iPhone (or any smartphone in general) and their plans

[TiltMyTouch]

Originally Posted by crunc

You can use a pay-as-you-go service with an iPhone. My wife is using my hand-me-down 3GS with a pay-as-you-go sim card and it works perfectly. I just took the sim card from her dumb phone and put it in the iPhone and it works perfectly and it's supported by the OS - it pops up a message after each call telling you how many minutes you have left. Mind you she does not get data service, but you do have WiFi. They also offer contract-less plans that work just like normal ones, and can have data, but they aren't particularly cheap.

Of course AT&T doesn't offer pay-as-you-go for iPHones out of the box. I'm pretty sure you are stuck with a 2 year normal contract if you buy a new iPhone, but if you buy a used one that is off contract, you should be able to pop in a pay-as-you-go sim card and use it. But note that while the 3GS uses a normal sized sim card, but iPhone 4 and 4s use the smaller size card.

Don't you have to "cut" those sim cards so that it fits in the iPhone? I remember reading something like that in an article.

In addition, what's the deal with data then? Do you guys still need to purchase a monthly data plan, or is there pay-as-you go data as well?

[bngo16]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but has anyone tried StraightTalk's plans with the iPhone before?

I heard they just started a "Bring Your Own Phone" program, where you can use the iPhone on their network. I've read reviews (most of them recent) where people claim that you can use their unlimited talk/web/messaging plan for $45 per 30 days (cheaper if you play the $500 per 365 days) with the iPhone 4 and 4s (or older devices).

My contract is about to end in a couple of months, so I plan on porting my number and making the switch if the claims are true.

TiltMyTouch,
Right now I'm on ATT and I pay close to $110 a month for 2 lines ($50 for one phone + $10 for the additional line + $15 for iPhone data + $15 for dumbphone data +$5 for 200/month texting + $10 for 1000/month texting + tax + overage fees (if I go over, which I do sometimes) for 450 mins and 200 mb a month and 200 texting for my iPhone and unlimited web and 1000 texting for the dumbphone).

If StraightTalk does work with the iPhone, I would suggest getting an iPhone off ebay. My fiancee wanted an iPhone, so I actually just won a bid recently (via sniping) for a used, in good condition iPhone 4 32 gb for $275 dollars (since I didn't want to be stuck with a 2-year contract again). I hope this helps.

[crunc]

Originally Posted by TiltMyTouch

Don't you have to "cut" those sim cards so that it fits in the iPhone? I remember reading something like that in an article.

In addition, what's the deal with data then? Do you guys still need to purchase a monthly data plan, or is there pay-as-you go data as well?

If you get a no-contract monthly X minutes plan, you can now get a data plan as well, from what I've read. If you get a pay as go plan where you buy minutes that last some period of time and can buy minute refills, they do not offer a data plan for that I don't believe. That's what my wife has. It is, however, very inexpensive if you don't make a lot of calls. For my wife I pay $100 for a years worth of minutes (AT&T). A years worth for her. In fact more than years worth and the minutes roll over as long as you add more minutes before the year is up. If you talk on your phone a lot it could prove not as thrifty.

[Menel]

Corporate/Military/EDU FAN discount? With 20% corp discount, knocks a decent chunk out, compensates for taxes/regulatory fees anyway.