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Is there a prepaid minimalist plan for an iPhone

E

Ensyed

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 23, 2014
109
57
I have a cheap pay as u go phone. It's a cheap ATT phone on which I added 100 bucks which will last up to a year. It's for occasional texting and emergencies only.
I have an iPhone 5. Can I put a sim in there with 100 bucks for the same use as above. Minimal data necessary. It's a bit easier to use. Does any company offer such a deal?

In the UK u can put in 1G of data which lasts 1 month for 10-15 pounds.

Thanks
 
You will need to have a data plan for the iPhone if you were in the USA. Not sure about your area. I would call your carrier and ask what the cheapest plan they got. $100 would not last long here.
 
Ensyed said:
I have a cheap pay as u go phone. It's a cheap ATT phone on which I added 100 bucks which will last up to a year. It's for occasional texting and emergencies only.
I have an iPhone 5. Can I put a sim in there with 100 bucks for the same use as above. Minimal data necessary. It's a bit easier to use. Does any company offer such a deal?

In the UK u can put in 1G of data which lasts 1 month for 10-15 pounds.

Thanks
Click to expand...

The cheapest iPhone route in the US is either Virgin Mobile ($30/month with auto-pay), or T-Mobile's $30 plan. I don't know of any dirt cheap / minimal type plans that would work with it.
 
T-Mobile's pay as you go setup might work, if you really don't use the phone for anything other than emergencies:

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go

$3 a month gets you 30 minutes of calls or 30 texts. Additional calls are billed at .10 a minute. There are addition pay as you go fees for data, if needed. They also have pay by the day plans on that same page, where you only pay on the days you actually use.

Not sure if they have limitations on using it with smartphones, but I haven't seen any in the fine print on their site. And, of course, it's best if you confirm that T-Mobile has adequate coverage in your area, as their signal availability varies quite a bit around the country.
 
Try AirVoice Wirless, they are an at&t MVNO so you use at&t's 3G network for connectivity so you don't need an unlocked phone, an at&t locked iPhone will work just fine. Their cheapest plan is $10/mo that includes 250min or 500texts or 150MB of data or any combination of those. Money is subtracted at 4c/min, 2c/text, and 6.6c/MB data.
 
Ensyed said:
Ok. Thanks. That really sucks. US Customers get gipped.
Click to expand...
It's "gypped" and it is a racial slur against gypsies, which if you are from Europe you know are an ethnic group that the white europeans have heavily persecuted.

Try picking a less offensive term next time, ok?
 
JulesJam said:
It's "gypped" and it is a racial slur against gypsies, which if you are from Europe you know are an ethnic group that the white europeans have heavily persecuted.

Try picking a less offensive term next time, ok?
Click to expand...

Better not say "rip off" anymore either.
 
Is there a prepaid minimalist plan for an iPhone

IrishVixen said:
T-Mobile's pay as you go setup might work, if you really don't use the phone for anything other than emergencies:



http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/pay-as-you-go



$3 a month gets you 30 minutes of calls or 30 texts. Additional calls are billed at .10 a minute. There are addition pay as you go fees for data, if needed. They also have pay by the day plans on that same page, where you only pay on the days you actually use.



Not sure if they have limitations on using it with smartphones, but I haven't seen any in the fine print on their site. And, of course, it's best if you confirm that T-Mobile has adequate coverage in your area, as their signal availability varies quite a bit around the country.
Click to expand...


He/She could use this and use something like magic jack to make personal casks so the 30 minutes don't run out. I believe the $30 plan is unlimited data so it should work out for him/her.

$30 per month - Unlimited web and text with 100 minutes talk

100 minutes talk | Unlimited text | First 5GB at up to 4G speeds

Includes unlimited international texting from the U.S. to virtually anywhere included in your plan — at no extra charge.

This plan is only available for devices purchased from Wal-Mart or devices activated on T-Mobile.com.
Click to expand...
 
Pay-go options for LTE phones are limited; GoPhone offers it I believe, but it is relatively expensive.

With an iPhone 4s or older you have more, and cheaper, options with the VZW MVNOs.
 
If you have an unlocked phone or can get Apple to unlock it somehow (I don't know exactly how this works) you can possible take it to one of the MVNO carriers like Boost, MetroPCS, Cricket etc. They offer some plans for unlimited everything for around $50/mo. They require GSM devices though as far as I know.
 
cmdrdredd said:
If you have an unlocked phone or can get Apple to unlock it somehow (I don't know exactly how this works) you can possible take it to one of the MVNO carriers like Boost, MetroPCS, Cricket etc. They offer some plans for unlimited everything for around $50/mo. They require GSM devices though as far as I know.
Click to expand...

cricket = AT&T (gsm after take over)
metro = tmo (gsm)

boost and virgin are sprint prepaid carriers and require sprint phones
i heard they won't even activate used phones on sprint and you need to buy an actual boost phone



the walmart $30 plan is great. you even get unlimited music streaming with it

music streaming isn't available on metro pcs, even though its a t-mobile brand

be careful about buying cricket phones, legacy cricket iPhones are CDMA and they are not unlocking these, and the CDMA network is in the process of being shutdown. where as the post AT&T cricket iPhones are GSM and can be unlocked

wamart deal
---
u need to go to walmart.com and buy the $35 starter kit
you get 100 minutes of talk + unlimited messages + 5 gb of data and music freedom for $30
thers a way to get this with a $6 amazon sim card, but you still have to pay $30 to activate it

this months stats
---
tmoble data used = 4.24 gb


iPhone says
5.7 gigs used

music 1.2 gigs
wwe 2.8 gb
system services 1.1 gb
misc 552 mb ( this is Facebook, safari ,mail , speedtest, etc)

so there is definitely 1.2 gigs of music i am streaming that does not go against my cap
 
Last edited:
Well the wearable t-mobile plan with unlimited texting and calling for 15$ is much better it comes with ulimited data with 500 mb of high speed data.
 
You might try Ting if they're available in your area. It looks like you could get a plan for $15 a month. Supposedly GSM (AT&T) devices will be accepted starting in February. For now it's Sprint phones only.
 
Newtons Apple said:
You will need to have a data plan for the iPhone if you were in the USA. Not sure about your area. I would call your carrier and ask what the cheapest plan they got. $100 would not last long here.
Click to expand...


This is false. Att has plans that are text and talk only. No data needed. There are others as well.
 
617aircav said:
This is false. Att has plans that are text and talk only. No data needed. There are others as well.
Click to expand...

If using a smartphone, ATT's official stance is that you must have a data plan to go with it. I can say that they will automatically add a plan into post paid accounts without data on them when an iPhone is detected. How long that detection takes can vary, though it may have gotten more strict over the years. I have no idea how they handle pre paid, though I assume it would end up being similar and the system eventually switches the user to the plan with data.
 
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