I have a jailbroken, original iPhone, with the metal back, non 3G.
I'm on T-Mobile because they have the cheapest family plan.
Texting and email seem to work still, even though I have WiFi turned off, but I only have 1-2 bars at home, and sometimes none at all. Luckily, I have a home phone line, mostly because my cell service is so poor at home.
Apparently, T-Mobile has been charging everyone possible with pay-per-use data services every since they rolled out their data plan back in September, even when many people aren't using their phones. I would be at home doing nothing with my phone at all and they claimed I was connecting to data services when I know I never was.
My daughter's line started getting data charges in just the last month of service and I know she never uses data services either.
T-Mobile claimed my phone, which is WiFi capable, was using data services even when I had WiFi turned off. I have no idea how that's possible!?!
I was charged $27.86 for data services I never used on my Sept 15th - Oct 14th bill with the data usage starting on Sept 30th. The second month, starting Oct 15th, it was already at $50+ of useage when I first saw the charges on the pervious bill. I immediately called T-Moible to complain about the bogus data usage charges. They refused to credit me back for the usage, claiming I had used it all, even though I had not. They also said I had not opted-out of the service, that I had receieved a text telling me about the service, though I never got any such text. Then they said they had every right to charge me for the usage they said was/is happening, even though I said it was not happening. My phone wasn't just going out and using data services without my knowledge. What a load of crap! I mean come on! They said my phone was using data services even in the middle of the night when I was asleep, and also when I was on a plane and my iPhone was completely turned off too. They said one of my children must be using my phone late at night. I explained to them my only child who is still on my plan is a college student and doesn't even live at home, so I know that was a total lie. They were lying like crazy to sooooo many people about the their non-existant usage.
I asked T-Mobile to put a block on the data services and they told me they didn't have a way to do this, but even if they did have blocking, if I blocked data services, I would not get my emails or my texts either. That seemed strange as I never had an issue before this getting those emails and texts.
So, I knew something was very wrong with their data service program. I was pretty sure it was all a scam to convince people they need the data services when many of us don't use it, just because we have smartphones. They said my only recourse was to sign up for a small usage plan for $5 a month, even though I have no use for it and never use it, even while I've had it. However, I didn't stop there on trying to get the bogus charges credited back and find out why there is no way to block data services.
I called a local TV station's investigative team to look into helping me out. They were very quick about this and within a day, I had a call from an assistant to the President of T-Mobile USA saying I would be refunded for all the usage I was charged for x2. However, I still have the $5 a month charge showing up for the last 3 billing cycles now. So, I went online to find out if others are having these issues and found out they are:
http://support.t-mobile.com/message/58567
So, now T-Mobile is back tracking because I think they've been threatened with a lawsuit over it (I threatened them personally too).
So, yesterday, I called them again to complain about the data usage charge they put on my daughter's phone and to demand they initate a block for data usage. My daughter, who is currently home for Winter Break, said she never used andy data services on her phone either. They said they could do this immediately, but they claimed they can't do it for me. Hmmm, I don't think so! I'm going to call them again in a minute to tell them to credit me for those bogus usage charges again and to credit me for forcing me to sign up for a data plan I never use and to put the block on my line as well now!