Pre Paid iPhone

[Carlos E]

Not really. For people who have limited phone use, going the pick your plan route with the cheapest plan (costing 50 bucks including unlimited data) is the best option. The cheapest plan on contract is 60 bucks and thats only if you are locked in for 2 years....2 years!!! With iPhone 2 coming out next year, why get locked into 2 when you can go pre-paid!

Again, its just a matter of what kinda usage you have. Heavy users should go the post-paid route and light users, the other way!

I barely use my cell phone. I only check voice mails and return calls. I am single, and not a big phone user. Now if I start dating someone and talk on the phone more, maybe I'll switch to a post paid account.

I'm thinking the latter. There has to be something that indicates that I do have good credit or that I have an SSN. The weird thing is that the normal service option information appears to show up before I even input my fudged SSN number, like as if it "knew".

This sucks @$$. I just wanna activate the damn thing.

Do you have your credit card attached to your iTunes account? Maybe iTunes is pulling your credit info from that. *shrug*

 

[GusR9]

I want to buy an iphone but i dont want a 2 years contract, i would be very happy just with the ipod and wifi so can I activate my iphone with prepaid and then cancel the account? how can i do that??
Can I use the functions like safari, ipod and everything else (except the phone of course)

 

[Carlos E]

I want to buy an iphone but i dont want a 2 years contract, i would be very happy just with the ipod and wifi so can I activate my iphone with prepaid and then cancel the account? how can i do that??
Can I use the functions like safari, ipod and everything else (except the phone of course)

I'd think so. Call Apple and ask. I'm sure AT&T will say no because they want your money.

I swapped the SIM card from my old phone into the iPhone and it said incorrect SIM and I could not make calls or use Edge. The rest of the functions worked including web browsing through Wi-Fi.

 

[GusR9]

Thanks man! If it works I'm going to buy an iphone as soon as possible!

 

[Fabrice252]

Yeah. But it still took me to the normal post-paid service and then told me it will send me an activation email. I then got an email 1 hour later telling me that I had to call at&t to call. So I called (basically, 2-3x already) and each time the person on the phone tells me that she doesn't have the authority to provide me the GoPhone option but to go to an at&t store and leave a deposit or try and convince them to let me have a GoPhone plan.

Erica sadun has just posted on tuaw, and apparently she managed to get it working: she says that one needs especially to NOT set it up with ATT beforehands...

 

[Navintar]

I want to buy an iphone but i dont want a 2 years contract, i would be very happy just with the ipod and wifi so can I activate my iphone with prepaid and then cancel the account? how can i do that??
Can I use the functions like safari, ipod and everything else (except the phone of course)

I'm sure you can definitely do that. You will need to PAY them $29 prepaid voice plan +$19 iphone data plan. I think once your account has been created you cannot get the $29 back but the $19 data plan can probably be refunded to you.

So +$29 on top of iphone cost isn't too bad for its functionality no? I'd say it's pretty worth it.

 

[Navintar]

ok guys


DO NOT

DO NOT


DO NOT

go the prepaid route if you're easily annoyed...

you'll be getting "the last transaction cost 0.00 USD. Your account balance is xx.xx USD every 5 or 10 minutes

it's unbearable...I'm figuring out what the hell i need to do to get a regular plan because this is just absurd

Like being said before. the message will pop up after you do something that changes the account balance. I'm far from getting annoyed by it. Mine rarely pops and whenever it does, it is for a reason so you know how much money you have left.

I'm glad I went with the prepaid plan. Now I'm paying less each month than when I was with my old phone.

 

[Cybergypsy]

I have good credit but wanted pre paid as i hardly ever use the phone, and i save 25.00 in taxs and fees on regular phone service...and i can cancel when the next iphone is released.....loving it ;0 ATT disabled the minute counter for me and loving it

 

[ITASOR]

What would happen if you activated it as pre-paid, cancelled it, and then added it to an existing AT&T plan...would you have to sign a 2 year contract still?

 

[Carlos E]

cancel when the next iphone is released.....loving it ;0 ATT disabled the minute counter for me and loving it

How did they do that? Did they do it physically in the store or can they do that on the phone?

 

[Enrico]

What would happen if you activated it as pre-paid, cancelled it, and then added it to an existing AT&T plan...would you have to sign a 2 year contract still?

It'll be nice to know that you can translate a prepaid into a contract and viceversa... (the latter paying early termination fee?)
At least, here in Europe we're allowed to...

 

[Navintar]

I have good credit but wanted pre paid as i hardly ever use the phone, and i save 25.00 in taxs and fees on regular phone service...and i can cancel when the next iphone is released.....loving it ;0 ATT disabled the minute counter for me and loving it

were you able to disable the minute counter by phone or you had to go to the store to do it? I'm actually fine with it but wouldn't mind having it turned off.

 

[bostonte]

What would happen if you activated it as pre-paid, cancelled it, and then added it to an existing AT&T plan...would you have to sign a 2 year contract still?

I suppose you could try, but it's highly doubtful.

Not only would it be against their previous policies (at least in my experience), but what are you going to do -- threaten to take your locked exclusive phone to another carrier?

When I returned from a year or so in Europe and Canada I went to AT&T to get an account for my unlocked phone. After the frustrating experience requiring me to have the rep put her sim in my phone to prove it would work on their network despite her never having seen the phone before, it turns out the only way to get a post paid plan was to sign for a minimum of one year.

I spoke to the store manager (corporate store) as well as customer care and this was confirmed. Minimum 1 year plus activation fee, even with "bring your own equipment" activation.

So rather than getting the activation fee and who knows how long of a very high voice plan out of me (2000+ minutes) without any subsidy, I went through the store and found the most subsidized phone and signed up with that -- popped the SIM and resold the phone. In my opinion they lost money on the deal -- but I guess they don't care since they get commission for contract activations.

The only carrier that I know of that allows post paid no contract new activations is Verizon -- and that's only after a lot of complaining and requiring the choice of an unadvertised plan without "promotions" (unlimited mobile to mobile and nights and weekends count as promotions). Something like $34.99 for 400 anytime and that's it.

I would bet even if AT&T now allows no-contract bring your own equipment, it would be on similar terms -- and the iPhone plans would count as a "contract only promotion".

What's wrong with the "Pick your plan" if you don't want the contract? The rates really don't seem that bad for the trade off of no contract (if that's so important to you). (Not trying to troll, just curious...) I always have a contract someplace, so I just signed for the two years and will pay the ETF if and when need be -- such is life.

 

[Fabrice252]

I did it the same way as Iphoneplan, got the same answer, had to ring ATT, they asked me my SSN, told them I did not have one, they told me that I could not have a postpaid thingy, I told them that I was hoping that they could offer me a prepaid, she said "you sure can", she gave me a number which is apparently the new ATT wireless virtual sales center, there they gave me my number, a plan, and are sending me a new sim for this monday, which I will have to activate.

Pretty smooth... (So far )

 

[Navintar]

balance notification and iphone bug

One thing I just found out about the balance notification thing is that it makes you unable to receive call!

When the message pops and If you don't press "Dismiss" before iphone goes to lock mode, you will not be able to pick up calls by sliding your finger across the screen. The phone will simply be unresponsive.

This is one serious bug, on top of how annoying these message will be. I have to admit it is slowly getting on my nerve. I'd appreciate if anyone find a workaround this.

....... It is ironic how apple tries to make user experience as close to perfect as possible, yet the service from ATT seems to works against it.......

This pop up message reminds me of how apple mocks window vista security check in their commercial.

 

[mjs975s]

This is VERY important for anyone on the prepaid plan. This is not stated anywhere that I can find but discovered it today and confirmed by AT&T and Apple. The iPhone data plan on prepaid does NOT include the 200 text messages. You have to pay an extra $4.99/month if you want these or 15 cents each! No where do I remember that being stated in the agreement during the iPhone activation in iTunes. In fact, all I remember is that it was presented as regardless of your voice plan, the $20 data plan for EDGE, Visual VM, and 200 text messages was standard for any iPhone activation - please be aware this again is NOT the case for prepaid. AT&T sticks it to you with less any time minutes, less N&W minutes, and no mobile to mobile when you get the equivalent prepaid voice package and then sticks it to you again when it comes to the data plan. When calling about this discrepancy, AT&T was very hostile and rude saying that the iPhone should have never been allowed to be activated with a prepaid plan (funny considering it's a built in option in the iTunes activation) while Apple apologized profusely for any confusion and offered to escalate the complaint about the misleading nature of the activation process after checking and double checking if this was indeed correct.

Now, as for the annoying "nag message" as I like to call it... in a conference call with Apple and AT&T tech support yesterday, both sides stated they were aware of what an annoyance this message was and conceeded it was the #1 complaint of prepaid subscribers and that they were actively working on a solution that would be released soon. Of course with the slew of weasle words used, there is no telling when or what the solution will be.

 

[sting0r]

Can someone help me with the prepaid plan. I have seen posts saying it doesn't work anymore. I tried to do this, I basically went through the registration process, go the screen where I had to select a plan, so I selected the 59.99 plan, then go the screen where it asked me to login in to my apple.com account, I didn't and set something new up, typed in all the info with the 999-99-9999 social, I used my real address, click next and it said checking address, it asked me if that was my address, I said yes, then it took me to a screen where i needed accept my itunes account I did, then it took me to a screen where it asked me to accept AT&T terms, which I didn't....

Basically when in the process would it have told me invalid info and to pick a plan? I thought right after the screen where you enter your social right???

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

 

[tylerdw89]

You have to accept the terms first, then it will do the check.

 

[1994]

I just don't want them to somehow cancel the prepaid iPhone accounts since they say it isn't supposed to be allowed. Then my girlfriend and I would be screwed.

 

[severe]

I just don't want them to somehow cancel the prepaid iPhone accounts since they say it isn't supposed to be allowed. Then my girlfriend and I would be screwed.

Don't worry about it. It's not going anywhere. It wasn't AT&T that said prepaid should have never been allowed. It was some scrub employee that's consequently having to deal with it.

mjs975s, thanks for the info regarding your conference call.

 

[Fabrice252]

Can someone help me with the prepaid plan. I have seen posts saying it doesn't work anymore. I tried to do this, I basically went through the registration process, go the screen where I had to select a plan, so I selected the 59.99 plan, then go the screen where it asked me to login in to my apple.com account, I didn't and set something new up, typed in all the info with the 999-99-9999 social, I used my real address, click next and it said checking address, it asked me if that was my address, I said yes, then it took me to a screen where i needed accept my itunes account I did, then it took me to a screen where it asked me to accept AT&T terms, which I didn't....

Basically when in the process would it have told me invalid info and to pick a plan? I thought right after the screen where you enter your social right???

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Been there, just done that... After the 'credit check' it is supposed to happen. BUT if you only enter 999 99 9999 the credit check puts you in a log of people having entered 999 99 9999 and you get refered to AT&T instead of being offered a prepaid. I suggest that you enter something else than 9999 for the last 4 digits, and then it should work...

 

[LtrGtrMac]

One thing I just found out about the balance notification thing is that it makes you unable to receive call!

When the message pops and If you don't press "Dismiss" before iphone goes to lock mode, you will not be able to pick up calls by sliding your finger across the screen. The phone will simply be unresponsive:

WRONG.

If/When that happens, press the home button, then slide to answer...it will work fine mr. panic attack

 

[sting0r]

Hi, I am trying desperately to activate my iPhone. I want to do a pick your plan $29.99 for 200 mins, plus $20 for uliminated data. I do not want a contract and do not need a lot of minutes. Last night I tried using the dummy SS# method all 999's and I got the dread message please call AT&T. A helpful CSR (not!) tried to manually setup my account and sim card as the pick a plan option and gave me a number. She then sent me off saying it will magically activate shortly. When it didn't I called back and literally spend 1.5hours on the phone trying to get it working again. I was then told the helpful CSR messed up and shouldn't have assigned your sim a number and that it is totally useless and I need a new sim. Great, this is all at midnight.

So today I pick up a new sim and try the activation again. Based on the feedback from the CSR who worked in the prepaid dept, they don't use all 999's as the system is picking that up, just try your social with a few digits slightly off and it should get rejected and ask you to pick a plan. Well guess what, it didn't work. Now I am on hold for 20 mins waiting for someone to pick up at AT&T.

I really want to use the phone, but I don't want to be locked into a new contract as all I want is data. Any advice? How can I get the system to force a pick a plan?

 

[Carlos E]

Hi, I am trying desperately to activate my iPhone. I want to do a pick your plan $29.99 for 200 mins, plus $20 for uliminated data. I do not want a contract and do not need a lot of minutes. Last night I tried using the dummy SS# method all 999's and I got the dread message please call AT&T. A helpful CSR (not!) tried to manually setup my account and sim card as the pick a plan option and gave me a number. She then sent me off saying it will magically activate shortly. When it didn't I called back and literally spend 1.5hours on the phone trying to get it working again. I was then told the helpful CSR messed up and shouldn't have assigned your sim a number and that it is totally useless and I need a new sim. Great, this is all at midnight.

So today I pick up a new sim and try the activation again. Based on the feedback from the CSR who worked in the prepaid dept, they don't use all 999's as the system is picking that up, just try your social with a few digits slightly off and it should get rejected and ask you to pick a plan. Well guess what, it didn't work. Now I am on hold for 20 mins waiting for someone to pick up at AT&T.

I really want to use the phone, but I don't want to be locked into a new contract as all I want is data. Any advice? How can I get the system to force a pick a plan?

You have to fail the credit check in order for iTunes to give you the prepaid option.

 

[princealfie]

Why is EDGE down for the pre-paid option??? I am able to activate but can't surf the web and what not?