Prepaid Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

iPhone 5 comes to Walmart's prepaid Straight Talk plans Jan. 11

by Randy Nelson (Jan 8th, 2013)

Giga-retailer Walmart made waves this holiday season by offering the iPhone 5 for well below its suggested retail price. Now it's going to start offering Apple's top-of-the-line smartphone unlocked and on prepaid Straight Talk plans beginning January 11. The iPhone 5 will cost US$649 in a 16 GB ...

You're the Pundit: Buy now or wait?

by Erica Sadun (Jul 3rd, 2012)

When it comes to evaluating the next big thing, we turn to our secret weapon: the TUAW braintrust. We put the question to you and let you have your go at it. Today's topic is purchase timing. WWDC has come and gone, and no one doubts that this is an excellent time to stock up on refreshed ...

Cricket prepaid iPhone sales begin today

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jun 25th, 2012)

Today is the day that prepaid wireless carrier Cricket starts selling the iPhone without a contract. According to a CNET report, customers were lining up to buy the 8 GB iPhone 4 and the 16 GB iPhone 4S which were available for US$399 and $499, respectively. The phones include a $55 monthly ...

Dear Aunt TUAW: Can I switch to Virgin Mobile on my iPhone 4?

by Erica Sadun (Jun 7th, 2012)

Dear Aunt TUAW, Will my AT&T iPhone 4 work on Virgin's no contract plans announced today? Your loving nephew, Dan Dear Dan, Unfortunately, it would appear not. Virgin is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) for Sprint. Virgin uses Sprint's network infrastructure to provide ...

High carrier subsidies affect iPhone sales in parts of Europe

by Kelly Hodgkins (Feb 27th, 2012)

Apple has a problem with iPhone sales in select European countries, says a recent Wall Street Journal report. The problem isn't with the hardware or even distribution, but pricing and carrier subsidies. In the US, the iPhone is affordable to many people because the carrier foots the bill for the ...

iPhone 5 appears temporarily on Cincinnati Bell website (Updated)

by Steven Sande (Oct 1st, 2011)

TUAW reader Cory L. sent us an image today that he had captured from his web browser while perusing the i-Wireless prepaid cell phone section of the Cincinnati Bell website. The screenshot shows a placeholder for an iPhone 5 with no image and no "Add to basket" purchase button. A quick look ...

Prepaid iPhone in the works? Tim Cook's comments paraphrased and interpreted

by Chris Ward (Mar 1st, 2011)

Apple's Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook, recently spoke with Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi about Apple's possible plans to introduce cheaper or prepaid iPhones. While Sacconaghi didn't give any exact quotes, he paraphrased a few of Cook's thoughts. "Tim stopped short of explicitly ...

T-Mobile stops offering prepaid Sidekick data service to unlocked iPhone users

by Joachim Bean (Aug 11th, 2009)

Over the past week, some T-Mobile iPhone customers noticed that their data service suddenly stopped working. Users with unlocked iPhones had been paying $1 a day for unlimited data and text messaging using the Sidekick data plan. It was a great value. Customers who contacted T-Mobile support ...

Best iPhone cellular plan... ever?

by Kevin Harter (Aug 9th, 2009)

I like to joke that "Iowa is a great place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit." Residents often complain that there's nothing to do (other than milk cows and shuck corn). One can only stand so much antiquing. But we do have a few things going for us: clean air, relatively light traffic, lots of ...

iPhone + Disposable Cellphone + Prepaid Cards + New Activation Tool = Holy Cow

by Erica Sadun (Jul 18th, 2007)

Holy cow. Those guys at fusion.osx86.hu/#iphone are geniuses. Late yesterday, I downloaded a copy of iASign, their new iPhone activation tool. Right now, at this second, my iPhone just made its first call using the SIM from my disposable Cingular phone with its $10 card. After, I dialed *777# and ...

Prepaid iPhone in a Nutshell

by Erica Sadun (Jul 1st, 2007)

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 ...

Maybe a contract-free iPhone is NOT out of the question

by Erica Sadun (Jun 6th, 2007)

Yes, the commercials say "2 Year Activation". Yes, I said that it looked like prepaid options were out of the picture. This came a few weeks after after we had heard rumors about prepaid iPhone codes. This evening, Christopher Price over at Phone News dropped me a note and we briefly chatted back ...

Rumors: iPhone with Prepaid service

by Erica Sadun (May 23rd, 2007)

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 ...