[sine90]

I have AT&T service right now on a Razer phone, nothing special just a phone with NO internet data or anything else.

I would like to have an iphone but the unlimited data is to expensive for me, plans looked absurd. I also do not need data service it as I will be in a area with wifi 24/7.

My question:

Can I buy an iphone WITHOUT a contract, unlock it, and put my AT&T SIM card from my old phone in it and just use it as a phone (and wifi)??
If I accidentally was out of a wifi zone and used internet through AT&T would I risk having a large data bill? I would honestly never need to use AT&T data service. I hope it would notify me if I accidentally did this.

I've been looking for a solid answer to this and I cant find it. Would I even need to unlock it? I see all these different versions 1.1.2 ....what not and its really confusing.

Sorry if my question is confusing! I know it is annoying to have lots of beginners asking questions but I would really appreciate it if you knowledgeable ones would help me out.

[Kruejl]

^^^I totally understand what you are asking, because I did EXACTLY what you want to do. The thing is, you need a "First generation" iPhone right now to do it. If you can find one (ebay), then you can use iLiberty+, WinPwn, or iPlus to activate it and then just put in your old SIM card. When I did mine, I had to unlock it as well to get the phone to find service.

As far as avoiding large data bills, I installed the "T-Zones" hack so my phone can't find AT&T EDGE and I also installed BossPrefs and disabled EDGE completely. That way, there is no possible way the phone can conenct to EDGE. I've been good to go for months this way with ZERO data charges.

[sine90]

Wow! Kruejl thank you soo much!
This is exactly the answer I was looking for!

Just a quick question, by 1st gen you mean anything pre-3g (iphone2)right?
and
Is there a possibility that the 3g iphone will be unlockable in the same way you just described?

Maybe I could just wait a few weeks for people to learn how to unlock it and than just do it with the new one. But I would be fine with a non-3g too.

I really appreciate your help, I really might get an iphone now!

[Kruejl]

^^^The dev team has an unlocking solution that should be available within the next week for the 3G iPhone. I see no reason why you can't do it, except getting one without a contract will be really tough for a while. Even when AT&T/Apple allow people to buy them outright, you are still looking at $599/$699 for the phone. If you aren't going to pay for the 3G data, then you might as well get a first-gen device.

And many people misspell my nic, its all good!

[mdhensley5]

Thanks for the great info, Kruejl. This is the first thing I'm going to do when I get my phone Tuesday. Although I would like the $20 data plan, I won't extend my contract for 2 years on a phone I bought from ebay.

[Spartan94]

Originally Posted by Kruejl

^^^I totally understand what you are asking, because I did EXACTLY what you want to do. The thing is, you need a "First generation" iPhone right now to do it. If you can find one (ebay), then you can use iLiberty+, WinPwn, or iPlus to activate it and then just put in your old SIM card. When I did mine, I had to unlock it as well to get the phone to find service.

As far as avoiding large data bills, I installed the "T-Zones" hack so my phone can't find AT&T EDGE and I also installed BossPrefs and disabled EDGE completely. That way, there is no possible way the phone can conenct to EDGE. I've been good to go for months this way with ZERO data charges.

Hey Kruejl -- I've read at some places that if you go with no data plan, you lose some kind of video (visual?) voicemail or some such thing. Can you elaborate on that? Does your voicemail work ok?

I am currently out of contract (I'm an old pre-cingular AT&T Wireless user), and my wife and I want to ditch our crappy phones and buy some old iPhones and go w/o data much as you did.

[kunre]

I did Kruejl did also. Voice mail still works, but this time when you go to check it it dials directly instead of choose from a list of people that left you a message. It like checking email and picking which one you want to open.
I called ATT and had the data option removed.

[Spartan94]

Originally Posted by kunre

I did Kruejl did also. Voice mail still works, but this time when you go to check it it dials directly instead of choose from a list of people that left you a message. It like checking email and picking which one you want to open.
I called ATT and had the data option removed.

Ah, so what you are saying is the voicemail will work basically the same as is has with all of the older cell phones I've had. Correct?

[eg6motion]

also, you can call ATT (give them no hints that your using an iphone) and tell them you'd like to block all data as you have accidently accessed the internet a few times and don't want to be charged. They can block ALL data on there end and then there are no worries to what you do. I just did this with my wifes new (my old) iphone. Works fine, you get an error anytime you try to use edge for data...

[kunre]

that is correct Spartan94

[Spartan94]

Originally Posted by eg6motion

also, you can call ATT (give them no hints that your using an iphone) and tell them you'd like to block all data as you have accidently accessed the internet a few times and don't want to be charged. They can block ALL data on there end and then there are no worries to what you do. I just did this with my wifes new (my old) iphone. Works fine, you get an error anytime you try to use edge for data...

That's not a bad idea anyways even if I dont get an iPhone. Either that or find a better way to keep my old smartphone away from my kids...