AT&T offers SIM-only service, attempts to maintain "most open" status
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted January 20th 2008 7:31PM
posted January 20th 2008 7:31PM
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posted January 20th 2008 7:31PM
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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!?