iPhone 3G Works With PAYG
Image courtesy of TheiPhoneBlog
It looks like those with less than sparkly credit might be able to use the iPhone 3G with AT&T’s Pay-As-You-Go plans. One Erica Sadun of TUAW tried putting a PAYG SIM card into an iPhone 3G (complete with data package) and apparently it worked fine. The iPhone wasn’t pWn3d or unlocked or anything… but the iPhone 3G was activated with AT&T. Once word of this really gets out, we wonder how long it will take before Apple or AT&T fixes the “problem.” The big issue is getting your hands on an iPhone 3G in the box without contract or having to activate it in-store. We guess that those crafty, clever, and cunning enough will find a way. Has anyone else attempted to use an iPhone 3G with a PAYG SIM?
Not going to happen. As sales reps we cant sell you the phone w/o a 2year, nor will BB or the Apple Store. The first one worked just fine like that, there is no restrictions just needs a Media Max plan on there. Now when the SIM was put in, did they have the Visual Voicemail feature? THATS the question. My guess is NO…
Are you suggesting that only those with bad credit subscribe to the prepaid service? That’s a pretty bold statement if you ask me.
That picture is clutch!
@Dante: I have some friends with some piss poor credit and they were accepted for post-paid accounts, so obviously if you are turned down for a postpaid, then your credit much be truly crap. I think the lowest credit store accepted is a 375. You need to TRY to get a 375 or lower. Seriously, you have to have at least $40,000 in collections with an income of $12,000/yr to get that low.
Now true, people with regular or high credit may like Pay as You Go. But honestly, unless your an Obama loving tree hugging psycho conspiracy theorist, what in God’s name do you really have to be afraid of a postpaid account for? Unless your a drug dealer or terrorist.
I submitted this info about 3 days AFTER the iphone was released and it was never published.
The iphone just needs to be activated, which
really means just needs to be plugged into
itunes. Once done, the Iphone can be USED with
ANY at&t prepaid from gophone to Pay as you go.
You can even put the media unlimited
on it for $20 and it will work just fine. It even has 3G! The only thing that does not work
is the visual voicemail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6N4aP13lm0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j1tZl6ZnaY&feature=related
@dante While I don’t have scientific samples or hard data, most of my friends, acquaintances, and people who post regularly on forums wanted a new iPhone, but were astonished at the high deposits that AT&T requires (compared to other carriers, like Sprint). Pay-as-you-go is always a good option for those who don’t use a trillion minutes and text messages every month and want to save a little cash. But the idea of my post was that people who didn’t want to pay deposits, get sucked into a contract, or teens who don’t have their parents’ blessing could possibly own an iPhone now without all the bells and whistles of a contract.
What does loving Obama have to do with wanting Prepaid service?
Pay As You Go makes sense for most people who want to control exactly how much they spend on wireless service and not pay a penny more because they accidentally went over their plan limits. Overage charges ring a bell?
I think John hit the nail on the head for why people would want to opt for Pay As You Go if they qualify for post-paid. And now they can use the iPhone 3G, too!
Marc, some of us are having trouble getting the phone to work in general (even WITH a contract), especially in the New York City area. Dropped calls are frequent, 3G data is nonexistent, and apps crash like crazy!! Forget about trying to download updates to the phone, or you will see the Apple Screen of Death more often that you would ever imagine!!It’s a nightmare!! I am waiting for 2.1 to be WinPwned, or I would already be using 2.1. I hope that 2.1 makes this iPhone bearable!
Back to the topic – good thing that now PAYG customers will be able to suffer with the buggy firmware as well!!
@vandy1997 I hear ya… I hope that 2.1 makes it more bearable for you, too. As for me, the update made my phone all screwy but we’ll see if anything improves over time or maybe after a forced restart…
wow, this is old news bgr.. many people were reporting days after the 3g iphone was released that it worked with pg and pp
So this is what your coming back with marc flores, you were sorely missed!
I was being facetious. I didn’t actually mean it.
Yep.
Pay-G data plans are no different than the post paid data plans.
iPhones work with ANY AT&T data plan (data connect, pda, media net, blackberry.)
They all have the standard APN wap.cingular
However, visual voice mail will only work with iPhone data plans (post paid.)
Did you know you can also use PayG data in a laptop card?
Now, just because it works, doesn’t mean AT&T will sell it as a pre-paid phone any time soon.
I sourced an iPhone from New Zealand. A friend ordered the PAYG unit from the vodafone website, and it came in the post – all cellophaned up!
Recieved it in the _UK_ and activated it myself with my existing 3g SIM, albeit a contract SIM.
I’ve happily updated through 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2 and 2.1 with no problems.
This story was broken at other sites within hours of the phone’s release. I documented it then with an AT&T iPhone 3G purchased under contract, but I swapped in my secondary GoPhone SIM (mainly used for laptop data card) and it worked perfectly. Erica Sadun was two months late and $200 short “breaking” that story on TUAW, especially not citing the sources that documented the MediaNET package for GoPhone.
it only worked after 2.0..
works on the 1st gen iphones as well.
Or just cancel after 30 days, pay the ETF of $175.00, and keep the iPhone on prepay!
LOL WTF. Worst news evar!
The iPhone 3G has nothing built in that stops PAYG sim cards from working in it. Our system’s that we use for billing (it’s called Telegence) is set up in tabs, with your info spread about. The info for PAYG customer’s comes up differently than a postpaid account does, but it still shows us everything that a postpaid account does, minus postpaid features. I have had several people call in for after hours assistance with an activation, saw that they were trying to activate a 3G iphone, defaulted the system with unknown equipment and slapped the new SIM number in there for them and resent OTA — it’s not a system lock or anything preventing the swap, it’s that we can’t sell you the phone on prepaid and you can’t buy it outright yet unless you know someone really really really high up or want to escalate beyond belief and spend weeks on the phone. Plus, the 3G’s have so many issues on a day-to-day basis it’s ridiculous. EDGE speeds are fine, imo.
It would be FANTASTIC if Apple put 2 way video share capability in their 3g iphone. Don’t you Americans like myself agree that’s about time we catch up in technology to the rest of the civilized world? Gee whiz stop spoon feeding us tech in the States like we are infants. ” Give me modern Technology or give me death!”
You are an ass. I bet you are toothless or close to it. White trash, and an evanglical bible thumper