Your AT&T cellular data plan has been successfully activated

I wasted no time in activating the cellular data plan on my iPad 3G. I was surprised that it arrived a day early. It looks identical to the iPad except for the black plastic part at the top and the SIM tray. In the box there is a SIM tray pin and a slightly different help document. The contents are otherwise identical.I filled out my information. I had to come up with an email address and password for the account. It is not related to my existing AT&T service or phone number at all. My corporate AT&T discount is not available. The activation process failed with an SOH00004 error the first couple of times until I decided to try once with my wifi turned off. That was the trick and I was able to activate successfully.

I opted for the 250MB plan. I’m going to try to live within that budget. My understanding is that I can increase or decrease my plan at will. The plan is month to month so if I find myself not using it I should turn it off. This weekend I will be out of WiFi coverage and able to test it in earnest. I will be interested to see how fast that 250 MB gets burned up.

I immediately got an email from AT&T telling me about my new phone number. You cannot call that number and there’s no voicemail. I was surprised by this but it makes sense when I thought about it since everything is phone number based.

From: AT&T Customer Care for Wireless <[email protected]>
Subject: AT&T Data Plan Purchase Confirmation
Date: April 29, 2010 2:33:21 PM CDT

You have purchased the 250 MB of data for 30 days for $14.99 rate plan. Your account login is: ****@xevio.us. Please retain this information for future visits to your account via Settings on your iPad.

Your Cellular Data Number is ***-***-****. Please make a note of this number. You will need it should you have to contact customer care for support in the future for this subscription.

Your credit/debit card has been charged $14.99.

Reminder: Domestic iPad Plans may be purchased with unlimited data usage, or with a data usage allotment measured in MBs, for a 30 day period utilizing a credit or debit card. The 30 day period begins to expire immediately upon purchase, whether or not you are using the service. If you purchase a Domestic iPad Plan with a data usage allotment and you use all of your allotment prior to the expiration of the 30 day period, your access to our Data Services will cease for the remainder of the 30 day period. If you want to continue using our Data Services during the remaining 30 day period, you will need to purchase an additional iPad Plan by visiting www.att.com/iPad from your iPad. Domestic iPad Plans include the U.S., Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands.

DOMESTIC IPAD PLANS WILL AUTOMATICALLY RENEW EVERY 30 DAYS, AND YOU AUTHORIZE US TO CHARGE YOUR CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD FOR YOUR INITIAL AND ANY SUBSEQUENT IPAD PLAN, UNLESS YOU CANCEL THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL OF YOUR SERVICE. TO CANCEL AUTOMATIC RENEWAL, VISIT WWW.ATT.COM/IPAD FROM YOUR IPAD PRIOR TO YOUR NEXT SCHEDULED PAYMENT TO AVOID BEING CHARGED. IN ORDER TO PROCESS YOUR AUTOMATIC RENEWAL IN A TIMELY FASHION AND ENSURE YOUR CONTINUED USE OF THE SERVICE, AT&T WILL CHARGE YOUR CREDIT CARD OR DEBIT CARD FOR THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS BEFORE YOUR NEW IPAD PLAN 30 DAY PERIOD AUTOMATIC RENEWAL IS SET TO BEGIN. SHOULD YOU CANCEL AUTOMATIC RENEWAL AFTER WE HAVE CHARGED YOUR CARD BUT BEFORE THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL PERIOD IS SET TO BEGIN (E.G. WE CHARGED YOUR CREDIT CARD FOR THE RENEWAL AT 7 AM ET FOR A 9 AM ET AUTO RENEWAL AND YOU NOTIFIED US TO CANCEL THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL AT 8 AM ET), PLEASE CONTACT AT&T CUSTOMER SERVICE TO PROCESS A CREDIT FOR THE AUTOMATIC RENEWAL.

Thank You,
AT&T