It looks like all that
shouting AT&T has been doing lately about its "openness" is starting to manifest itself in the way the company does business. It's come to our attention that the mobile telco has started offering a SIM-only plan, thus providing the ultimate in open options. The idea being, of course, that you can bring any random / crappy / salvaged GSM-compatible handset the provider's way, and it'll let you hook a towline onto its satellites. Of course, you could just get one of those cheapo giveaways and pop out the card, but this is so much more
open and free, like San Francisco in '69, a car-less road, some land of your own, and a good old-fashioned whiskey on the rocks. Oh, you still have a sign a two-year agreement... enjoy your freedom!
[Via
The Boy Genius Report]
posted Jan 20th 2008 7:31PM
Ah. Sim cards. Shame I'll never know them. Stuck on Sprint.
@ Johnny, or anyone else
if Sprint indeed closes and I still have ~7 months on my contract left, does this mean that I can go out and find another carrier or will Sprint sell the rest of it to another company?
Anybody know? I really want a SIM card phone so I can use it in Korea!
Dude...Korea uses CDMA primarily....and WCDMA to a lesser extent. If you had a phone that was WCDMA with a USIM it would be possible...but not a GSM sim. Don't get your hopes up.
Umm...
Well, atleast AT&T doesn't lock down their bluetooth profiles, like some other companies we know...
Verizon & Sprint come to mind!
Sprint doesn't lock down their bluetooth profiles. Been speeding with their EV-DO just fine and dandy! :)
uh..yes they do...
What evidence do you have that at&t doesn't modify their bluetooth stacks? I coulsn't get my phone to tether until I got a data tethering plan ($70/month), than it magically works. (at&t, blackberry 8820)
wut u talkin bout trancer?
the question is, does it really matter? I can have headsets on my voyager... I can send pictures to others... I can print wirelessly... I can send/receive files over OBEX... that's how I was getting my sounds/wallpapers to my voyager until bitpim (easier to use the cable that verizon included for free.. faster and charges the phone)... so it looks like they're actually lifting the bans... really easy on their smartphones.. (I've had two verizon winmo phones).
so all you GSM guys will have left is "it's compatible in another country" pretty soon... and I don't travel.. so not being able to make a call in my house with GSM phones has been a non-issue for a long time.. now MAYBE if t-mo had some decent phones on HotSpot it would be a different story.. but forget AT&T.
EVDO? that doesn't sound like Bluetooth to me...
It was my understanding that this has always been an option... Allbeit I less known one.
For the privilege of signing up contractless, one would have to give up M2M and other specials.
My sprint bluetooth profile isn't locked, and I don't believe my brother's bluetooth profile is locked either (I have a Treo he has a KRZR).
They did lock mp3 ringtone support on the Centro (and I think the Treo also), but since it's a Palmphone its not entirely impossible to bypass, heh.
Either way, it's a lot less restrictive than Verizon and their idiotic way of making everyone use that hideous GUI.
That's not exactly free and open if you have to sign a two year contract. Look at T-Mobile they're doing the sim only service with out contracts.
yeah how an you enjoy your freedom when you have to sign a contract
Uh, satellites? Nice try. This is AT&T, not Inmarsat.
well, yeah, but the cell towers use a satellite signal.
Well, yeah, except you're wrong again. But the only satellite signal that a tower would use is a GPS one for timing...they have T1s going to them - or some relay off of each other when you're in places like BFE, Iowa. Perhaps I should submit your ability to pull stuff out of your ass with no source/prior knowledge and present it like it's fact to our friendly friends at Fox and friends? Asshat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_site
I dont see why anyone would do this when you can just get a free phone for signing up anyway..
More specifically find a mobile shop that can get the unbranded/unlocked phone you want and sign up for a new contract through them. I got a new [unbranded/unlocked] K850i for $250 when I signed up.
Because this way youll still be able to get an upgrade discount on your next phone purchase, and you wouldnt if you got the upgrade at time of signup
if they aint giving any phone free with it... then why the 2 year contract ? i thought the 2 year contract was to recover the cost of the phone.. ( though the iphone defies this logic ).
and of you are anyways gonna get roped in for 2 years.. better get one with a phone. you can always pop the SIm card in your phone and use the free one as a backup.
I really dont get the logic behind this scheme !!
The cost of the phone on a two year contract has never been the main reason for the contract (with the iPhone an exception, due to AT&T's payment to Apple). 1-2 year contracts with all carriers take care of customer-acquisition costs (advertising, line provisioning, network maintenance, customer service call centers and non-paying subscribers.) The same principle applies to credit cards
Do the math. If the average carrier's customer AMR (average monthly revenue) is, say, $50, the customer is agreeing to pay at least $1,200 over a two-year term. Plus, along the way, many customers will purchase additional products and services (ringtones, wallpaper, text messaging and, best of all, data plans). Data plans, whether for BlackBerry email or smartphone Web access) produce the highest profits.
Now that AT&T has 65 million customers, it can afford to do what carriers in Europe, the U.K. and Asia have done for years--give you a SIM card. The big difference? If you live in EuroAsia, you can buy SIM cards in multiple countries and swap them out of your GSM phone as you travel, without a contract in most cases.
Verizon and Sprint customers. Although your phones don't have SIM's (your service is tied to ESN's hard-wired into your phones), the amount of $$$ you're committing to V and S over a two year contract is similar.
I don't understand it either.
The whole point of SIM only deals (in Europe, at least) is that the carrier isn't subsidizing the price of the phone.
Thus, you get cheaper line retail and a 1 month minimum contract period.
AT&T seem to be giving customers the worst of both worlds!
i agree with you JamBob. in the name of openness, its like we are being cheated. if they would just remove the clause for the 2 year contract, i would truly believe AT&T is trying to become a more "OPEN" carrier.
I wonder what the no contract version cost?
no US carrier offers a "plan" with no contract, only the pay-as-you-go
So, what's the benefit? Can't I just get one of their free phones and swap that SIM card into an unlocked phone and save the $5, plus have a back-up phone? If there's no discount on service and you still have to get the contract, what's the point?
I'm wondering the same thing. If you're getting a 2 year contract anyways, why not get a free backup phone?
T-Mobile Flexpay for the win!
In the UK, you can pick up a pay-as-you-go sim for free. This is probably because it costs the makers nothing, and can only bring them in revenue due to people switching (if it costs nothing, why not). However, everyone's uses contracts anyway, so it doesn't matter that much.
Europe and even Latin America have been ahead of the US in phone services like those... For people that travel a lot, those pay as you go sims are priceless. I really don't understand why the US is so behind of the curve.
Yeah, it's a bit wierd that a country where 'consumer choice' and 'competition' are supposed to drive growth there isn't much of either.
Two points.
1. This isn't a PAYG SIM - it's a SIM-only contract like O2's SIMplicity.
2. Most people aren't on contracts, PAYG users out-number contract users by a huge margin.
I got my prepaid sim from AT&T free here when getting it for my N95, maybe it was a isolated case?
LOL sign a 2 year contract? Nonsense, I walked into my local ATT retail store with a unlocked 8125, they gave me a sim card, and BAM, month to month service with no contract :)
Note I did this 1 1/2 years ago :)
well duh! one and a half years ago. I mean this isnt exactly the same offer they had a while ago, hence the reason they are posting it...I doubt that engadget is a year and a half behind
Can someone please fill me in. Would it be possible to give the
iPhone 3G capabilities if it had an iPhone designed 3G chip? Opposed
to having built in 3G? Thanks. -Steve
you're talking nonsense
Why? If this chip can bring 3G to other devices why can't it be adapted to the iPhone? That doesn't sound too ridiculous to me.
You don't get 3G from a little SIM card! If your phone doesn't have a 3G radio in it, then...NO 3G FOR YOU!
The chip basically tells the provider who you are. It might store texts and contacts too. It has very little to do with the actual telephony of the device.
Oy vey.
just sprinkle some crack on it
C'mon, give him a break, not all of us are cell phone mavens. Stephen, it's what Mark said, the ability to receive the 3G signal depends on the phone's hardware, not the SIM card.
BTW, remember fellow Engadgeteers, this is a forum allowing the for free enchanging of knowledge, it's not like Stephen was arrogant or anything. Remember, the only time we flame is when people ask:
Does it blend? Or, my personal not-favorite: Does it play doom?
--------
Also, "just sprinkle some crack on it" = xDDDDD
To all the guys with stupid comments. There's really no need to act like a BITCH. Stephen is asking a simple "non techy" question so it would be polite to answer appropriately. Really no need to stop being a lady.
As has been said here before, the SIM doesn't do anything for 3G. Having such a SIM doesn't won't add 3G capabilities to your iPhone as it doesn't have the hardware support for it.
In fact...the pictured SIM is the exact same type that comes in the iPhone...3G fireball icon and all.
"The idea being, of course, that you can bring any random / crappy / salvaged GSM-compatible handset the provider's way, and it'll let you hook a towline onto its satellites."
One can also bring in cool FCC unapproved/pending approval handsets into the country and use them here if you travel alot. This is a good thing for me because America has really shitty phones.
No. You can not use any old handset--especially older AT&T Wireless TDMA phones. In fact, when Cingular merged with Bell South and AT&T Wireless disappeared, many former AT&T Wireless customers were livid, because they were getting excellent reception on AT&T's analog network. Switching to Cingular's digital network, in many cases, lowered signal strength and call quality when analog handsets were swapped out with digital handses. A digital handset is required for AT&T service.
I think it's understood that there exist a constraint on "any headset" that it must be compatible with AT&T's current wireless network.
I don't think this offering is very novel as I have friends and family that have activated SIMs with the network previously known as Cingular to avoid having a contract. Looking at AT&T's page for this offering I think it is even less attractive than when we did activations before; there appears to be a 2 year contract attached to this (and I'm used to only commiting to a contract if I am getting a discount or something else significant in excange for the commitment).
But I agree, American phones are rather lack luster. I stick to ordering euro-spec phones since there seems to be far less feature supression going on outside of the US.
Er, I'm fairly certain AT&T was doing this before.. my friend bought an imported v3x from Amazon, went to AT&T (Cingular at the time) and asked for a SIM card with a service contract, and they gave him one. He never got a subsidized phone, just the SIM.
Actually in the UK you can get a pay monthly Sim with more mins/texts than you would if you asked for a free phone and it comes with no minimum contract - well you gotta pay for the first month but considering that the standard is 18 months for contracts that give you a phone as well it is not a bad deal if you have good phone to pair it with!
This seriously isn't new news. I did this six months ago with my Motorola Pebl bought in China. I walked in with it, told them the plan I wanted then when they asked about a phone I said I wasn't getting one and they were fine with it. I just popped the sim in right there and they took a look, made sure it worked and I walked out! And yes, I still had to get a contract. I liked it so much better in China. For the most part, you walk in to one store and buy any phone then walk in to your provider for your SIM. And I could be wrong but I think it's all pre-pay on China Mobile. Maybe for some business accounts they can bill you. And man was it dirt cheap, and just as reliable as AT&T.
@Stephen
Sorry, nothing will change the Edge that is in your iPhone. The SIM card doesn't really do much more than tell your phone what towers to talk to and tell the towers that you're an AT&T customer.
Yes, China Mobile does not require contracts, which is one reason why Apple's iPhone was rejected. See IWire at: http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16087/53/
This is a great idea in theory, of course, not such a great idea when you realize that almost all unlocked devices won't send MMS messages over ATT's network (my N95-3 comes to mind), and have zero compatibility with any of their other services such as their mobile video service. Open huh? Thanks for the free SIM card and nothing to back it up other than a "we own your soul for two years" agreement.
The two-year contract is just the extra kick in the pants to top the cake. No one is asking ATT to love unlocked phone users, however, it would be nice if they would hate us a little less.
It takes some doing, but it is possible to get MMS working. I've got an unlocked phone with AT&T as well, and it took much trial and error on my part to get the MMS to work. The AT&T support forums are a good place to check out for more help
Your N-95 can be self-configured. Here are the instructions from NokiaUSA.com:
Your Nokia phone comes with functionality built in that will automatically set-up operator services such as Browsing, MMS and Internet.
To check that the phone is correctly configured for this, please follow these three easy steps:
Settings Check
On the phone, from the main menu, press and hold the 0 (zero) key until the browser window opens. If prompted simply select a web site to connect to.
The phone will now try and connect to your service provider.
If you are now connected and the homepage is displayed correctly, the settings in the phone are correct and no further action is required.
If you receive an error message or the homepage is not displayed correctly, there maybe a problem with the settings in the phone.
Please follow the next six steps to re-configure the phone with the correct settings for your operator:
Settings Wizard
On the phone press the Menu key.
Scroll to and select Tools.
Scroll to and select Sett. wizard to launch the Nokia Settings Wizard.
Scroll to and select Operator.
Follow the wizard's on screen steps to automatically configure the phone with the required operator service settings.
Repeat steps 1 to 3 of the Settings Check above to verify that the settings are now working correctly.
Is it just me or was this a really crappy post. Instead of trying be funny why not just report the what is happening in the tech world? Granted without all the BS the post would be about 3 lines but come on just give us what we need to know. I'm glad BBR doesn't let posts like this get out.
Back to the topic, I am glad AT&T is finally letting some of the "openness" they keep touting become reality.
Sounds like a good way for them to not give away a few free phones. Otherwise business as usual.
I used to work for AT&T here in KY. They always let us give out new numbers with sims and no contract and we gave the option of doing a 1-year contract as well. I read stuff on here all the time about people not getting sims or phones without contracts, but the fact of the matter is, its just the salespeople being assh0les because they make more money when you sign up for 2 years.
T-Mobile offers one year contracts if you pay a higher price for the subsidized phone. I don't believe that AT&T Unity offers anything but two year contracts.
we've been able to do this with voda down here in Australia for ages. They used to cost two bucks, now they're ten, no ID and no nothing required to buy.
I bought one three years ago and still have it for my occasional international guests who want a phone for a few days.
Get a real provider that supports a world wide standard. CDMA needs to die. people with cdma are just cheap skates who are behind in the times.
Your argument is so convincing, I think I will toss my CDMA phone out the window right now and go pick up a GSM phone tomorrow. Thank you for pointing out the error of my ways!
Fucktard.
In the caribbean you just buy the phone (with starter minutes) and put in a sim, then you can purchase minutes as you go. Also, you can still receive calls even if you run out minutes.
yeah this sucks for people like myself and others living in the US...
Prepaid plans here are all rip-offs.
I went to the UK 2 weeks ago and my uncle told me that incoming calls are always free [standard on all plans, monthly or prepaid]
I was shocked about this and how cheap the sim cards were.
fido and rogers in canada sell activation kits for both contract and pay as you go. there are no strings except those with the contract and pay as you go. there was no choice in offering these kits as both tourists and business people from abroad swap sim cards to avoid roaming. there is a rumour telus will be adding gsm in order to allow for this service and later to upgrade their own phones to have gsm.
it all comes down to what the market was 5 years ago and what it is now. hardware is what more and more people want and cdma is not giving it to them. the iphone did one good thing and that was show the entire world quality of hardware far outweighs rate plans and cdma fanboism.
This is true. In fact, on Fido you can go month to month right off the bat on a postpaid plan from the activation kit, no contract necessary. This is actually how I got the SIM I'm currently using with my unlocked iPhone.
Now if only they could get those data rates more reasonable.
In Britain, I can walk into any Tesco or Woolworth's, and buy a reasonably-priced phone, and a prepay SIM with a rate of approx $0.10/min, $0.05 text.
Pay with cash, or whatever it is that you use to buy your groceries. 10 minutes from first entering the store to having a working mobile phone. No commitments whatsoever.
Let me know when I can do this back in the US.
Most providers offer that, Prepaid isn't what this is talking about, they're talking about postpaid service with a rateplan
At&t offers 10cent/m prepaid w/free m2m, if you already have a phone most stores will just charge you for the minutes.
Also, I think this is more about corporate policy changing.
Most stores I've been too would give you just a sim card and activate you on a two year, they might do it would no contract if you put up a fuss, though most of the time they wont as the sales people are only paid for helping you if you get a two year contract.
However, the official company policy used to be that if you wanted to just activate a sim card with no phone, the sales people would charge you a 25 dollar fee for the sim. Most stores wouldn't do it because:
1)The sales people dont make that much off the 25 bucks, so most dont care enough to charge it
2) They dont want to give you a reason to walk, so they try to make it seem like they're doing as much as they can for you.
Thank god Cincinnati Bell has no contracts. For being just a regional carrier, they sure have their shit together compared to others. One of the few things T-Mobile did right was help me get my unlocked phone fully working with their network. Every other carrier I have had just plain sucked.
did anyone else notice on the site it says
"IMPORTANT: SIM Only order is not available with all phones."?
I uh....what?
you can get an at&t activation kit on ebay for $10 without a contract. I did a few months back for a prepaid account (im canadian, like to go to new york a few times a year).
Don't get ripped off by AT&T, people! In most European countries, tons of providers have been giving out SIMs with no term obligations, no monthly fee and no startup costs! With my Norwegian provider, I pay 0.13 USD per minute, no monthly fee and can call other customers of the same provider free of charge...
I live abroad and travel to the US for business and family. I have a Moto Q and I've bought a SIM card in december with a Pay as you go plan so that I can use my smartphone in the US without paying roaming charges. It works fine (voice and SMS) expect for the data services which won't work in a device not sold by AT&T. Shame!
this is news? far as I know they've always done this, $6 for the SIM and if you call to buy the plan you can still get 1 year contract too (though i hear that the 1yr option is being phased out).
uff and we're always complaining here in Portugal...at least some providers give out Free sims without contract or you can get one for 5€ with 10€ in calls/sms when you prepay 25 bucks.....
Adagio hit it exactly. Salespeople could always activate you with no contract, or a 1yr, or 2yr if you had your own phone you didnt need the contract because you were not getting a discount on a new phone. Because the company wants people on contract however, they passed down a new rule that a salesperson would only get paid for the sale if a phone was sold with an activation and a TWO year contract on the sale receipt. I think recently they took the no contract option out, but in any case, why would a salesperson spend all the time and answer all the questions to activate a customer that the company is saying we wont pay you for? They could do it just to be nice I suppose. And when they get fired for not meeting their numbers at least they would have that warm feeling you get from helping people. Maybe this just means they wont charge 25 for the SIM, but really I never knew a store that wouldnt give away a sim for free anyway.
If I walk into a mom & pop cell store that offers att and tmo... the deals are as follows of course YMMV:
tmo - 1 year $125 cash spend however you like
2 year $250 cash spend however you like
att same...
meaning you can pretty much pick EITHER of the carriers phone that you like and they will unlock it for you and give you CASH towards the price of the phone. obviously for this to work, it has to be unlockable in the first place.
or
keep your exsisting gsm phone and pick a one or two year plan from tmo or att and get $250 CASH (all done in the cell store)
Been common knowlege to savy cell users in NYC for years now...
How else would we get phones like the tilt.. iphone.. dash.. for almost free with little effort!?