Questions regarding Pay As You Go Data Plans & the iPhone

[Hls811]

First off - I have searched (this site and a few others) but I think the terminology might be too generic and I'm not getting the exact answers I'm looking for; just bits and pieces and it sometimes conflicts itself - so I do apologize in advance if this has been covered elsewhere.

Anyway - How do the Pay As You Go plans work for AT&T and/or T-Mobile in the US? Is there a benefit to choosing one over the other with an iPhone. (I'm obviously assuming the pre-requisite hack/jailbreak has taken place and the iPhone is able to work with a Pay As You Go plan.)

I currently have Verizon for my cell contract and have no intention of leaving or giving up my phone with them, so if I got an iPhone I'd only need data. I'd rather not pay $70.00 a month for that (The base fee and all taxes, etc) - so I'm hoping its possible to use a Pay As I Go plan and save some cash each month. I currently have a jailbroken IPT and love it, but there are times it stinks to not have a data connection (like on my train to work everyday!)

So, without getting too wordy (if its not too late ) - what are my best options - if any - to get inexpensive data on an iPhone?

Thanks in advance!

 

[mrgreen4242]

First off - I have searched (this site and a few others) but I think the terminology might be too generic and I'm not getting the exact answers I'm looking for; just bits and pieces and it sometimes conflicts itself - so I do apologize in advance if this has been covered elsewhere.

Anyway - How do the Pay As You Go plans work for AT&T and/or T-Mobile in the US? Is there a benefit to choosing one over the other with an iPhone. (I'm obviously assuming the pre-requisite hack/jailbreak has taken place and the iPhone is able to work with a Pay As You Go plan.)

I currently have Verizon for my cell contract and have no intention of leaving or giving up my phone with them, so if I got an iPhone I'd only need data. I'd rather not pay $70.00 a month for that (The base fee and all taxes, etc) - so I'm hoping its possible to use a Pay As I Go plan and save some cash each month. I currently have a jailbroken IPT and love it, but there are times it stinks to not have a data connection (like on my train to work everyday!)

So, without getting too wordy (if its not too late ) - what are my best options - if any - to get inexpensive data on an iPhone?

Thanks in advance!

DISCLAIMER: I don't have an iPhone. I've looked into this though while I was deciding whether or not I wanted one (if it matters, I decided I wanted one, but wasn't willing to pay what was being asked).

As far as I've been able to tell from my research on the matter, you cannot get pay as you go data from TMobile. You can get it from ATT, however you must also get a pay as you go voice plan with - these start at the same $60 per month as the standard plans, but you get far less minutes (but unlimited data).

So, in short, there's no cheap iPhone data-only plan, pre or post-paid. It's one of the reasons I opted to not get an iPhone (at least for now).

 

[Hls811]

DISCLAIMER: I don't have an iPhone. I've looked into this though while I was deciding whether or not I wanted one (if it matters, I decided I wanted one, but wasn't willing to pay what was being asked).

As far as I've been able to tell from my research on the matter, you cannot get pay as you go data from TMobile. You can get it from ATT, however you must also get a pay as you go voice plan with - these start at the same $60 per month as the standard plans, but you get far less minutes (but unlimited data).

So, in short, there's no cheap iPhone data-only plan, pre or post-paid. It's one of the reasons I opted to not get an iPhone (at least for now).

I've never had a Pay As You Go plan before, so I am only guessing how they work - but if what you said is accurate, and I paid $60.00 for a PAYG Voiceplan, and since I'm not using the minutes wouldn't they just roll over indefinately.. so I'd pay $60 up front and not use them - and then I would only have to pay the $XX.00 PAYG Data each month?

As I type this stuff out I confuse myself more!

 

[mrgreen4242]

I've never had a Pay As You Go plan before, so I am only guessing how they work - but if what you said is accurate, and I paid $60.00 for a PAYG Voiceplan, and since I'm not using the minutes wouldn't they just roll over indefinately.. so I'd pay $60 up front and not use them - and then I would only have to pay the $XX.00 PAYG Data each month?

As I type this stuff out I confuse myself more!

The only way to get data with ATT, as far as I can tell, is to either sign a contract or pick one of the "Pick Your Plan" prepay plans, which have a fixed monthly price each month. They start at ~$30 per month PLUS $20 for the data plan, and I'm pretty sure you can't get the data without the voice plan.

The "pay as you go" plans, as you are thinking of them (pay $50 and then use your phone for 500 minutes and then pay some more) don't have a data add on option with ATT. With Tmobile you can only get data for the Sidekick prepaid, no other handset.

 

[blessy]

I am new visitor of this forum. It is very interesting forum. This forum discussed about the importance of i phone. In my view today i phone takes very important position. We can save more data with the help of this.

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Bless
debt consolidation

 

[kylemg]

Hate to revive an old thread, but for those who are searching for answers...

I'm on the basic Pick Your Plan primarily for the data, since I have another phone for voice. I end up paying $56.00 per month (including sales tax) and that includes the 200 minutes/texts plus data. The good part about this is I'm not paying communication taxes and E911 fees.

The $30 for minutes/text does roll over, but the cap on your account is $250.

Also, if you transition to contract from the PAYG, your balance will transfer over (I haven't tried it, but this is what I've been told by AT&T.)