Disable web on your phone, without removing your MMS feature on AT&T

What do you do when you get that bill for $200 - $300 because of accidental web use? See red, demand a credit, and ask that your internet gets blocked. But what happens when you send a picture and your data is blocked? You see red, demand a credit, and wonder why no one ever told you about this. 

When you purchase a phone from AT&T, you have three options for internet access: 1) Buy an internet package anywhere between $10 - $20 per phone, 2) Go with casual pay as you go services at $2/MB, 3) Block your internet service by opting out of data. By default, you are given pay as you go data service if you don't get a data plan, and you have to specifically ask that your data be blocked. However, if your data is blocked, then things like mobile backup and picture messaging are no longer useful, which is OK, if you don't use those two services. However, there is help for the rest of us.

Keep in mind that this is a workaround only, and if you mess it up, you're liable for cleaning it up. Also, since AT&T will require all smartphones have data as of September 6, 2009, you probably don't have to worry about this if you have a BlackBerry or Windows Mobile phone (see article here).

Under Menu > Settings > MediaNet or Menu > Configurations there are your MediaNet settings. If it allows you to set up a new access point, just create one called 'noweb' and allow that to be your default, simply switching back when you want to send a picture message. If it does not, then feel free to delete the one that is there, but take the time to write down the information just in case you decide you cannot live without MultiMedia Messaging Services, or need to update your phone.

That's all there is to it! Now, when you access your web portal, you'll find that you get an error message instead of paying cash for a slip of the button.