Rumors: iPhone with Prepaid service
So would an iPhone that you could buy outright with prepaid service appeal to you? If priced attractively, would it make the difference in your buying decision? BoyGeniusReport has tracked down some curious iPhone codes: "We can infer from the 3 codes received that the iPhone will be available to...postpaid users...[S]ince the masters of prepaid can purchase these, anyone will be able to snatch one up, whether they are in contract or not." Of course, we have no idea how much these plans will cost and what the final cost of phone + plan will turn out to be but surely the idea of a contract-free iPhone is appealing, right? Electronista thinks AT&T may have reconsidered it's in-network-only stance.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ThunkDifferent.com said 5:36PM on 5-23-2007
This would be great! I know with a Blackberry the data plan is really a killer as some months you need it, and some you do not. A prepaid service could also open the door to renting, somehow, i think...
http://ThunkDifferent.com
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iJavaJoe said 5:48PM on 5-23-2007
I would consider the iPhone if I could do a prepaid plan. I have a "virgin moble" phone. I don't use the phone very often so this works GREAT for me. I've considered a "GO Phone" from ATT but have stayed with what I have. Now, if the iPhone has the pay as you go plan, it may just be time to make a change!
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Donald Burr said 6:15PM on 5-23-2007
A long time ago, back when my credit was not good enough to establish a regular cell phone plan without an obscenely high deposit, I was looking around at prepaid plans. Most of them only let you choose from a couple of (usually craptacular) generic phones. However I remember that Cingular said basically that you could buy any phone, they didn't care. I'd really wanted a T68i since it had Bluetooth and could control my Mac using the newly-released Sony-Ericsson Clicker (recently renamed to Salling Clicker). Of course I had to pay the full non-subsidized price for it, but I was able to get the T68i on a prepaid plan. They even unlocked it for me at some point, as when T-Mobile would finally take me without any sort of deposit at all, I was able to use my T68i with my new T-Mobile SIM card.
Let's hope that the (post-Cingular merger) AT&T keeps this policy. The only thing that's making me leery of purchasing an iPhone now is that I don't want to ditch my current carrier; as I have several family members on a family plan, I don't want to leave everybody twisting in the wind. But, if I could get a prepaid iPhone, it would make an excellent toy^H^H^Hbackup phone.
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derek said 6:16PM on 5-23-2007
so why is it that the Apple Weblog posted this AFTER all the other blogs?????
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Tom said 6:28PM on 5-23-2007
Either way, I really hope the data plans aren't ridiculously expensive. They really rape you on those, and there's no reason to.
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Donald Burr said 6:37PM on 5-23-2007
I'm also wondering if the hypothetical prepaid iPhone, if it will indeed become a reality, can be purchased without a data plan.
AFAIK, Cingular (maybe AT&T too?) does not have a prepaid data plan of any sort - prepaid phone users just can't use any data services, period. This may have changed tho, as I haven't done the great cell phone carrier research survey in a while now.
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am said 7:51PM on 5-23-2007
i think the big story here, if this turns out to be real, is that if you get the iPhone on a pre-paid plan, you will be able to unlock it and use it with another GSM provider (t-mobile) without ever signing a contract with Cingular. this would make sense for Apple, as it will be much easier for them to sell these pre-paid in the Apple Store rather than go through the rigamarole of requisitioning new Cingular phone numbers at the store, setting up accounts, etc.
i would predict that within a couple days of the iPhone being made available, instructions for unlocking will be posted by someone, and a flood of pre-paid iPhone sales will follow.
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Steve said 8:24PM on 5-23-2007
#7 - that's all good in theory, however, since day one of the iPhone announcement it's always been "2-year exclusivity ONLY on Cingular/AT&T." No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Much as we all would like to speculate about this, do you really think AT&T is going to piss off Apple (or, vice versa) and renege on this commitment?
Of course, when iPhone V2.0 or an entirely different model in the iPhone "family" comes out, Apple could make this available on other carriers while the original iPhone remains in its 2-year contract cycle.
Obviously, everyone would like the freedom to switch out SIM cards and carriers, there's just really no concrete evidence that this is going to happen in the foreseeable future.
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Ozbone said 8:37PM on 5-23-2007
Definitely! That could work out very nicely for me.
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Rubbinz said 12:57AM on 5-24-2007
Why is this a surprise? It's a known fact that various states require by law that a carrier also sell their phones without a contract subsidy.
What you could read into this is that the on contract price will be cheaper that the announced price. Thus, much more attractive for people that were put off by the $599 price tag.
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diegomcnamara said 2:06AM on 5-24-2007
AT&T would benefit greatly by considering the prepaid route - the ones that are on the fence regarding the price of the phone, the monthly data rates and plan, could possibly go for the phone. Of course, the phone will still cost a bundle, but not having to commit to a two-year 90 dollar a month contract by going prepaid will be a great move for everyone involved.
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