Filed under: iPhone
Data-only iPhone plan for $20/month
Many months ago, I wrote about adding data packages to AT&T Pay As You Go accounts. I had hacktivated my iPhone to use the PAYG SIM to see how long it took to go through an entire 5MB data feature package. Answer? A few minutes. In case you don't see where I'm going with this, let me add that I just got off the phone with AT&T a few seconds ago. They have now officially added a new feature data package: for $19.95 you get unlimited data for 30 days.
The way this works is as follows. You go to an AT&T store and buy a $100 prepaid SIM. This SIM is good for one year of use. You get a phone number, you get $100 of credit. Calls cost you either $0.25/minute or $1/day of use plus $0.10/minute. You pick which one when you set up the account.
Read on for the rest of the details.
Next, you hacktivate your iPhone. iLiberty+ or any of the other tools out there allow you to stick in an AT&T SIM and activate the phone. This is not unlocking; this is adding authorization files directly to the phone. Your iPhone's modem remains unaffected and pristine.
Finally, you call 611 and enter the new phone number and your PIN. Tell the mechanical lady that you want to "Buy Features" and when she asks, "Data Packages". Choose the Unlimited MediaNet option. This costs $19.95 against that already-purchased $100 amount, and you're good for an entire month of unlimited data use.
What are the drawbacks? First, you *must* watch your dates and times carefully. When you go past your 30 days, you start paying at the outrageous standard data rate of $10/MB. Read that again. If you use the iPhone without the data-plan functioning, you might spend $20 to view a 2MB picture of a dog -- the way I did back in September.
Second, PAYG plans are not sanctioned by Apple. That means your non-AppleCare warranty coverage is practically non-existent. Caveat Emptor. It's not much worse than buying an iPod touch, but you will be SOL if you need any kind of Apple support.
Finally, if you plan to use data every single month, you'll need to keep adding money to your account every 5 months. The $100/one year arrangement only works until the money runs out. Make sure you're ready to re-fund that account as needed.
If you're willing to put up with all these negatives, you end up with a contract-free unlimited-data iPhone with the option of making calls for just $20/month or so. It's an amazing deal. You don't need a doctor's note. It works for both the hearing and hearing impaired alike. Just keep careful track of the plan and you're good to go.
Thanks, Anthony
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Frank Furter said 2:17PM on 5-12-2008
Sounds, uh, easy.(?)
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Richard said 4:48PM on 5-12-2008
now, how do I get out of my contract?
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DistortedLoop said 9:52AM on 5-13-2008
I read about this on another blog several days ago.
I have an unused 8gb iPhone and thought I'd give it a try. The other site only used a $25 SIM card to start the deal going, so that's what I did.
I ran into a few $ costing issues playing around with this, first was just to see what it would cost on the Go Plan to load a Safari page. Big mistake - I hadn't read Erica's previous post about this topic, so just to load www.apple.com, it took a $5.40 hit on the card's balance. Now there's not even enough on the original SIM balance to sign up for the $19.95 data without reloading.
Other "gotchya" dings: Further playing with the GoPhone, I used the iPhone's Settings/Phone/AT&T menu to have AT&T send me my balance and my minutes. These are supposedly "no charge" services, but they are not on the GoPhone's Pay As You Go plan. I got dinged another $0.15 for each of the two messages sent. And here's the real hoot - one of the two messages was a message saying "this feature is not supported on GoPhone plans"! LOL.
Then, every couple of minutes my iPhone kept popping up messages about "the last transaction cost you this amount of money". What was strange was that the phone was just sitting there on the table. I wasn't using any data service that I was aware of.
My advice to anyone wanting to try this - make sure you use one of the third party Settings apps like Boss Prefs to disable EDGE before you even put in the SIM card. No sense in wasting any money on phantom data checks before signing up for the plan.
I blew through about $8.00 in 5 minutes just by turning the phone on, loading one web page, and getting two "free" text messages.
Ah, one other warning. Erica says the $100 GoPhone card expires in one year. My $25 card expires in 3 months. They did not point that out to me until I had paid for it. LOL.
The difference may be that Erica went for the $1.00 per day plan, whereas I went for the no daily access fee plan ($0.25 per minute) since I will never use this second iPhone for voice calls.
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djfred said 10:17PM on 5-12-2008
Does "That means your non-AppleCare warranty coverage is practically non-existent" mean that AppleCare can be purchased and honored for unlocked iPhones?
I'm asking because I have one and was recently informed by my local Genius that they couldn't replace my defective headset because the unlocking voided the warranty.
(He replaced them anyway.)
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Erica Sadun said 2:34PM on 5-12-2008
The $25/$50/$100 time extensions are a standard part of the Pay as you Go. To get a year, you need to buy at least $100.
To add the data plan without using the phone directly, you can call 1-800-901-9878, enter the phone number and PIN. This may help save you from the frustration of using your minutes trying to set up the data plan itself.
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Blaktornado said 2:57PM on 5-12-2008
If only Apple would offer it for us.
Really, the only reason I'd replace my current phone for an iPhone is because of the browser but I don't want to be oppressed by having to pay a fixed amount for it each month unless it was something like £20 for the data, which I'd actually use.
What would be better is if Apple offered a data plan for the Touch. That would be nice.
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Michael said 3:07PM on 5-12-2008
If I'm currently on at&t prepaid for iphone(49/mo plan), how do I transition to this? Cancel my plan, call that #? Is it that simple?
Also what speeds are we expecting when 3g comes out? Anyone have a benchmark from their 3g phone as to current speeds?
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DistortedLoop said 4:14PM on 5-12-2008
Won't canceling your plan cost you a big chunk of change for the early termination fee? Do you want out at any expense. Also, beware, the GoPhone plan they may not let you port your number over to (they said they'd never done that at my local AT&T store - but were willing to try), and if you ever let it expire, you may not get the number back.
I've got no gripes with AT&T for my phone needs. This little loop-hole/hack is a nice option to put my otherwise dormant "spare" iPhone to some use.
Ben said 3:24PM on 5-12-2008
Great find Erica. I have been thinking of switching to T-Mobile $40 data-only; this is even cheaper.
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Erik said 3:24PM on 5-12-2008
"What are the drawbacks? First, you *must* watch your dates and times carefully. When you go past your 30 days, you start paying at the outrageous standard data rate of $10/MB. Read that again."
So what do you do after the first 30 days to avoid the $10/MB cost? Do you have to rebuy the Unlimited MediaNet option?
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Chris said 4:37PM on 5-12-2008
I got the dataplan two weeks ago. There is another drawback: I used to have the "1$ per day, all AT&T calls free" pre-paid option. It is important to know that using the data connection also costs this 1$ per day. So, if you only use the data connection and don't do any phone calls on one day. it costs you 1$. That means it costs you by default 50$ per months, if you chose that option (assuming you use the data connection everyday). That means, it is important to think about whether you gonna do phone calls everyday and for how long.
And as one other reader already mentioned: You get every couple minutes this "last transaction was 0.00$; your remaining..." popup, which is pretty annoying. Anyone knows how to deactivate that?
Third: I am only in the US for a couple of months and no carrier seems to offer contracts for shorter time frames than 12 months. (iPhone already available; only need SIM card + plan)
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Ed said 6:01PM on 5-12-2008
Hmm, you had me a little freaked out there for a bit but I just checked my account history and I see plenty of GPRS-days with no calls without a corresponding $1 fee appearing on the next day the way it does for days I do make calls. So I'm not sure why you're getting charged this fee. Are you sure you're not making calls on those days?
I do remember seeing the fee but that was when I didn't have a Media Net package.
Max said 11:27AM on 5-19-2008
Actually, if you can prove that you are no longer living in the country, most carriers will terminate your account without any fees
Ryan Karolak said 3:23PM on 5-19-2008
If you don't mind unlocking your phone T-Mobile offers a service called "Flex-Pay" in which you pre-pay your monthly bill. You can use Flex-Pay with any plan, including data. Only thing though is you'll have to go into a store and ask for it. If you call they'll ask to run your credit and may not offer it to you. In-Store you just tell them you want a flex-pay and tell them which plan you want. I did this with the Fav-5 300. Might be what you're looking for. Of course, if you want data you'll need to still pay the $40 for unlimited smartphone data... but no contract.
clogan said 5:24PM on 5-12-2008
wondering about existing at&t plans; can i unlock my iphone then just use the sim card from an existing account (with data,etc.) with it? sure would like to keep my number...
thx
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clogan said 5:41PM on 5-12-2008
just found my answer at macforums, apologies for the old question.
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ERT said 6:09PM on 5-12-2008
I WANT IT IN CZECH REPUBLIC!!!
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jwilliek said 10:48AM on 5-13-2008
Does anyone know:
Will AT&T Go-phone plans "auto-add" to keep adding the minimum amount of money to your account to keep it active for you or refill you when you run out? Or do you really have to monitor it manually. I only ask because I know other pre-paid plans (Virgin Mobile for example) automatically "tops you off" with the minimum to keep your pay-as-you-go active.
Similar question regarding the $19.99 Unlimited Media Net - do you have to call in and re-add that service to your account manually every month, or can I just have them hit my bank account automatically for the $19.99 and then however often I top off with $0.25 talk minutes?
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jwilliek said 9:58AM on 5-14-2008
ok - found what I was looking for.
You do have the option to sign up for auto-refill if you want to:
http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/7285/46530659sv8.png
will said 2:06PM on 5-13-2008
The US is very expensive compared the the UK.
I am on o2 'simplicity' which you pay monthly but can cancel at any time. So no lock-in.
For 25 UK pounds a month I get: 1) unlimited data; 2) 600 mins to any mobile/landline anytime; 3) 1000 texts
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