I think that's probably the case. That's how all other pre-paid phones work. You don't have to "fail" the credit check.
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iPhone available off-contract as Go Phone!!!
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I think that's probably the case. That's how all other pre-paid phones work. You don't have to "fail" the credit check.
You can also top up during the month if you run short. Say you run out on the 20th, you can add additional value. I believe the minimum top up amount is $15.
It'll be interesting to see how much time the data plan offers.
In the meantime, have one on me! Also, what do you think about this?
Ok guys. Clear this up once and for all. I want one answer (i know thats a difficult thing to ask for here). If i somehow am able to get an iPhone with a GoPhone plan, pay 30 bucks for 200 mins. Do i have to keep paying every month or will theynot ask for payment untill my 200 mins are used up. The reason i personally ask this is because i am on verizon untill feb, but i want the iPhone as a nice to have and more importantly as a planner (because its the only one which will fully sync with iCal). So will i be able to do this.
600 (for iPhone) + 36 (activation, i guess) + 30 (for 200 min) = 666 (weird) And if i dont use any mins will i be able to have an iPhone for the summer without monthly bills?
Thanks a ton,
Daniel
600 (for iPhone) + 36 (activation, i guess) + 30 (for 200 min) = 666 (weird) And if i dont use any mins will i be able to have an iPhone for the summer without monthly bills?
Thanks a ton,
Daniel
Its a month to month thing. You will automatically be charges $30 (200 minutes) + $20 (data) on a monthly basis irrespective of whether you use your minutes or not. Also, if i remember correctly, you aren't charged an activation fee for prepaid. Someone correct me if i'm wrong please...
This all goes completely contrary to AT&T's regular GoPhone plans, where you don't have to have bad credit to sign up for it.
I have a GoPhone with AT&T that I have mostly for emergency car use (just leave it in the car and you never forget to take it with you when you're on the road and won't 'drop it' like you could if you carry it around all the time, etc.
This is how I use it:
I got the phone for FREE (normally $30, I think; just tell them that's too much and you should get it free; they seem to have quite a bit of 'play' in their phone deals). Then I had two 'plan' choices. One was 25 cents a minute with rollover and if you buy $100 of minutes, they last for a year before you need to buy more minutes to have them roll over, so that would get your 400 minutes, which for emergency use only is plenty. The other plan is 10 cents a minute, but there's a $1 surcharge each day you actually use the voice services (i.e. call or receive a call) plus it has unlimited talk time with other AT&T users. Given how little I use the phone, I went with the 2nd plan (as when I DO use it, any phone coversation over ~7 minutes is going to cover the difference in minute price for that $1 extra use and the few times I do tend to use it, I tend to talk for 15 minutes +.
Anyway, the advantage there over a traditional phone plan is that $100 a year rate comes down to only $8.33 a month if you don't use all 1000 minutes in a year's time (which I normally wouldn't as I don't use it very much). Plus those minutes would then also rollover to the next year so long as I buy more minutes before the end of the first year.
So for someone that doesn't talk a lot on their cell phone, it's less than 1/4 what it would cost you for AT&T's CHEAPEST regular plan and you have a phone for emergencies, etc.
It would be MORE of a waste for me to get a regular plan when I KNOW I wouldn't use anything close to 450 minutes a month EVER.
What I would like with iPhone is the ability to get those kind of phone minutes, which I know I wouldn't use and the $20 data plan for unlimited Net access (The main thing I'd want to use on iPhone is the Web stuff, not the voice phone). So for around $30 a month, I'd be all over iPhone! But $60 a month is paying double for minutes I know I'd never use (so what if they roll over? I'm STILL not using them and when I left AT&T some day, they'd disappear anyway).
As it is, I'll wait for a future version with 3G and reconsider at that time.
I have a GoPhone with AT&T that I have mostly for emergency car use (just leave it in the car and you never forget to take it with you when you're on the road and won't 'drop it' like you could if you carry it around all the time, etc.
This is how I use it:
I got the phone for FREE (normally $30, I think; just tell them that's too much and you should get it free; they seem to have quite a bit of 'play' in their phone deals). Then I had two 'plan' choices. One was 25 cents a minute with rollover and if you buy $100 of minutes, they last for a year before you need to buy more minutes to have them roll over, so that would get your 400 minutes, which for emergency use only is plenty. The other plan is 10 cents a minute, but there's a $1 surcharge each day you actually use the voice services (i.e. call or receive a call) plus it has unlimited talk time with other AT&T users. Given how little I use the phone, I went with the 2nd plan (as when I DO use it, any phone coversation over ~7 minutes is going to cover the difference in minute price for that $1 extra use and the few times I do tend to use it, I tend to talk for 15 minutes +.
Anyway, the advantage there over a traditional phone plan is that $100 a year rate comes down to only $8.33 a month if you don't use all 1000 minutes in a year's time (which I normally wouldn't as I don't use it very much). Plus those minutes would then also rollover to the next year so long as I buy more minutes before the end of the first year.
So for someone that doesn't talk a lot on their cell phone, it's less than 1/4 what it would cost you for AT&T's CHEAPEST regular plan and you have a phone for emergencies, etc.
It would be MORE of a waste for me to get a regular plan when I KNOW I wouldn't use anything close to 450 minutes a month EVER.
What I would like with iPhone is the ability to get those kind of phone minutes, which I know I wouldn't use and the $20 data plan for unlimited Net access (The main thing I'd want to use on iPhone is the Web stuff, not the voice phone). So for around $30 a month, I'd be all over iPhone! But $60 a month is paying double for minutes I know I'd never use (so what if they roll over? I'm STILL not using them and when I left AT&T some day, they'd disappear anyway).
As it is, I'll wait for a future version with 3G and reconsider at that time.
From what I've read here, no one knows what's going on.
1. AT&T site says that if existing gophone customer, lose # and have to sign up for new plan.
2. AT&T rep told me this morning that gophone customers could buy iPhone and use on existing plan, adding $20 data plan (but not until Monday????)
3. Said 2 year contarct still required to use iphone.
4. $30/200min/month gophone plans are great for minimal use since minutes roll over and accumulate. Wouldn't be great deal w/ iphone since get over twice the minutes, and possily bigger calling area for $10 more, and there's still a 2 year contract.
If something sounds too good to be true, it is.
1. AT&T site says that if existing gophone customer, lose # and have to sign up for new plan.
2. AT&T rep told me this morning that gophone customers could buy iPhone and use on existing plan, adding $20 data plan (but not until Monday????)
3. Said 2 year contarct still required to use iphone.
4. $30/200min/month gophone plans are great for minimal use since minutes roll over and accumulate. Wouldn't be great deal w/ iphone since get over twice the minutes, and possily bigger calling area for $10 more, and there's still a 2 year contract.
If something sounds too good to be true, it is.
Until tomorrow, nobody definitely knows what's going on. I'll believe it when I see the fine print.
The 2 year contract sounds pretty strange for PAYG but, who knows, right?
Why should I pay $20 a month for an unlimited data plan that I'll rarely use. If what you say is true, I think AT&T is out to milk everyone who wants an iPhone.
I'm Canadian - so... I don't think I'd have any US credit information at all.
Would it be theoretically possible for me to buy one on one of these plans - sign up with whatever the minimum is - and then bring it up here and use it primairly as a WiFi device/iPod? Then, a few months down the road, I could either flip it and buy a "Canadian" model or - if possible - flip in a Rogers SIM Card whenever they bring it up here?
Would it be theoretically possible for me to buy one on one of these plans - sign up with whatever the minimum is - and then bring it up here and use it primairly as a WiFi device/iPod? Then, a few months down the road, I could either flip it and buy a "Canadian" model or - if possible - flip in a Rogers SIM Card whenever they bring it up here?
Can't Use Pay As You Go plan
I don't know why people are discussing Pay As You Go. It says specifically that Pay As You Go is not available on iPhone, only Pick Your Plan is available. That means you have to pay a minimum of $30 per month at least, not counting the $20 monthly data plan. So the only reason for this is that you don't have to sign a contract for 2 years but AT&T makes up the difference with higher per minute costs.
I don't know why people are discussing Pay As You Go. It says specifically that Pay As You Go is not available on iPhone, only Pick Your Plan is available. That means you have to pay a minimum of $30 per month at least, not counting the $20 monthly data plan. So the only reason for this is that you don't have to sign a contract for 2 years but AT&T makes up the difference with higher per minute costs.
But the next month another $30 is deducted and another 200 minutes added, if I understand correctly. It's actually as long as the $30 lasts, for example you could text message and it would deduct from that as well, reducing the number of "minutes" you have.
Yea, its a month to month thing. They will keep deducting $30 every month from your account until you ask them to cancel your account. Those who have limited usage should definitely go with this instead of getting locked to ATT for 2 years.
Could you expand on that? I'm not really clear on what point you're trying to make.
Whoo, guess I'll ask them to fail me. Or refuse to give them my SSN or something so they'd give me a BAN number indicating I failed the rating!
Then I'd just pay $30 for voice, and never use it.
And therefore only pay $20 per month for the life of the iPhone!
That rules more than I would ever ask for!
Then I'd just pay $30 for voice, and never use it.
And therefore only pay $20 per month for the life of the iPhone!
That rules more than I would ever ask for!
Then why the hell call it "prepaid"? Doesn't that mean you pay $30 for 200 minutes, and that lasts for the life of that 200 minutes? If you don't use it, then you'll never have to pay another $30, since you still have that 200 minutes you pre-paid for, right?
I have another question about the "pick your plan" service, not being familiar with AT&T yet (currently am with T-Mobile).
Say I only am in the US three times per year, for a month each time, and would like an iPhone for those times.
Would I be able to "fail" a credit check, choose the pick your plan option for my first month in US, after that month cancel my plan during the time I'm out of the country, then RETURN to the US 4 months later, RE-ACTIVATE my plan on the SAME iPhone (would I need a new SIM card or could I re-activate the old SIM card?), do another month, cancel my plan again, and so forth and so forth?
I currently do this with T-mobile and it works great. Does anyone know if AT&T allows this on the pick your plan option? that is, cancelling and then re-activating for the same phone and same sim card? Do they charge an activation fee?
Another thing I am curious about is the way the iPhone is locked. Should we assume there will be different versions of the iPhone for AT&T (US), and differently locked phones for Vodafone (Europe)? Or does anyone think it might be possible to be on both a US AT&T plan AND on a Europe plan on the same DEVICE just by switching SIM cards? Is the SIM card removable?
Just curious, though I assume the sim card is removable but the phone is locked air-tight and you'll need a separate one for Europe and US.
Say I only am in the US three times per year, for a month each time, and would like an iPhone for those times.
Would I be able to "fail" a credit check, choose the pick your plan option for my first month in US, after that month cancel my plan during the time I'm out of the country, then RETURN to the US 4 months later, RE-ACTIVATE my plan on the SAME iPhone (would I need a new SIM card or could I re-activate the old SIM card?), do another month, cancel my plan again, and so forth and so forth?
I currently do this with T-mobile and it works great. Does anyone know if AT&T allows this on the pick your plan option? that is, cancelling and then re-activating for the same phone and same sim card? Do they charge an activation fee?
Another thing I am curious about is the way the iPhone is locked. Should we assume there will be different versions of the iPhone for AT&T (US), and differently locked phones for Vodafone (Europe)? Or does anyone think it might be possible to be on both a US AT&T plan AND on a Europe plan on the same DEVICE just by switching SIM cards? Is the SIM card removable?
Just curious, though I assume the sim card is removable but the phone is locked air-tight and you'll need a separate one for Europe and US.
At&T offers two prepaid plans. The first allows you to buy simply the amount of minutes that you need and you can top up when you want.
The second forces you to buy a fixed amount every month and the minutes rollover if you don't use them.
From what's been seen so far, it looks as the iPhone will only be available with the second plan.
However, since there's no contract you can cancel it at any time. If you cancel it, you lose the phone number and the minutes and perhaps the phone's functionality. IMO that would be a pretty shifty thing to do, since wireless would be the one thing I'm most interested in. But at this point, nobody knows.
Obviously, AT&T is pushing the contracts so if the iPhone truly is on a prepaid plan, you'll probably have to speak to AT&T about the ins and outs. Be prepared for them to talk down prepaid and push a contract on you.
One more day!
Good questions but we won't know until tomorrow.
Simply getting to AT&T's prepaid plans on their website takes about 7 clicks and then there's no info whatsoever about the iPhone, other than the little bit that says, may not be available in all areas or with all phones.
Once again, you should be able to get a PAYG plan without failing a credit check, but then again, AT&T might play hard ball.
Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow....
GO HERE:
http://www.wireless.att.com/learn/iphone-faqs.jsp
Says gophone no go, BUT at&t has said otherwise, at least with respect to $30/mo/20 min. pick your plan. Confusion comes from fact that pick your plan is a gophone plan. Further, another call to at&t today said they had no idea what was going on. Now that finally is the truth.