With recent news of the iPad sim card hack and the low iPhone prices offered by Walmart, I have devised a plan to get an contract free iPhone 3Gs with data cheaper than buying an iPhone at retail.
1. Buy 16gb iPhone 3Gs at Walmart for $97 with contract.
2. Cancel contract within 3 days and pay the $175 ETF. ATT won't demand the iPhone back because it was purchased from a "reseller". Even if they ask for that month's service up front, the total cost would be $97 + $175 (ETF) + $70 (month of voice/data), which would equal $342 (retail for iphone is about $600).
3. Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone
4. Activate iPad sim card and adapt it to iPhone as per these instructions.
http://hijinksinc.com/2010/05/14/using-a-micro-sim-in-an-iphone-3g/
And congrats, in theory, you have a contract free iPhone with data only for cheap.
Below is what it would cost if you had an iPhone for 2 years in contract in comparison with this hack and similar options with two years of service.
iPhone Hack (Device, Data, ETF): $1062
iPhone 3Gs in Contract (Voice, Data, Messaging): $2257
iPad with Data (Device, Data): $1349
iPod Touch with Verizon Mifi (Device, Verizon Device, Data): $1790
Clearly, the iPhone hack is the cheapest method, coming in at a close second with the iPad. It might be a tough decision between an iPad and an iPhone, but the iPhone has a camera and can fit in your pocket, so it's more of a heavily featured iPod than a large tablet. And, naturally, there is a lot you can do with an unlocked iPhone, even hack it to make phone calls through skip or google voice and have messaging applications. You don't even have to pay for data if you think you won't need it for a month, and you can downgrade to the $15 a month program anytime.
Possible drawbacks, however, is that the iPhone 4G is coming out soon, and looks a lot cooler. You're breaking a contract on a soon-to-be-outdated device and ATT won't let you be a customer for 6 moths afterward. Also, you risk bricking an iPhone, and if ATT catches onto the iPad sim card hack, you're left with an expensive iPod touch.
To everyone on this forum, can you see any additional drawbacks that I might be missing?
1. Buy 16gb iPhone 3Gs at Walmart for $97 with contract.
2. Cancel contract within 3 days and pay the $175 ETF. ATT won't demand the iPhone back because it was purchased from a "reseller". Even if they ask for that month's service up front, the total cost would be $97 + $175 (ETF) + $70 (month of voice/data), which would equal $342 (retail for iphone is about $600).
3. Unlock/Jailbreak iPhone
4. Activate iPad sim card and adapt it to iPhone as per these instructions.
http://hijinksinc.com/2010/05/14/using-a-micro-sim-in-an-iphone-3g/
And congrats, in theory, you have a contract free iPhone with data only for cheap.
Below is what it would cost if you had an iPhone for 2 years in contract in comparison with this hack and similar options with two years of service.
iPhone Hack (Device, Data, ETF): $1062
iPhone 3Gs in Contract (Voice, Data, Messaging): $2257
iPad with Data (Device, Data): $1349
iPod Touch with Verizon Mifi (Device, Verizon Device, Data): $1790
Clearly, the iPhone hack is the cheapest method, coming in at a close second with the iPad. It might be a tough decision between an iPad and an iPhone, but the iPhone has a camera and can fit in your pocket, so it's more of a heavily featured iPod than a large tablet. And, naturally, there is a lot you can do with an unlocked iPhone, even hack it to make phone calls through skip or google voice and have messaging applications. You don't even have to pay for data if you think you won't need it for a month, and you can downgrade to the $15 a month program anytime.
Possible drawbacks, however, is that the iPhone 4G is coming out soon, and looks a lot cooler. You're breaking a contract on a soon-to-be-outdated device and ATT won't let you be a customer for 6 moths afterward. Also, you risk bricking an iPhone, and if ATT catches onto the iPad sim card hack, you're left with an expensive iPod touch.
To everyone on this forum, can you see any additional drawbacks that I might be missing?
