The painful irony...well, sort of 'irony'

I've noticed something...I've been looking at cell phone plans with all 4 major US carriers, and it would seem that, when buying a subsidized phone with a new contract, all brand-new phones (non-refurbed) that have Wi-Fi require a data plan.  It really is VERY annoying for me.  Since I'm young and still living at home, and my mom pays for my cell phone, she's not willing to pay for me for a data plan, but I'd still like internet access on my phone, because it's necessary for some features to function properly (or at the very least, it makes it a whole lot easier).  If my Impression had Wi-Fi, I could just install MGmaps, download the maps I need at home, and then go, and just use the GPS, no need for expensive data plans.

But anyway, yeah, it's just annoying.

If you really have an issue with AT&T's requirement of a data plan with smart phones you could give them a call, shoot them an email, comment on their facebook page, and whatever else you need to do until you get heard. I did that when I was looking for an upgrade and after making a big deal after about a week someone finally contacted me and told me that they'd see what they could do for me. My family has been with AT&T for 10 years and the person who contacted me called back 2 days later and told me that they would make an exception for my line and allow me to buy a smart phone with no data plan BUT they would completely block internet on the device making it impossible to send MMS. I appreciated them doing that for me but I decided to go with the Impression after looking at my options and I got the $10/month data plan with it, making it very comparable to my old data-less BJII. I understand why AT&T requires a data plan with all smart phones now but I also think they should let us get what we want on our phones. Some smart phones like the Samsung Jack can easily be run without needing internet plus you get the bonus of having WIFI on your device.

hey so since u can connect ur phone to the computer to get internet has any 1 thought of conecting ur fone to a wifi antena and getting wifi away from ur comp even though u would need to be conected to the antenna? seems stoopid now that i wrote it... but o well.

I understand your pain and frustration. My brother recently ported over to my wife and our family plan (1400 minutes w/ A-List! Yay...not really.).

Anyways, he chose the Sony Ericsson c905 phone. Before he chose that phone, I was researching the internet, and I was telling him that it was a good phone because it had wifi. To our surprise, AT&T's firmware has the wifi disabled, and there is no way to enable wifi unless we change the default AT&T firmware (which of course can void our warranty).

It's quite annoying knowing that these wireless providers block wifi because they do not see a financial incentive for us, consumers, to use wifi without a data plan. Therefore, it's either data plan or no wifi internet for us. Argh... *sigh*

Wifi definitely makes the phone worthwhile, and it enables us to interact with our social networks being that we are socialized begins. I agree with you OP...I just don't have the money to pay extra for something so trivial.

it would be nice to see if there is a way to convert that micro sd card wifi so it could work with our phone to get free wifi

they wont they noly work with smart phones b/c they are smart

That would make the impression so much more better.

That would be almost impossible.