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Buying iPhone w/o contract, only data and no talk?

C

cowbellallen

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jan 8, 2007
166
13
Hi,

I think I'm finally going to take the plunge and grab an iPhone in the following weeks, but I need your expert advice.

With the availability of apps like Google Voice that offer free texting, I won't have to pay that extra $20 per month for unlimited texting through the phone company. That said, I'm still really cheap.

I rarely use my phone for talking, and that is the biggest part of the bill: $40 for 450 minutes, and $30 for unlimited data! I found an app called Talkatone syncs up with your GV account to make free phone calls using only the data on the iPhone plan, and I'm interested in the situation this poses.

On a contract with Verizon, over a two year period I would spend $1,700 on service, plus the $200 for the iPhone. That ends up being just over $2,000 at the end of the contract.

I see that it will possible to buy a Verizon iPhone without a contract from an Apple store for $650 (AT&T is lower at $600). Would it be possible to buy the Verizon iPhone w/ no contract and only pay for the $30 data plan each month? This would put me at $30 per month without a contract vs the talk/data plan at $70 per month and tied to a contract.

Thus:

Option A) Buy iPhone for $200 and pay $1,700 over 2 years.

Option B) Buy iPhone for $650 and pay $30 each month at no contract.


That's assuming they'll even let me pay for just a data plan and no talk. Does anyone know if this is possible? I know the iPad is available with only a data plan cause... well, its not a phone.

Allen
 
I think you can do this

buy the ipad data plan with AT&T, stick that sim card in an iPhone

however, i dont know if this is successful, I saw someone on macrumors post this
 
I thought the iPad and iPhone Micro Sim's were different? Well thats what the person in the Vodafone shop said to me. Said they wern't compatible. If your going to use it for data only, doesn't this kind of defeat the object of having an iPhone? An iPod Touch will do the same things and its cheaper. Although only has wifi...
 
Take the $200 deal and get the cheapest data plan you can. You'll be on WiFi most everywhere you park your butt, so unless you're fool enough to stream radio on 3g all day, you'll never hit your cap.
 
Sedrick said:
Take the $200 deal and get the cheapest data plan you can. You'll be on WiFi most everywhere you park your butt, so unless you're fool enough to stream radio on 3g all day, you'll never hit your cap.
Click to expand...

Wish that were true in my town in West Suburban Boston; allmost all of the wi-fi is locked tight.
 
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