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mBurns

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 3, 2006
357
0
USA
Hi. I am a soon to be iPhone owner. I'm looking into plans. I'd like to buy a pay as you go plan but my local Apple store had no information. Could someone help me out here? Which plans will work? Will I be able to use Edge if I buy one of these plans? This iPhone is used... how will I register the plan (Can I do this in iTunes)? Do I have to go to AT&T to buy the pay as you go plan?
 
All you do is when you take it home and activate it go through all of the screens pick a plan and then it has you put your personal information in, when you get to social type 999-99-9999 this will have you fail the credit check and will prompt a screen that tells you to contact at&t, pick a prepaid plan, or try again with different information.

Pick the second choice, it'll prompt the prepaid plans ($29.99 is the cheapest) and then you add the $19.99 unlimited data plan.

My suggestion is that if you even text a few times is to sign up for a text plan so you don't get the annoying balance pop-up after every text.

Since the phone is used you may have to go to an at&t store to get a new sim, they won't activate it you 'll do that through iTunes.

You'll have full unlimited access to EDGE.

A couple of things to be aware of doing it this way though, 1) you can't port a number into it. 2) if something happens to the phone and you have to replace it you'll lose any remaining credit you may have on your prepaid account and you have to start a new one. 3) the prepaid plans have suffered a few EDGE outages, that regular customers weren't affected by.
 
I'm planning on setting up the plan this weekend. Will I need to pay for EDGE or is that optional? I really only need WiFi...
 
The EDGE plan (data plan) is optional, however I *strongly* advise against not getting one.

You see, the iPhone is sort of like an Internet appliance. It likes having it's Internet connection. It's very easy to have your phone accessing the Internet when you don't even realize it. The most common situation is if you set the Mail client up, it will check occasionally to see if you have new messages. If you're not connected to a WiFi network, it will attempt to use EDGE. Without the data plan, you pay by kilobit. And it does not take long to quickly add up. Check out what happened to this guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE7d7ji7aAo

In all honesty, if you truly don't want to pay for the data plan, don't get an iPhone. At best, your experience will be hobbled. At worst, you could end up paying thousands.
 
The all 9 trick will no longer work. The activation now checks to make sure the SS# is a valid number format before the activation begins. You will need to either use your own SS# borrow a relatives that you know will fail if they will let you do that.

As for a data plan, it is required during signup but can be dropped from the GoPhone plan after the first month. You just dial 611 to call AT&T and when prompted, say iPhone. This will offer you the choice to remove the data plan after the first month.
 
The all 9 trick will no longer work. The activation now checks to make sure the SS# is a valid number format before the activation begins. You will need to either use your own SS# borrow a relatives that you know will fail if they will let you do that.

As for a data plan, it is required during signup but can be dropped from the GoPhone plan after the first month. You just dial 611 to call AT&T and when prompted, say iPhone. This will offer you the choice to remove the data plan after the first month.

Did you drop yours? Did you turn of the EDGE network in settings to make sure no charges would incur?
 
Did you drop yours? Did you turn of the EDGE network in settings to make sure no charges would incur?

No. I still have the data plan on my GoPhone iPhone. I just discovered that the data plan could be dropped after the first month by calling 611 and just going through all the options available for GoPhone iPhones.
 
ATT behemoth....

I too have just bought an iPhone (16GB)...today...but have yet unopened the pkg. I was told by the ATT guy that since we lived in an area not well covered by their towers, we would incur 'roaming' charges, and if we exceeded 40% of call time from home iPhone usage, we would be bumped from their program. They would cancel the contract but leave us with the phone and presumably to find another carrier. Anyone had experience with this 'roaming' factor?
 
No. I still have the data plan on my GoPhone iPhone. I just discovered that the data plan could be dropped after the first month by calling 611 and just going through all the options available for GoPhone iPhones.

Hey Hexon. I need your advice here... I was doing some more research on the GoPhone plans.. it mentions spending $1 a day every day you use your phone. Does using the EDGE network, email, internet, etc count as "using" your phone? Please advise...
 
All you do is when you take it home and activate it go through all of the screens pick a plan and then it has you put your personal information in, when you get to social type 999-99-9999 this will have you fail the credit check and will prompt a screen that tells you to contact at&t, pick a prepaid plan, or try again with different information.

WHY does the iPhone make you type in your social and WHY does it run a credit check?????

I was gonna buy one since they have more space but now i dont want to if it will ask for my damned ss number
 
WHY does the iPhone make you type in your social and WHY does it run a credit check?????

I was gonna buy one since they have more space but now i dont want to if it will ask for my damned ss number

Anytime you get any cell phone you have to have a credit check, other than the pay as you go plans.
 
Hey Hexon. I need your advice here... I was doing some more research on the GoPhone plans.. it mentions spending $1 a day every day you use your phone. Does using the EDGE network, email, internet, etc count as "using" your phone? Please advise...

The GoPhone plans that you are talking about are not for iPhones. The $1 a day thing is for regular GoPhones such as what you can buy at the AT&T store or other places such as Radio Shack.

The iPhone plans don't charge you a $1 a day, they give you a plan with so many minutes such as 200 and then you add on SMS and data packages.
 
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