Use 3G iPhone as Unlimited data PDA for $20/month
When I was standing in line to get my 3G iPhone, there were bunch of people who had their Blackberry and Treo on their belt. According to some of them, they were required(probably volunteer since the company was paying the bill) to use their corporate issued PDA/Smartphone. They wanted to get a new iPhone for personal use, for PDA’s capability rather than a phone. They wished they could just use the unlimited data plan and ditch the voice plan, but there was no way AT&T was going to let them get away that easy.
For AT&T, raising the unlimited data plan from $20 to $30 was a smart thing to do. Most Mac users don’t mind paying little extra for new technology and little something to show off. I am one of those, a Mac addict who needs to have them even-though there is no good reason to buy. When they announced the new data/voice plan, there were many people complaining but at the end, they bought it.
Two weeks ago, I got a Treo 800w for corporate use. I wasn’t going to get one, but I wanted to check my email even when I wasn’t in front of the computer. For security reasons, I wasn’t able to use my iPhone to check my corporate email. Since I don’t use my cell phone often(thanks to skype’s unlimited plan), there was no reason to have two cell phone services. I thought about selling my new 3G iPhone, but I couldn’t give it up. On the other hand, paying AT&T about $80 every month was ridiculous. So here is what I did.
Solution:
After long research, I learned that GoPhone was my best solution. I went to the store and ended my 2 year contract after paying $175 for early termination fee. I bought a GoPhone SIM card after choosing one of the pay as you go plan. I switched the SIM card inside the iPhone with GoPhone SIM card. I called in to add the unlimited data plan, and they subtracted the $20 off the balance I had. After couple minutes I was able to use my 3G network on my iPhone. For people who carry around two cell phones, this definitely could be a cheap option to keep your iPhone with a good reason.
Here is the catch. It depends on which pay as you go plan you choose, but making a call on the GoPhone is very costly. For me, I pay $0.25 for every minute of voice usage. I don’t plan on making or receiving any call on my iPhone, so I gave the new # to only my brother for emergency.
This option will only work for those who carry around another phone for voice usage. Now, you will be able to browse the internet with full size browser (#1 reason why I bought my iPhone) for $20.
Well said
Comment by Eric Lee — August 20, 2008 @ 8:00 pm
@Eric Lee
Thx, I just hope AT&T won’t change their plans any time soon.
Comment by Daniel Choi — August 22, 2008 @ 10:30 am
can you test this after tuesday’s update to firmware 2.1? I’m speculating this should not be a “bug” or loophole in the iphone os, but rather it should have been done so deliberately by apple and att, - because you’ve signed the contract anyway, and instead of forcing people to jailbreak the phone and port it to tmobile, why don’t they just keep things open so that the users can still use att’s network after they cancel their contract, - it’s good for all parties… it will be dumb for apple and att to keep the iphone locked to a specific sim card, it could also lead to lawsuits — it’s like selling somebody a bike and yet you keep it locked, and every time the buyer wants to use his bike, he will have to come back to you to get the bike unlocked… it’s utterly nonsense and, CRIMINAL!
Comment by steve — September 7, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
@Steve
It still works. This is not a bug, but definitely a loophole. Lot’s of people want to use iPhone as PDA, but are being “forced” to use voice plan. They also increased the data plan to $30. So if you are using unlimited data plan for $10 less than rest of users, and not tided to 2 year contract, there definitely something wrong. The most annoying thing is, every time it checks my email automatically, I get a pop-up message saying, “your last transaction cost $0.00, and you have $100 balance left”(or something like that).
Comment by Daniel Choi — September 9, 2008 @ 11:50 am
do you mean the new firmware 2.1 still allows it? but your post is on sept 9th? the 2.1 os just came out this morning…
the pop up is ok, but I dont understand how come they did NOT realize there is such a big loophole?
can you confirm it works on 2.1? thanks!!
Comment by steve — September 12, 2008 @ 7:50 am
@Steve
Sorry about that, since I use iPhone as PDA, I stopped tracking firmware updates.
I just downloaded it and updated. Yes, it still works.
This is my opinion.
The reason why go-phone’s data service is cheaper is due to it’s voice usage charge, which is ridiculous. Even-though the person you called didn’t answer the phone, they will still charge you $.25(according to my plan). If some regular person wanted to cancel regular subscription and use iPhone with go-phone plan(as a phone and pda), they will end up paying lot more monthly. Using iPhone as Data-only is rare case, and for rest of people, ATT will make more money by doing this.
Comment by Daniel Choi — September 12, 2008 @ 9:39 am
thanks for that! I am ready to cancel my phone contract and am a little concerned what’s going to happen to phone, and all the att reps told me there is no gophone plan for the iphone, and even more ridiculously, the att store i went to last week in manhattan assured me apple has issued a patch with 202 that stopped people from using a gophone sim on the iphone, but i went ahead and bought a gophone anyway, i thought, what the heck, i might just give it a try and if it doesn’t work, i just return the gophone and waste the 25 dlrs sim card, so, i bought one and came home and pop the gophone sim into iphone, and to my great relief, it works! so, lets hope apple and att won’t plug the hole…. or i’ll just stop updating my firmware, they will be an idiot if they do stop people from using the gophone sim since that would just force people to jailbreak their phone and turn to tmobile, …
Comment by steve — September 12, 2008 @ 10:04 am
hey , it stopped!!!! no service or could not activate cellular data…. is yours still work???
Comment by steve — September 12, 2008 @ 10:40 am
@Steve
Restart your iPhone.
Did that to me as soon as the update
Comment by Daniel Choi — September 12, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
hi, it’s not working for me, restarted, and says “no service”, any idea? im using the iphone 3g… this is really scares me, it shouldnt have updated to this stupid 2.1, apparently the backup process isnt that fast either, apple just plugged the holes…
please help!
Comment by steve — September 12, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
Hmm one thing I remember after the update was no service, and under setting there was “carrier” tab which disappeared couple seconds after.
I just restarted reading your previous comment and it still works.
According to other people, this firmware definitely has positive review.
Give it a factory reset, I don’t see why it shouldn’t work.
You are in US, right? and the SIM is from ATT
Comment by Daniel Choi — September 12, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
yeah, i live in new york city, there is an att cell tower right above my apartment, and yet i got no service, then, i went outside, there is weak att signal, and when i try to test the internet connection, it either says cannot activate cellular data or just then to “no service”, apparently it can still detect the att network, but very sporadic, even if i insert my contract sim back to my iphone (which is temporarily suspended), it still can not detect anything, while the fact is, even if you are suspended, your phone can still detect the network but you won’t be able to acess data, the att logo should stil show up on your phone, but this is not the case after i updated to 2.1, this really sucks, steve jobs is really big con man! do you know any way to downgrade to 2.0.2 without a restore? because i didn’t make a backup when i update today and if i do a restore, it’s going to take my phone back to early august … pls reply asap if you can see this message, thanks very much !!!
Comment by sdfsdfs — September 12, 2008 @ 2:23 pm
man, this is so weird, after i got in the office, full 3g reception! but my gophone sim worked perfectly on my gophone while i was at home but not on the iphone! how can we say fm2.1 is a “huge” improvement with issues like this???? but one thing is for sure, apparently apple or att didnt plug the gophone sim hole, the att support staff are basically a bunch of idiots who never used an iphone and one guy told me - to cancel my contract and keep my iphone (nearly 2months after purchase), i will be charged a 175 etf, AND, 400 usd on top of the 199 i paid in the apple store, PLUS, the two months usage charges which is 260 dlrs!! man, i can’t understand how att survived to this day with such a bunch of morons!
Comment by sdfsdfs — September 12, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
@Steve
I feel bad for Apple. They are being blamed for all the ATT’s mistakes.
Definitely your problem is with the ATT carrier not with iPhone.
(I admit iPhone is not perfect but definitely better than other smart phones)
Since my work phone has EVDO, I do basic browsing on treo, and use iPhone as navigator.
Comment by Daniel Choi — September 16, 2008 @ 12:24 pm
hey, did you get the att free message that unlimited medianet will no longer be available after nov. 12th? att is such a goddamned company, they should go straight down to hell!
Comment by steve — October 15, 2008 @ 12:09 pm