My company wanted to give me a Blackberry so I am reachable by email & txt on the road. I asked for an iPhone instead. They said they won't buy me an iPhone under their account but if I want an iPhone over a BB they'll give me $50 / mo toward whatever smartphone I want to get on my own. However, I rarely use voice, the $50/mo doesn't cover any AT&T iPhone plan and I don't want to be under contract anyway with a monthly ~$70-80 bill.
So, will the following really work and can anyone tell me how to do this:
-- get iPhone 4 from local AT&T store with minimum service
-- promptly cancel service
-- pay termination fee (charges should add up to no more than retail cost of iPhone, right? And canceling service so quickly would not ding my credit, right?)
-- then somehow get iPad 2GB data-only plan to work on on iPhone 4
-- install Skype / Gizmo5, etc. and be paying more like $30/mo for data+skype, no contract, having the other $20/mo from my company going towards the ~$700 cost of the iPhone itself - effectively paying it off after so many months, or at least keeping up with the devaluation.
Can anyone confirm that this really works and that AT&T won't detect my data-only iPhone and disable me? Can I really walk into an AT&T shop and buy an iPad microsim that will fit and work in the iPhone 4? Won't they be suspicious? How much do they charge for the sim? Or, does AT&T officially support the iPad 3G data plan on the iPhone 4? And if not, why?
Is there a better way to obtain the iPhone than signing up for service and canceling? I called my nearest Apple store more than once a few months back and they said they would sell me the iPhone 4 for full price, contract-free. But I have read on here that this doesn't work even when they tell you they will do so over the phone. Not to mention my nearest store is 3.5 hours away. So I see my only option is to sign up with AT&T and then cancel and pay term. fees. to keep the phone.
I hope I can really make this work. If not I'll probably get an iPad 3G and a dumb prepaid phone for occasional voice calls. I'd prefer the iPhone 4, however. Please tell me it works and how to make it work! I'd really appreciate it!
So, will the following really work and can anyone tell me how to do this:
-- get iPhone 4 from local AT&T store with minimum service
-- promptly cancel service
-- pay termination fee (charges should add up to no more than retail cost of iPhone, right? And canceling service so quickly would not ding my credit, right?)
-- then somehow get iPad 2GB data-only plan to work on on iPhone 4
-- install Skype / Gizmo5, etc. and be paying more like $30/mo for data+skype, no contract, having the other $20/mo from my company going towards the ~$700 cost of the iPhone itself - effectively paying it off after so many months, or at least keeping up with the devaluation.
Can anyone confirm that this really works and that AT&T won't detect my data-only iPhone and disable me? Can I really walk into an AT&T shop and buy an iPad microsim that will fit and work in the iPhone 4? Won't they be suspicious? How much do they charge for the sim? Or, does AT&T officially support the iPad 3G data plan on the iPhone 4? And if not, why?
Is there a better way to obtain the iPhone than signing up for service and canceling? I called my nearest Apple store more than once a few months back and they said they would sell me the iPhone 4 for full price, contract-free. But I have read on here that this doesn't work even when they tell you they will do so over the phone. Not to mention my nearest store is 3.5 hours away. So I see my only option is to sign up with AT&T and then cancel and pay term. fees. to keep the phone.
I hope I can really make this work. If not I'll probably get an iPad 3G and a dumb prepaid phone for occasional voice calls. I'd prefer the iPhone 4, however. Please tell me it works and how to make it work! I'd really appreciate it!
