sparkie12

Thanks all this info will be really usefull when I come over to USA.

Natasha B - Does jailbraking not void your warrenty?

It sounds like O2 wireless or AT&T may be my best option.

NatashaB

Probably does void the warranty but I think that was already done since my stepdaughter spilt coke over the phone

Bink

Oh yes! Ridiculously expensive!

S Folinsky

Note that NatashaB states she wants low cost and mentions PayAG plans. AT&T Wireless is the exclusive carrier for the I-phone in the US and you have to use their "plans." Note, this is not the same as a "contract" in US Cell Phone terminology. A "contract" has a time commitment to cover the carriers' subsidy for purchase of the handset.

It is possible to shop for carriers on Smart Phones which are not I-Phones. BTW, blame this on Apple. Any other unlocked SmartPhone can be used on any network you damn please.

Hubcaps

And AT&T for offering them so much money to have the monopoly. I was quite surprised to find that it was still this way, in the UK the iPhone is available on all carriers now. Would be nice to see AT&T lose the stranglehold.

S Folinsky

The BIG RUMOR going about [including propogation by the Wall Street Journal] is that Verizon will be offering I-Phones in the next few month. As I noted above, Verizon tends to use CDMA rather than GSM.

However, as of now, an I-Phone is AT&T, period. At this time, my "upgrade" privileges within AT&T charge for I-Phone and RIM BlackBerry, while a PalmPRE will be "free." Go figure -- right now, my old Pearl serves my needs.

I just spoke to younger daughter who has a 4G I-Phone. She pays just under $80 per month. She has the basic 450 "anytime" minutes, 5,000 night/weekend minutes, and unlimited calls within AT&T wireless. Since most of her friends also have I-phones, and dear old dad has AT&T BlackBerry, she ends up rolling over unused minutes; she has 1500 text messages which serve her modest needs; and she is grandfathered into unlimited data.

I'm looking at MY AT&T wireless bill -- I have unlimited minutes on telephone for $69.99 @ month; $30.00 @ month for unlimited BlackBerry, and I don't have flat-rate texting. In addition I pay an additional $12.49 in Government Mandated fees -- of which the majority [$6.78] is in "City Utility Users Tax."

lazza

Hi

Before I arrived I heard that you could get a no-contract-sim-only from T-mobile. I went to the shop, told them I already had an iPhone, and sure enough, they have a $40 per month sim card - it's got a minimum term of one month, and you don't have to use it every month.

HOWEVER...

This is for the 3G and 3GS. According to the man in T-mobile, they do not make the mini sim that the iPhone 4 takes, but he has seen someone cut the sim card down to fit. He did tell me that he wouldn't recommend it, would not let me do it in the shop, and wouldn't give me a refund if it didn't work (why would he?!) so I haven't tried that route.

I use the Skype App on my iPhone 4 on the wifi at home. I also have an AT&T go phone from Walmart which was about $20 including $15 credit, and I took 6 weeks to use that (I generally only use it to text).

Bob

Sprint is on the verge of going under though...so they might be a bit iffy.

Bob

It does, but you can just reset to factory setting...but warranty probably won't mean much over here anyway.

Hubcaps

Applecare warranty is "global". My UK bought iMac is covered over here on it.

S Folinsky

While shopping today, I dropped into a franchise AT&T Wireless store. I mentioned your question. Take it with a grain of salt since I got nothing in writing.

AT&T does sell SIMS for unlocked foreign I-Phones. However, the SIM must be installed and enabled at the store. Cost for the SIM itself: $25.00. You can obtain either Pay As You Go service or a month-to-month contract. I did not obtain pricing on the Pay As You Go. The monthly price of phone and apple data service added up to $70.00. Also, they do accept foreign credit cards for month-to-month service, pay-as-you-go [they even take cash for that!]. However, for a two-year contract [with a subsidized phone -- US credit card only].

Hopes this helps.

Bob

laptops I know, but wasn't sure about iphones/touch/pad...

Bob

That's mentally expensive, because you can get plans for £20 or so a month for practically unlimited voice/text/data.

Hubcaps

It made my eyes water when I went in to hook my iPhone up. There was also a $500 security deposit (for new customers with no SSN or credit rating) but this was waived as there's a deal in place with my husband's company and AT&T). If it wasn't for the fact I already had the iphone I would have gone to Fred Meyer and bought a PAYG.

Brat1

Bob, we're looking for a phone for my daughter who's starting college. All the plans seem mighty expensive, so any pointers where you would get a plan for under $50 a month, which would enable her to phone/text/or use the internet - I'm totally confused by the whole thing and have been looking at Boost which seem really reasonable, but I'm wondering if there's a catch or am I missing something?