Prepaid iPhone in a Nutshell
After spending far too many hours trying to set up pre-paid iPhone directly with AT&T, I decided to take matters into my own hands this evening. Instead of trying to connect my newly provisioned AT&T account, I iSigned up using iTunes and entered 999-99-9999 as my social security number (as recommended by one of the more clueful AT&T people).
Of course, this failed the credit check and I was offered the prepaid plan. I selected it, agreed to the terms, and pretty much 1-2-3, I was put into the activation queue. At this time, I'm getting the "Your activation requires additional time to complete"/"You will receive an email confirmation", but my iBrick has taken some major steps forward in its uselessness.
Gallery: iPhone Prepaid Gallery
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Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)
mike said 11:16PM on 7-01-2007
ok so for those of us who have Verizon but don't want AT&T... we could technically get an iPhone from craigslist from someone who bought two for cheap...
Activate it via prepaid and have a sweet ipod with wifi? while not using the phone portion of it?
Is this correct?
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alek said 11:32PM on 7-01-2007
seriously, FUCK you True. If you don't like it, don't fucking reply to an article about it! some people aren't rich fucking assholes like you!
please go fuck yourself. thank you.
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Tony Ward said 11:40PM on 7-01-2007
First of all, "Language, people!" What if my kids log in?
Second, I'm just curious: Is this technically falsifying your SSN? Is this legal? I just don't want all you wonderful Mac-buddies pounced on by the Feds...
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moabfireball said 11:40PM on 7-01-2007
@Muzz: you'll probably have to wait for somebody to figure out how to unlock the carrier locking.
@mike: it looks like it, but you'll probably have to pay for a month of pre-paid ($49.95 + tax). unless if you don't use it, they might or might not refund that? unsure baout that part. it doesn't look like the iphone becomes an ibrick if you don't pay for at&t service... so far
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rob said 11:47PM on 7-01-2007
So can someone provide firsthand confirmation that they have successfully done ALL of the following? (especially #4...)
(1)-activated their iphone via 999-99-9999 and selected a prepaid plan (e.g. $50/month)
(2)-immediately canceled the prepaid plan (without even making a call)
(3)-got their $50 refunded from AT&T
(4)-continue to use the iphone for music, videos, calendar syncing, and wifi browsing?
Thx
rob
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Rubbinz said 11:46PM on 7-01-2007
@ Tony Ward,
No it's not falsifying information, you can also follow other routes to get pre-paid. If you know you'll be denied a contract, you can enter your info and wait to be offered the option. You can ask for it in an AT&T store, or on the phone, the should offer it if you ask. Keep in mind that intelligence with AT&T employees varies widely. They don't run a clean educated staff like Apple Stores or Applecare.
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Chris P. said 12:22AM on 7-02-2007
I've now tried twice, actually thrice, to get the Pre-Paid plan to work. The problem is that each time I try, I get the "Please call at&t' email with my ticket number. When I call they say "Did you mean to get a Post-Paid, i.e. normal account ?" I say "no" b/c I'm an int'l student and can only have a GoPhone plan. Then they tell me to go to the at&t store to get a Pay as You Go plan or place a deposit.
I just want a Pay - As - You - Go plan and that's it. I'll try the at&t store by my job tomorrow. Hopefully things will work out. If not, I'm just returning it and getting my $490 back.
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JOHN P. said 12:43PM on 7-02-2007
Now question if you get an iphone and u get it prepaid after u activate can u change ur plan from ur regular att phone and use the iphone with a non prepaid sim car that u had on ur old phone?
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djscott said 1:41AM on 7-02-2007
Sounds good so far. Looking forward to the update: Final cost, any limitations in services, etc.
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Timmo said 2:07AM on 7-02-2007
How does it work with txt messaging? Is each txt message worth a minute?
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jc said 3:33AM on 7-02-2007
I was forced to go prepaid as well because apparantly my credit isnt good enough for their 2 year contract. To me, this is beyond bizarre... they arent subsidizing my phone, but they want to force people into a horrible contract that they'll charge you 175 dollar to cancel. However, I'm not qualified to get screwed since my credit isnt good enough. Thats nice of them.
Anyways, like Drnkusv, after every call I get that stupid account balance message. I need to turn that shit off since the stupid message keeps turning the screen back on every 30 minutes and messes up the battery life.
Anyone know any ways?
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artifex said 3:48AM on 7-02-2007
Scott, I think the Go phone accounts may allow what you're looking for.
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Fabio P said 4:01AM on 7-02-2007
Okey, here's my Situation:
i have a creditcard, but from switzerland, so it wont work with some US-services. i also have no SSN (expect the 999...), i also dont have an US-iTunes account with a creditcard, only a swiss-iTunes Account.
so, could i buy an iPhone, activate it with the prepaid plan, and then quit the "contract" and just use it as a 8GB iPod?
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Rob said 8:38AM on 7-02-2007
#33 -- It sounds like you want an iPhone without the phone. Face it Apple and AT&T do NOT want you to use the iPhone without the Phone.
I ALSO would like to see Apple sell an iPhone like device without the phone. I would like to surf the internet using WiFi, play music etc. The demand for such a device would be extremely high.
But from a business point pf view, any device with a monthly fee will be MORE profitable in the long run. And don't kid yourself. I am sure Apple is also getting a cut of the monthly fee that AT&T is collecting.
Apple will eventually release a 6th Generation iPod with a big touch screen. But you will have to wait just like me (especially if you don't live in the US).
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Aaron said 11:15AM on 7-02-2007
These screens don't mention text messages. I wonder what the cost is for that as well. I'm not sure how much money I can save doing prepaid with these plans since the lowest 2-year iPhone plan is close in price and has more included items. Taxes and fees would be a big part of my decision to do this.
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Brett said 12:21PM on 7-02-2007
I have the pre-paid plan, and every time after a call or sms I get an alert on the screen as to what the last call cost, and what my remaining balance is. This is a minor annoyance, does anyone know how to turn these alerts off?
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Brett said 12:26PM on 7-02-2007
Just noticed I had the same question as #31.
As far as the individual cost for SMS messages (I didn't include them in plan) it's $0.15 each.
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Andrew Harden said 2:02PM on 7-02-2007
How many text messages do the prepaid plans come with? It doesn't seem like they have any. Can you add unlimited text as an option?
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mathmonkey said 2:07PM on 7-02-2007
With unlimited data can't you just use a web-based AIM client instead of using SMS?
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txter said 4:17PM on 7-02-2007
To the people who have tried the plan,
Do you know if you get txt messages, because it doesn't say anything about txt
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