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Any way to get iphone 3G w/o data for REASONABLE?

W

WannaApple?

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 9, 2008
629
70
My daughter wants an iphone for her 16th birthday, however not only can I not afford another $30 data plan, she doesn't need it. I told her once she has a job and can pay the $30 data plan, I'll add it on, but the main thing now is she needs a new cell and rather than carry a cheap cell and ipod, she would like to have one device that she can call, text, play games, listen to music and use the internet at hotspots with.

I've looked on ebay and craigslist and it just seems like everyone is selling unlocked and jailbroken phones for $$$. I am already with AT&T and dont need the phone unlocked. I just want a reasonably priced phone without the data.

Please dont tell me to get an ipod touch because she already has an ipod and a cell phone and that defeats the purpose of consolidating a phone and ipod into one device. I also already have Edge/3G data blocked on her existing phone, so Im not worried about data usage.

Is there anyway (sneakily or not :p ) to get an iphone for approx. less than $200 without the data plan?
 
What's the advantage of an iPhone that doesn't have a dataplan.

do you think the likelihood of her hounding you to "upgrade" to a data plan shortly after giving her the phone?

While there are threads here detailing how it could possibly work, there is a risk (small) that ATT will notice and automatically add the data plan or worse, your daughter continually hounding you for it, especially when her friends probably have an iPhone with the data plan.

Just food for thought.
 
Technically it can be done. You initially have to add the data plan, you can later tell them you're not using the iphone any more and there are posts that explain how to do this... but if they notice it they will add the data back on, so it's still a risk.

Personally, if you can't afford the data plan, I'd just tell her she can wait to get an iphone until she gets a job and can afford to pay for it herself.
 
Buy another AT&T phone that has a MP3 player built in, iPhone isn't an iPhone without the data plan.

There are plenty of MP3 phones offered by AT&T that don't need data plans.
 
maflynn said:
What's the advantage of an iPhone that doesn't have a dataplan.

do you think the likelihood of her hounding you to "upgrade" to a data plan shortly after giving her the phone?

While there are threads here detailing how it could possibly work, there is a risk (small) that ATT will notice and automatically add the data plan or worse, your daughter continually hounding you for it, especially when her friends probably have an iPhone with the data plan.

Just food for thought.
Click to expand...

Im not worried about the hounding. My dd knows that she will not get a data plan until she can pay for it and none of her friends have an iphone.

I explained the purpose of an iphone without a data plan in my first post. There is no reason to have to carry multiple devices when one can do it all, only without one special feature. She doesnt need the internet when not at home, or in a wifi hotspot, she doesnt need visual voicemail and doesnt need to send MMS, however she does want a cell phone, ipod, text msg device, games and other fun and useful apps in one device.

I just want to know if anyone has any tricks or sources to get one without paying for a crazy priced unlocked one on ebay.
 
WannaApple? said:
I just want to know if anyone has any tricks or sources to get one without paying for a crazy priced unlocked one on ebay.
Click to expand...

You can get a 2G, which are ALL unlockable, for much less, and without the dataplan it will do just fine. Plus it will work with Tmobile much better and they might not require a data plan. I also think their dataplans are much cheaper, so SHE can afford it more easily. Both ATT and TM have favs so being on different networks won't be expensive.
 
Your only options are to get a 2G one on ebay which can be found for around that price. Or get it from AT&T. You'll have to add the data package, and then take it off.

No other tricks to get one for $200 :\
 
What is wrong with you people... what is so bad about wanting an iPhone without the data? It's easily the best iPod, text messaging and gaming device with a phone in it.

So somebody doesn't NEED data but they'd like a phone and iPod in one device... is that so bad?

Give this guy a break you guys.
 
lol i love when people try to use the "needs to consolidate phone + mp3 player" excuse. especially for 16 year old girls who generally carry their entire bathroom with them. do you seriously think they're going to have problems carrying two devices?
 
darngooddesign said:
You can get a 2G, which are ALL unlockable, for much less, and without the dataplan it will do just fine. Plus it will work with Tmobile much better and they might not require a data plan. I also think their dataplans are much cheaper, so SHE can afford it more easily. Both ATT and TM have favs so being on different networks won't be expensive.
Click to expand...

You CAN do a 2g, but be careful; AT&T WILL flag it. I had an iPhone 2G that I was using as an iPod touch. After the 3.0 update I was itching to give it a shot as a phone again for a bit (I was using a Symbian phone for a while.) I unlocked it because I didn't feel like going through the hassle of changing my data plan, since it would have meant calling AT&T and flipping between the original iPhone plan and the 3G data plan every time I swapped my phones.

AT&T flagged my iPhone and basically shut down my data service even though I was paying for the higher priced plan! After a few confused phone calls with customer service, I wound up reactivating the Nokia and dropping the iPhone back to an iPod Touch because it was too much of a hassle.

Beware: AT&T knows IMMEDIATELY what phone you have on their network, and they will take action if you don't have a data plan.

Best bet is to unlock an iPhone and use a go-phone so they can't change your data plan on the fly.
 
I'd like to echo the comment above. I am currently using an iPhone without a data plan and it really isn't the torturous scenario some make it out to be. everyones needs are different and for some of us the iPhone is still a perfectly capable device without a data plan.

that said, it's a headache to convince a lot of people of that, especially phone companies! fortunately in Canada fido sells 3g iPhones without data if you request it for $50 extra. would be nice if more companies did that, as dataless customers to start may always decide to pick up data later on during their contract.
 
If TMobile will let you run an iPhone without the data plan and you can be eachother's favs, so calls are free, it makes the most sense to get a 2G and do that.

Of course when she can afford the data plan she may not be happy with edge speeds, but at that point you can sell the 2G and pick up which ever $99 iPhone Apple offers.
 
stevemiller said:
I'd like to echo the comment above. I am currently using an iPhone without a data plan and it really isn't the torturous scenario some make it out to be. everyones needs are different and for some of us the iPhone is still a perfectly capable device without a data plan.

that said, it's a headache to convince a lot of people of that, especially phone companies! fortunately in Canada fido sells 3g iPhones without data if you request it for $50 extra. would be nice if more companies did that, as dataless customers to start may always decide to pick up data later on during their contract.
Click to expand...

i don't know what you're talking about. fido most definitely does not do that.
 
What about this? I have a 8gb 3G that i'm going to sell to a friend, she is in college and still under her mom's plan and her mom will not pay for an iphone plan. Can she just still her card in and it work, (she currently has a blackjack with no data plan) is there a way to disable the data so she wont get charged?

For all you that like to comment about the obvious:
She can not afford a plan on her on
She's really excited and hopes it works bc its still great to have a phone, ipod, and access the internet with wifi

btw its not jailbroken
 
my friend has att and he when he popped in his unlocked/jailbroken iphone 3g, his account showed that he has an iphone and he got flagged... meaning they will put the data plan on there. If you were on tmobile it would be a different story since you can just get a regular phone and pop in the sim w/o data plan...
 
jsupetran said:
my friend has att and he when he popped in his unlocked/jailbroken iphone 3g, his account showed that he has an iphone and he got flagged... meaning they will put the data plan on there. If you were on tmobile it would be a different story since you can just get a regular phone and pop in the sim w/o data plan...
Click to expand...

Doesn't mean they'll do anything about it.

Mine says I'm using an iPhone 3G too, but they haven't cared yet.
 
Do What i did!

I'll walk you through all the steps. In the end i resulted with a 16gb 3g, no data plan, and only 220 coming out of my wallet.

1. First you are going to have your daughter get a data block on her cell phone, if she does not already have one. Call ATT and and just have them add a data block to that number, so you won't get hit with a huge bill.

2. Find an iphone! What i did was looked around on craigslist for a while. I eventually ended up posting an add saying i wanted an iphone 3g for 200. i got 5 emails within the first hour! If you have cash, people are willing to sell cheap.

3. Meet the person, do the exchange. You can also try to work them down in price. My guy orgiganally said 250, but i worked him down to 200. I paid the extra 20 because he came to me.

4. Next step. ( Make sure the phone is already activated) Put her simcard in the iphone and your good to go! Again, make sure you have a data block, because the iphone will look for data without you being on the phone.

And that's it! Good Luck!
 
Correct Answer

The correct answer is neither you nor she can afford an iPhone at this time.

Get a regular nokia-type phone for the time being and avoid the headache of craigslist, switching, the expense, blocking and lying.
 
I disagree that that's the correct answer.

I'm siding with TheSpaz on this one. It's not a great thing to carry around a phone AND an iPod Touch. Also, many don't need data. For instance, I'm working from home right now and not doing much else except running to a store. I don't need to pay $30 a month when I'm on wifi 24/7.
 
I am with Rogers in Canada when i signed up (when 3G 8gig was 199$) I said i wanted the iphone but no data (I didnt want to pay 30$ for 1 gig of data) the CSR said ok and i got the iphone without the data plan.

I had
my fav 5 +5 (10 people i could call text mms for free)
caller id
2500 out/unlimited in texts
100 weekday
1000 eve/weekends
500 incomming

my bill was about 55$ a month sometimes less.

hope that helps somewhat, just tell them its for your daughters 16th and she doesnt need data.
 
Seriously, an iPhone without a data plan just sucks. Than you better get a cheap phone which is also able to play music.
 
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