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Buy 3GS without contract?
- Thread starter hasteveha
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The phone without contract is $599 for the 16GB and $699 for the 32GB.
You can't just sign up a new line, get the phone at a subsidized price and cancel the contract. There is an EFT and sometimes they can get you for the subsidization price.
Just go into the AT&T store and tell them you want to pay full price for an iphone with no contract. If you already have AT&T service they should be more than happy to set you up.
That's a good question. I don't think they will unless you activate the phone and tie it up with a number to add the services. I believe if you try to buy it as a gift, Apple sells you a gift card for the same amount. I could be wrong though.
I believe it's true. I remember people saying they had to activate the phone before leaving the store even if you buy the phone for the full price.
If you want a phone and don't want to go through activation (are not an AT&T subscriber) then your only option is probably going to be to order an unlocked generic phone from one of the countries that have them (Hong Kong, Italy, etc).
Be prepared to pay a premium. With extra charges and shipping add at least $100 to the no contract price of the phone.
Be prepared to pay a premium. With extra charges and shipping add at least $100 to the no contract price of the phone.
You can walk into any Apple or ATT store and buy an iPhone at the no commitment price. The phone is locked to ATT's network so it will only work with an ATT SIM card unless you jailbreak and unlock the phone.
I bought my 3GS at the $699 no commitment price and swapped in my ATT pick your plan prepaid SIM card when I got home. It works fine.
They let you leave the phone without activating it first? I think it is their policy that they must activate the device before you lave the store with it.
Yes, I left without activation. They handed it to me and I walked out. That's the point of the no commitment price. I'm not signing a contract with them when purchasing so they have nothing to activate.
Do you have a data plan and/or text message plan on your iPhone? I heard AT&T has said that prepaid plans aren't "approved for use with an iPhone." Do they give you a hard time if they find you are using a prepaid SIM on your iPhone?
I've been doing such for almost two years and the only roadblock I encountered was having to change the APN with the 3.0 update.
Great! So how do you do it? I want to get 3gs without contract and have internet+text. I rarely use the phone, if ever. Can I buy the 3gs at ATT or Apple for full price and ask ATT to put a data plan on it, or do I have to buy a cheapo prepaid phone from ATT and swap the SIM?
Unlimited data has not been an option since last November; it was replaced with a 100MB package at $20. You can just buy it at the no contract price and activate the SIM online at the gophone website.
How much data usage would you say you get for 100MB? In other words, how many days does the $20 last you?
Thanks for answering my questions, I've been hunting around for answers to this for the last several days and not gotten any luck!
I set fetch to manual when I'm on the cell network, so the only data I use is when I want to check something. I check weather and stocks probably one or two times a day, maybe load a page or two in Safari, and use maps (basic view, no satellite images) probably twice a month. I've never gone through all 100MB, but I did get to around 96 once. It's great if you don't use a lot of data, especially since the balance rolls over to the next month when you renew the package. Keep in mind that this is on edge, so the browsing habits may be different due to speed. I'm hopefully getting a 3g tomorrow so things might change. Also note that I have an iPhone for work that I use for stuff like attachments, podcasts, etc instead of the prepaid phone.
Sounds great, even if I go through double that data, I'd still get away with $40 a month, which will still be about half the price of the cheapest phone+data plan. 3gs, here I come!
Thanks so much again for the info, really appreciate it!
You should also note that messaging is $.20 for both incoming and outgoing unless you buy a package, so you need to factor that into your costs.Sounds great, even if I go through double that data, I'd still get away with $40 a month, which will still be about half the price of the cheapest phone+data plan. 3gs, here I come!
Thanks for that warning, yeah, I think I'll be buying the $4.99 message pack, which I think is the same as what you need to pay on the iPhone plan with contract. Still can't believe ATT has the gall to charge separately for text messages! Boo.
That's good to know. A lot of people have been asking about that, nice to hear a "success story" of sorts.
Same here. I bought my 3GS at the $699 no commitment price. pop in my SIM card from my Nokia 5800 XM and I was ready to go!
I had a 1st gen iPhone with a Pick Your Plan pre-paid plan. Pick Your Plan offers unlimited data. I swapped the SIM from my first gen iPhone into the 3GS. I had visual voicemail on the first gen iPhone so it works on the 3GS.
I have unlimited data and unlimited text on my plan.
What kind of data and text messaging plans did you have on the Nokia? Are you able to use visual voicemail after swap? I swapped a prepaid SIM from an old Motorola phone into my gen 1 iPhone and everything works except for visual voicemail.
I was referring to the pay as you go option. Even so, it wouldn't be possible to initiate the 2G iPhone GoPhone plan when starting with a current model.