plan for $45. You can run the camera on Auto (no app) and send pics to an email address rather than as text to a phone number.
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Please let us know what you find out. The last two posts have been from people with much older model cameras, which is interesting. It would be good to know for sure what to recommend to people. Hopefully you can get another year and a half or so out of your camera. Those PayGo text plans have always been a pain in the patootie. The Buy-A-Session data plans are much easier to manage and probably not any more expensive.
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Sorry forgot to update here. So I went to a local AT&T shop and it worked out. I got a new PayGo SIM. It was more expensive than I paid before (of course!) but at least I can put this camera back in the rotation here. It's $35/month (or $30 w/ autopay) + tax/fees for unlimited texts. Also looks like it has 4GBs of 3G data, but this camera doesn't use it. But you're right about the Buy-A-Session plans, they're way easier to manage and I can do all my cams from one account. Way cheaper too, but mine are grandfathered in to a 4GB/year for $75 fees included. But I don't know if that price is available anymore.
One other thing, they did need to use an old 3G phone to activate the SIM card. And then we tested it in the camera before I left the store. They didn't have any old phones there to use so I had to dig up my old one. The one rep was fascinated by my old slider phone!
Hope this helps anyone with old SR1 cams. -
That's good to know, thank you. Was the one you activated a new device but on an existing account? They told me at the store they didn't offer it anymore. I wonder if the rep meant a brand new customer couldn't get the $75 plan. I haven't added a new device in about two years to my existing buyassession plans, but renewing the ones I have has been fine.
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