GET FETCH 5 FOR FREE! Fetch Softworks makes Fetch, the original
Macintosh FTP client, free for educational and charitable use.
Fetch 5.3 includes a new look and Leopard technology support.
Apply today at <http://fetchsoftworks.com/edapply>!

Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

rhrtox893 - 02:23pm Oct 11, 2007 PST

I may have discovered a solution to the high monthly costs from AT&T for the iPhone.

Last month I activated my brand new iPhone using iTunes. As noted earlier in TidBits, I was able to avoid the two year contract by entering 999-99-9999 for my social security number which failed my credit check and set me up to get a GoPhone account (Pick your Plan).

This plan cost me approximately $54/month ($20 for EDGE unlimited data service and $34 for 200 minutes $0.15/minute). Not a big savings over the $60/month standard service, but wait ...

After a couple of weeks of using my iPhone, which functioned perfectly, I took it to a Radio Shack store to ask if there was any way they could switch me to the "Pay as you Go" GoPhone package. The store representative said she thought she could do it, and after about 20 minutes, my iPhone is working WITHOUT any fixed monthly commitment.

I put $25 into the new account and got some credit for the unused portion of my "Pick your Plan" account. Now I have about $50 in the account, which expires December 28th (~90 days from purchase).

The account is debited EACH time I make a phone call, with a rate of $0.25/minute. The account is also debited each time I use EDGE for anything (checking email, getting stock prices, google maps, etc.) The charge for using EDGE seems to be based on the amount of data you download - $0.03/kb of data if I read it correctly.

As long as you have small emails, this amounts to a few cents for using EDGE network over "Pay as you Go". However a friend emailed me a few photos and I got a $5 bill for EDGE usage that way, so be careful how you use this feature.

This may be an alternative (cheaper) way to use your iPhone for folks like me, who like the convenience of having a cell phone with them, but don't spend much time talking on it.

PROBLEMS?: In some geographic areas I have found that I get a strong signal indicator (without the AT&T logo next to it) and in those cases I have been unable to make/receive calls or use the EDGE network. When I got home again, everything worked fine again.

I have a funny icon in the Icon Status bar right next to the battery icon. It looks like an upside down phone handset, with a row of four dots below it and another row of three dots below that. Don't know what this means, but I have seen no mention of this in Apple's description of status bar icons.

I am currently using Update 1.0.2. Have been afraid to try Update 1.1.1 for fear of losing my cheaper AT&T plan. Would be interested in advice on whether 1.1.1 might not function with the "Pay as you Go" plan.

Dick Reitz

Mark as Read

- Oct 12, 2007 5:21 am (#1 Total: 6)

Re: Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

> On Oct 11, 2007, at 4:23 PM, rhrtox893 wrote:
>
> I am currently using Update 1.0.2. Have been afraid to try Update
> 1.1.1 for fear of losing my cheaper AT&T plan. Would be interested
> in advice on whether 1.1.1 might not function with the "Pay as you
> Go" plan.
>

You may want to consider the 1.1.1 update for the main reason that
you can control the iPhone accessing the EDGE network to update the
weather and do checks in the background. This is what cost many
people extra dollars when going overseas and the 1.1.1 update gives
you the option under Settings, to control that. Otherwise, you may
find your Data costs much higher that you expect.

Ray

Lewis Butler (apparently) - Oct 12, 2007 5:21 am (#2 Total: 6)

via email

Posts: 1080

Re: Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

On 11-Oct-2007, at 15:23, rhrtox893 wrote:
> PROBLEMS?: In some geographic areas I have found that I get a
> strong signal indicator (without the AT&T logo next to it) and in
> those cases I have been unable to make/receive calls or use the
> EDGE network. When I got home again, everything worked fine again.

The Pay as you go plan probably does not include any roaming
capabilities. Well, that's my guess at least.

Andre L. - Oct 25, 2007 4:26 am (#3 Total: 6)

Posts: 1

Re: Using the iPhone with "pay as you go" from AT&T

I've been thinking about getting an iPhone but the price for the service was alot now its gone down to pick your plan deal. I want the pay as you go plan with the iPhone but the people at the att store said that it would not work with the pay as you go plan only the pick your plan. Now I see from browsing the Internet form viewing your post that you can get the pay as you go with the iPhone. I was told by a att customer service rep on the phone that the unlocked iPhones do work on the pay as you go plans and any other GSM Network plan out there. Is that true cause if it is I'll get the iphone. thank you for any post to answer this post.

Richard Johnson - Nov 19, 2007 10:43 am (#4 Total: 6)

Posts: 1

Re: Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

I just now happened to see your note. Let me tell you my experience, in case it's useful.

I purchased an iPhone with the intent of unlocking it so I could use it with my pay-as-you-go AT&T account. After bypassing the iTunes Activation by using the "3007" trick and web browsing to "jailbreakme.com", I found that my now-activated phone simply used my Cingular pay-as-you-go SIM with no problems! I've now been using it this way for a few weeks with no problems, voice and data also. It seems to me that you don't really even have to bypass the iTunes Activation if you don't want. You could use the SS# 999-99-9999 trick under iTunes to get a month-by-month Pick-your-plan account and then, since there's no 2 year contract with that, simply cancel it and insert your pay-as-you-go SIM instead. This is what I plan to do if my "jailbreakme.com" activation is ever suddenly broken by some update. I still have the original iPhone SIM which I could use for the month-by-month account and then just switch back to the pay-as-you-go SIM after activation again. Anyway, hope this helps! Remember, "unlock" is not necessary if you're using an AT&T SIM of any type.

Nirav - Jan 9, 2008 8:14 am (#5 Total: 6)

Posts: 1

Re: Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

can you show me how to do this and does all the widgets work?

Richard Johnson - Feb 8, 2008 5:01 am (#6 Total: 6)

Posts: 1

Re: Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

I just happened to see your post just now when browsing for other information.

If you have a version 1.1.1 iPhone, just follow the instructions for "jailbreaking" your phone, then install your Pay-as-you-go SIM. If you have a newer model phone, such as 1.1.2 or 1.1.3, the process is much more complicated but can still be done. Jailbreaking a 1.1.2 or 1.1.3 phone requires downgrading to 1.1.1, then jailbreaking, then installing Oktoprep in preparation for upgrading to 1.1.2, upgrading to 1.1.2, running the jailbreak.jar program to complete the upgrade, and finally following the very complex instructions for upgrading to 1.1.3, where there are various known "problems" but all have workarounds. If you have a new phone which was sold with 1.1.3, then you MUST upgrade it to 1.1.3 in order to use the phone capability, since that's the only thing which will work with the cell phone "baseband" firmware you have currently. (No, downgrading the baseband is so complicated that you basically can't do it, and it's impossible with the latest phones due to the version 4.6 bootloader on the phone.) If you have a 1.1.3 phone, just bite the bullet and go through all of the steps to get it to a jailbroken 1.1.3 and then you can use your Pay-as-you-go SIM.

TidBITS TidBITS TidBITS Talk Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

Using the iPhone with "Pay as you Go" from AT&T

Add a message