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Vodafone's paid zero-rating Passes are now available
Attention social media butterflies, chatterboxes and serial streamers: Vodafone Passes are now live. If you're catching up, Passes are Vodafone's take on a zero-rating scheme. Unlike Three and some other networks that help you preserve your precious monthly allowance by including, as a standard plan perk, "free" data towards a few services, Passes are paid bolt-ons. Buy the Chat Pass for £3 per month, for example, and you can use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Viber Messenger as much as you want without touching a kilobyte of your regular data ration.
Vodafone's new PAYG plan will cap your bill at £1 each day
Pay-as-you-go smartphone plans haven't changed much in the last few years. Calls, texts and megabytes are priced individually, putting the emphasis on you to manage your monthly spend. Some networks, such as O2, offer discounted "bundles," but otherwise it's the same old system. Soon, Vodafone will be trying a new concept called "PAYG1." Every text, minute or 5MB of data will cost 20 pence, but if you reach a pound Vodafone will automatically cap your bill for the day. That means any further minutes and texts (and data, up to 500MB) is free until midnight.
Anywhere SIM helps avoid UK 'not spots,' but at a cost
Whether you live in central London or the northernmost tip of Scotland, you've probably experienced flaky mobile coverage at one point or another. Carriers say they're working to fix the UK's so-called "not spots," but customers continue to complain about dropped calls and sporadic 3G coverage. What's the solution? Blending all of the networks together, Anywhere SIM hopes. The Lancashire company has launched a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) SIM card today that lets you take advantage of O2, Vodafone and EE's networks. Whichever has the best service, that's the one you'll be connected to automatically.
Forget stamps, the Post Office now offers pay-as-you-go SIMs
There's no shortage of mobile networks to choose from in the UK, but that hasn't stopped the Post Office from throwing its hat in the ring. The iconic mail service is launching a pay-as-you-go SIM that focuses specifically on cheap calls and texts. At 8 pence for almost any domestic landline or mobile, calls are significantly cheaper than the standard rates set by Vodafone, O2 and Virgin Mobile. The new "virtual" mobile network, which is powered by EE's infrastructure, is also competitive on the SMS front with a flat 10 pence rate. If you're interested in data, however, you'll probably need to look elsewhere. The Post Office charges 10 pence per MB and currently doesn't support 4G connectivity. Even if you're a light user, one of the company's 30 day bundles is almost certainly better value.
EE tries to upstage its rivals with improved pay-as-you-go tariffs
When you're the biggest 4G player in the UK, logic dictates that you don't let your rivals hog the limelight for too long. EE's well aware of this, so just a few days after Vodafone finally joined the 4G pay-as-you-go party, it's decided to improve the value of its pre-paid top-ups in an attempt to distance it from the competition. The new options cover three categories -- Talk and Text, Data and Everything -- letting you decide which of those usage models fits your needs best, possibly stopping you from paying for services you won't use. It's also dropped the lowest PAYG top-up to £1, which includes 100MB of data lasting seven days, in the hope it'll lure in even the most budget-conscious mobile user. Finally, it's ensuring you're rewarded for your loyalty by throwing in an extra 250MB of data, 50 minutes of calls to any network or 250 additional texts to customers who've not missed a top-up for three months. It's even created a comparison guide detailing how its new packs perform against rival offerings, just in case O2 and co. weren't already looking on enviously.
Vodafone catches up to the crowd with 4G on pay-as-you-go
Coming up to a year since Vodafone switched on its 4G network, the carrier's finally opened those superfast airwaves up to pay-as-you-go customers today. If you already own a compatible handset, all you need is a £20 "Freedom Freebee" top-up -- which grants you 2GB of data, 500 minutes and unlimited texts -- to start enjoying LTE speeds (anything cheaper and you're stuck on 3G). Higher top-ups of £30 and £40 get you 4GB and 6GB respectively, as well as unlimited calls and either Spotify Premium or Sky Sports streaming access. You're probably best springing for the £20 option initially, though, as your welcome bonus to 4G PAYG is unlimited data for the first month. If data is all you're after, PAYG mobile broadband customers can now also access 4G at a minimum cost of £15 for 2GB.
O2 launches convoluted 4G PAYG option, data-only plans due next month
Pay as you go used to be a simple concept. Top up cash, spend cash, top up again; maybe you'd get a free text or two if you plumped for a voucher beyond the bare minimum. 4G is relatively new to the UK, and as such, we're seeing carriers experiment with different tariffs that are supposed to be simple, but often aren't. Yesterday, EE launched its PAYG handset plans, littered with bolts-on and bundles, and today O2 is following suit, hitting us with the most complicated PAYG scenario man has ever conceived. Let's ease into it with the phones. There are 19 to choose from right now, starting at £150 for Nokia's Lumia 625 (matching EE's price) and topping out at £600 for Sony's Xperia Z Ultra. You also get a SIM of course, which you add money to for texting, calling, browsing, etc. Now comes the fun part.
EE launching 4G PAYG handsets starting at £130 for the Alcatel One Touch Idol S
EE may have rethought its contract plans, but it's also added a new option for those who don't want to commit to two years of bills. On top of the SIM-only pay-as-you-go options already available, the traditional PAYG handset model is launching on the network October 30th. All the LTE-friendly smartphones the carrier offers on its pay monthly plans will be up for grabs for an upfront fee, complete with PAYG SIM and 10GB of free data to use in the first 90 days, as long as you get involved before January 31st next year. Another transient deal for new PAYG customers which expires at the same time is the 2,014 free minutes bonanza that applies to EE, Orange and T-Mobile -- a top up of £10 each month in 2014 will get you 168 minutes gratis. Joining EE's handset line-up to become the cheapest PAYG option at £130 is Alcatel's One Touch Idol S, which'll also be available on pay monthly plans. The second-cheapest handset will be Nokia's Lumia 625 at £150, but big spenders can opt for an iPhone 5s at £520 and other pricier options. There's a handy web portal (app coming soon) for topping up and buying data, text or call bundles, and any data package of 2GB or more will entitle you to "double speed" access, or up to 60 Mbps download speeds. Head past the break for all the pricing info in neat chart form.
Vodafone UK switching to per-minute call charging on PAYG, stiffing you out of seconds
Benefits of pay-as-you-go handsets and SIMs include having complete control over your spend, and knowing how much call time is left before the next top-up is due. Well, if you PAYG with Vodafone in the UK, prepare to start seeing those available minutes diminish a little quicker than you're used to. You may have been unaware that calls are currently charged by the second, but come August 1st, the network will begin pricing calls by the minute. Basically, this means calls will be rounded up to the next minute, so a natter lasting just over a minute will be charged as two, losing you precious seconds. Voda says this is to make things simpler, so "you'll always know exactly how many minutes you have left" -- or don't, as the case may be. In a statement, the carrier was keen to point out that several "competitors already offer price plans charged in this way," and that top-up extras (like free minutes and cake) "continue to offer our customers great value." Nice try, Voda. Full statement after the break.
Three UK simplifies pay-as-you-go tariff, offers data at 1p per MB
Three UK is tired of networks offering pay-as-you-go packages with numerous caveats and bolt-ons, and so has decided to go back to basics. The network is now offering a single tariff for all of its fair-weather mobile users, pricing calls at 3p per minute, texts at 2p per minute and data at 1p per MB. Three UK has also promised that your credit won't expire as long as you do something on the account once every six months. The change takes place from today, and existing customers will also be switched over to the new system -- just in time for that trip across the North Sea.
Virgin Media unveils quartet of new SIM Only plans for data-focused Brits
It was only in June that we saw Virgin Media shaking up its regular mobile plans for UK residents. The carrier is back for another round, this time to serve the SIM Only customers who thrive on unlocked phones. Four plans starting from £12 ($19) a month all provide unlimited data and text messaging for bring-your-own-phone subscribers, with voice as the only real separating factor: the thriftiest callers get 150 minutes per month, while higher £15, £17 and £25 ($24, $27 and $40) tiers ramp up to a respective 250, 1,200 and 2,500 minutes for chattier customers. The chief gotcha is a lack of bundled landline calling for all but the priciest plan, although existing Virgin Media subscribers can knock an extra £5 off of that rate. If you're the sort who can't bear the thought of a contract, Virgin now has you better covered.
Avanti launches prepaid, Ka-band satellite internet access, wants us Yelping from the Alps
Avanti has been beaming satellite broadband to Europe for awhile, but it's been tied to a subscription through carrier deals. That's a tough sell to customers who, by definition, don't want to be tied to anything -- which is why the company just launched prepaid satellite internet access for the continent. Although the Ka-band service's 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream speeds won't have anyone dropping their 330Mbps fiber anytime soon, the pay-as-you-go strategy will let travelers and rural dwellers get broadband in a pinch, no matter how spotty terrestrial access might get. Imagine Skype calls during Swiss ski vacations and you've got the gist of it. Carriers will resell the data in healthy doses of 1GB or larger, and Avanti is adamant that there won't be any nasty throttling surprises waiting in store. While exact prices will depend on partners, the provider isn't waiting for those details before it covers much of the Old World: its upcoming HYLAS 2 satellite (what you see above) will share the speed with Africa, the Caucasus region and the Middle East as of August 2nd, making it almost too easy for us to update Google+ in Georgia.
Virgin Mobile may be next up for pay-as-you-go iPhone parade on July 1st
It might be that Cricket's iPhone deal is just the tip of the prepaid iceberg: insiders reportedly say that Sprint's pay-as-you-go brand Virgin Mobile will be taking the Apple plunge as well. Details of what it will cost are still very much unknown, although we'd look to Cricket's $500 unsubsidized iPhone 4S and $35 monthly plan as strong clues. If the WSJ's connections are accurate, though, we could see a Virgin iPhone for the US as soon as its northern neighbor Canada blows out the birthday candles, on July 1st. At this rate, the only American carrier of any kind without an iPhone will be T-Mobile, and it's clear that this glaring exception is eager to hop onboard.
Unofficial iPhone PAYG app lets you monitor usage
A few days ago, I posted about using AT&T's inexpensive Pay as You Go services on newer out-of-contract equipment. One of the commenters on that post pointed me to Dynamically Loaded's Pay As You Go Balance and Feature Pack Monitor. For US$0.99, the application scrapes the account balance and feature packs from the PAYG system, reporting it to you from a one-click app. The app offers a handy way of checking your usage. It also enables you to subscribe to a local notification that reminds you when your balance is due to expire. For a dollar this is not a bad little utility, but it really left me wanting more. For one thing, it would be nice to have a series of reminder choices -- remind me a week before and a day before, for example. It also doesn't offer reminders for feature packages, and that is honestly far more important to me than the account expiration. There were other issues as well. The settings are located in the Settings app, which sounds like an awful criticism to dump on a poor little iPhone utility, but as developer after developer has discovered that's precisely where you don't want items to be accessed and updated. Put them in-app and make it obvious how to change them. It took me minutes (which is hours in user time, also called "one star" in the vernacular) to track the settings down to test it with another account. Yes, it's App Store safe and an approved way to go about things, but hopping out of your app to change two lines of information (the phone number and the PIN) wasn't the user experience I was hoping for. Another issue: I had to keep force quitting the application in order to test it against AT&T's 611 information line. Turns out if you're logged into an active session, you cannot use 611. Because the app didn't log out after calls, the 611 line thought it was still in control and wouldn't allow me to access my account properly. So what you have here is a decent app that has the potential for being a much better app, but which is so specialized that the devs probably don't have an active interest in updating it with its current user base. Should that base grow over time, maybe we'll see more development there, but I'm guessing the numbers would have to be in terms of thousands of units sold, not tens or hundreds. For now, what you see is what you're going to get. It's an okay app, and I think it was worth my dollar. I just wish it were a better app.
Dear Aunt TUAW: What is this cheap iPhone data plan you speak of?
Dear Aunt TUAW, What is this "cheap" AT&T SIM with data for the iPhone that you often speak of? You've written about it numerous times. Please dish. Fondest regards always, Mister Humann Dear Humann, Auntie is talking about AT&T's standard PAYG plans. She usually buys the US$100 cards which offer a full year of air time -- that is, the balance will not expire for a year, regardless of how much of the balance is used. Plus, dear Auntie can use that airtime balance to buy data. That's sweeter than a bowl full of Werther's Original. You may want to start out with a $25 airtime investment (won't expire for 3 months) to make sure that the set-up does, in fact, work on your iPhone. Auntie is currently using this approach with her 3GS. The model is important because pre-iPhone 3G units won't accept a SIM as-is. They must be jailbroken and activated first. Auntie's 3GS, however, is not currently jailbroken and it's working fine with her AT&T SIM. Here's what she did. Setting up a PAYG iPhone Account You can purchase air time for any SIM by visiting an AT&T retail or calling AT&T at 1-800-331-0500. Unlike the Best Buy $10 no-data SIMs ($5 of air time, expires after 90 days) that you can buy, activate with a phone call and pop into your iPhone, PAYG SIMs cannot be set up anonymously. You need that PAYG account to load affordable data onto your iPhone and, much like Auntie on Pinochle night, AT&T is a little more buttoned-up. To get started, you'll need a home address, a credit card, and a non-iPhone AT&T phone with a valid IMEI identifier and, of course, the SIM number. These allow you to register an account with AT&T. You will not have to leave that credit card on file, however. This will be a one-time payment of $25 or $100 (or however much you want to use to get started). Now you're pre-paid, baby! When your money and time run out, your account dies and you're never charged again unless or until you choose to add more money and time. If you're planning to use the account primarily for data, make sure to choose the per-minute plan ($0.10/minute, $0.20/text), not the per-day plan. (Your other option is a $2/day unlimited plan, which allows you to pay only on those days you talk on the phone.) Once your account is charged and you're given a new phone number, head on home (if you didn't do this all by phone, like Auntie does) and put the SIM into your iPhone. It should be recognized immediately and you'll be able to place and receive phone calls. Adding data Next you'll want to add data. Auntie recommends starting with a $15 100 MB data package. As you'll see, her recommendations change once you get all the kinks worked out, but starting with 100 MB for 30 days at $15 lets you buy in and test the system for under $25. Plus, that leaves you $10 with which you can call Mom and tell her you love her every day, approximately 3 times per day over that 30 day period. If Auntie has her math right. And she usually does. To add your data package, call the irritating robot at 611 from your iPhone. This is a free call, which is small recompense for having to interact with the unpleasant, robotic beastie. Make sure to turn on the speaker and flip to the number pad. When you're allowed to speak, say "Buy features" and then "Data Packages." Work your way through the robotic menu to select the 100MB plan for $15. The 'bot will helpfully tell you when your data package expires and how it rolls over. That roll over bit is the good part. Take note of that. Also take note of how you check your data balance (Call 611 and say "Check my feature packages"). Configuring Your iPhone for 3G Data Next, you need to update your iPhone to work with prepaid data. Auntie's favorite how-to write up can be found over at amirnaor.com. Here are the steps you need to take. Download Apple's iPhone Configuration Utility and run the installer. The application is placed into your /Applications/Utilities folder. Launch the application with your iPhone connected. Create a new configuration profile (File > New, Command-N). Edit the name to AT&T PAYG (arbitrary) and add an identifier, e.g. com.sadun.payg (also arbitrary). In the Advanced settings (scroll down), click configure and set the following fields: APN: wap.cingular User Name: wap@cingulargprs.com Password: CINGULAR1 Proxy wireless.cingular.com port: 80 Locate your device on the left source list column. Click it. Click Install next to the profile you just created. On your iPhone, the Settings app launches. Tap Install on the profile. Disconnect the iPhone, disable WiFi, and test the data connection in Safari. Annual Data Planning Leaving aside the $25 airtime proof-of-concept, here's how you can think about budgeting airtime purchases for inexpensive data over a year. AT&T's feature plan buckets currently go for $25 for 500 MB / $15 for 100 / $5 for 10. Best of all those feature package balance rolls over if renewed before expiration date. That means if you refill the feature plan before the end of the month (i.e. 28 or 29 days -- you can set your iPhone to alarm you), the data rolls over, so you can keep adding $5 for another 10 MB so about a total of $25 + 5 * 11 = $80 for a years data, with $20 left over for the occasional phone call and a budget of 610 MB for the year. 610 MB. Total cost $100. You can always add more during the year for $25 for another 500 MB, taking away the $5 you would have spent for 10 MB. So let us say that you use 100/month and need at least 1.2 GB of data for the year. You could buy, say, all that data at the start of the year, or (more likely) start with a $25 buy-in of 500 MB and then go for 3 months at $5 for 10 MB each. That means each four month period (approximately, since the "months" are going to be 4 weeks...say 28 days), you will pay $40 for 4 months, for a budget of 530 MB. That fits comfortably into the 100/month data budget. If you find you have lots of data left over, you can even skip one of the three $25 payments for a $10 one. Auntie uses the savings for new doilies, but that's up to you. 1.59 GB. Total cost $120 Assume you go with the $25/5/5/5 plan. You'll need to re-fund your account about 8 months in, assuming you haven't made lots of phone calls and need to refund sooner. At that point, let's say you add about $50. Month 1 $40 Month 5 $40 Month 9 Add $50, spend $40 (Month 13, new year -- Add in at least $100 so you're guaranteed a full year) You will have spent $150 for the year total, including about $30 of airtime available. If you want, you can use $25 of that for another 500 MB data bump if you really don't talk much; less if you talk & text. Auntie's Downside: You must remember to refill on time. Using a 4-week schedule, and a calendar reminder program, helps. It means you always refill on the same day of the week -- and keep in mind you will have to refill 13 times for the year, not 12, which throws off the math a tiny bit. Auntie is, honestly, really bad at this. Scheduled calendar reminders help. Auntie's Upside: Compare and contrast that cost with *normal* iPhone talk and data plans. Outside of the fact that you have a contract with a $375 cancellation penalty, it will cost you $55-ish or more per month for standard service. This provides data and voice for about $10/month. Discussion: This kind of data is *not* explicitly approved by AT&T (big surprise, but also no big deal) and, no, this isn't the old style Pick Your Plan that AT&T cracked down on, forcing people to move to standard contracts (Auntie was on a PYP on her original iPhone and it was a really good deal with rollover credits for unused airtime), but you're using it with an out-of-contract unit, so why should it matter if you're doing so on an iPhone versus, say, a cheap Nokia? Who is this for? Anyone who wants to be able to Google on the go, check e-mail and do very light web surfing. The 100 MB/month calculation is similar to iPad plans. But even if you end up using, say, double the data, for approximately $200/year (that's because the 3 times at $25 doubles to $50, but not the $5 maintenance costs), it's still very affordable. Here are a few purchase scenarios you might consider. 3 $25 buckets, 9 $5 buckets: $120 + $30 airtime: 1.6 GB costing $150 6 $25 buckets, 6 $5 buckets: $180 + $20 airtime: 3 GB costing $200 9 $25 buckets, 3 $5 buckets: $240 + $10 airtime: 4.5 GB costing $250 12 $25 buckets: $300 + $25 airtime: 6 GB costing $325 For comparison, the expected per-year cost for really basic iPhone service at $55 per month: $660 (Auntie thinks that's the lowest available, you might want to check). So that's how you get cheap iPhone data plans. Best of all, you can keep adjusting your bucket purchases over the year to match your usage. Hugs, Auntie T.
Unlocked iPhone FAQ, including AT&T plan info (updated)
Updated with information about AT&T plans. As we posted earlier, Apple is selling an unlocked version of the iPhone in the US starting at US$649. To help clarify questions about this development, we've put together this little FAQ. We'll explain what the unlocked iPhone means to you as a customer and how you'll be able to use it both at home and abroad. This TUAW unlocked iPhone FAQ is a work in progress. You can help us out by correcting any errors you see. Just leave a comment or send us feedback on our contact page. What is locking? Locking (also called "SIM locking") is a limitation of some phones, preventing their use outside of the issuing carrier; it is generally implemented in software and phones can be 'unlocked' either by the carrier or by third parties. Until now, the US GSM iPhone has been exclusively locked to AT&T. Another iPhone model, which uses CDMA technology, is available from Verizon in the States; there is already a second US carrier (Cricket) supporting those phones via unlock. What has changed is that Apple now offers a GSM iPhone to US buyers that is not locked to a specific carrier. Many overseas carriers have offered unlocked iPhones before now; in fact, we're told that in the UK it is the act of selling the phone with a SIM on the same order that tags the phone's unique identifier as 'locked,' but the phone itself is unlocked at the factory and then locked in the sales process. The availability of unlocked US iPhones is likely to accelerate the worldwide liquidity of the device, as Horace Dediu puts it, since an unlocked iPhone can be taken to any GSM system worldwide. Is unlocking the same as jailbreaking? Jailbreaking is a process that opens the full underlying iOS operating system to end-user control ('breaking out' of the chroot jail, hence the term). It has been a pre-requisite for running third-party unlocking software until now. The new Apple unlocked iPhone does not require jailbreaking or third-party unlocks to be used with non-AT&T carriers. What carriers can you use with the unlocked iPhone? For right now, AT&T is a given for full iPhone compatibility. You can sign up for an AT&T plan with no term commitment with an unlocked unit, meaning that frequent travelers now have at least one officially-sanctioned option for temporary service; simply cancel your plan at the end of the month, and re-up on your next trip. AT&T spokesman Seth Bloom tells TUAW: You can, of course, buy an unlocked iPhone from Apple and use it on the AT&T network. If you do, there's no term commitment – and customers may choose any current voice and data plan. AT&T offers data plans starting as low as $15 per month for 250 MB of data. (You do still need to have both a voice and data plan.) Will the unlocked phone work with T-Mobile? Definitely on EDGE; not on 3G. Here's why. The iPhone uses SIMs, little cards that identify you as a carrier subscriber. For calls (rather than data), you can use any carrier that offers compatible GSM SIMs, including AT&T and T-Mobile. For data, it's not just about SIMs. It's about frequency. The iPhone 4 supports the following frequencies: UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA: 850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz GSM/EDGE 850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz AT&T uses the 850 frequency for 3G. T-Mobile uses AWS; 1700 MHz for uplink, 2100 MHz downlink. The iPhone 4 doesn't do 1700 MHz, so you're stuck on EDGE if you put a T-Mobile SIM into it (or if, like our own Rich Gaywood, you roam onto the network when traveling). This is hardware antenna design, it's not firmware patchable in the iPhone. While future iPhones may be truly universal, the iPhone 4 is not. Where do I get SIMs? The iPhone 4 uses a microSIM, not a full-size (technically known as a 'mini') SIM. Carriers provide SIMs at their stores when you sign up for plans. You may need to use a SIM cutter in order to convert your full-sized SIM for iPhone 4 use if the store will not provide you with a microSIM. For developers who don't really need full phone and data plans, who just need a SIM that they can make a few incoming calls to test their apps, the very best plan is H2O Wireless. Their SIMs are for sale at Best Buy. For $10 you get $5 of airtime billed at very low rates, lasting for 90 days. You will have to cut the SIM down to fit it into the iPhone 4. As OS X Daily points out, you can also get an AT&T PAYG SIM (but you may be better off not telling the salesperson you have an iPhone). For information on prepaid SIMs available across the globe, this wiki is probably the best available reference. Who is the primary customer for the unlocked iPhone? This phone is perfect for frequent travelers, who want to use their iPhones when visiting other countries. They'll be able to buy and use local SIMs with locally-priced calling and data plans. You may want to carry a cutter with you, however, or buy one locally/have it shipped to you if you don't think you'll get the stapler-sized device through airport security. Our friend & former colleague Nik Fletcher has this handy guide to using your UK iPhone in the US; it's covering the use of the 3G iPhone but it should work just fine with the 4. AT&T has not yet confirmed whether any current pay-as-you-go plan is approved for use with the unlocked iPhone, so right now the only official option for US call and data with AT&T is a standard voice + data plan (you must have both; data plans start at $15 for 250 MB and voice plans at $40 for 450 minutes of call time). Because AT&T is not subsidizing the unit, you have no term commitment and can cancel your plan at any time. See below for Pay as You Go plans. We have contacted T-Mobile for comment but have not yet heard back about possible plans. If you are a subscriber of another US GSM carrier, like Cellular One, please let us know what they say about iPhone support. Developers will also buy the unlocked iPhone as a contract-free unit, allowing them to purchase a device for development without committing to a plan. What about Pay-As-You-Go? AT&T's tacit support for PAYG data plans on the iPhone ended in 2009, so keep that in mind as you read the following section. Right now AT&T's data plans for PAYG are not confirmed as available for the iPhone. The 100 MB data pack costs $15 if you buy it atop a prepaid plan. You can swap a PAYG SIM into an unlocked iPhone 4 (or, for that matter, a locked one) but there may be some hoops to jump through to get data. All that to say, there's no official support for PAYG on the iPhone 4, but it mostly works. If you want data, sign up for a normal iPhone contract -- keeping in mind that you cannot get a data-only or voice-only plan from AT&T right now, you must get both. As mentioned, AT&T has not yet clarified its policy on unsubsidized phones, so you may need to negotiate or you will be locked into a 2-year contract complete with cancellation penalties sans subsidies. AT&T has confirmed that there is no term commitment for these plans and you may cancel at any time. It's clearly cheaper to sign up for a $15 monthly data plan than a PAYG data plan, but then you're saddled with a $40 voice plan you probably don't need. TUAW reader Fruit Attack adds: [The] AT&T GoPhone data package has become pretty reasonable, $25 for 500 MB. Expiration is 30 days. The downside is that you have to refill every month to keep the unused data bucket rolling. In theory you can buy a big bucket ($25 for 500 MB) in the first month and refill $5 (for 10 MB) by the end of the month to roll over the unused MBs. It's actually a pretty affordable solution. AT&T does not officially support iPhone on their GoPhone plan, so don't bother going to the AT&T store or phone for any sign-up help and support." He recommends this write-up about activating your data service. Got suggestions for T-Mobile plans? Other carriers like CellularOne? Let us know! Why is an unlocked iPhone almost $700? That's the "real" price of the Apple iPhone. Carriers subsidize that "price," offering you contracts in exchange for a much lower price tag. When you buy without a contract, you pay full freight. You may ask what the real price differential is between the equipment in an iPhone and, say, an iPod touch, but that's not the way that carriers work. They have a "price." They have contracts. They have you. Can I unlock my AT&T iPhone 4 when I am out of contract? AT&T's website says: "iPhone cannot be unlocked, even if you are out of contract." We have contacted AT&T for more details in case this information has changed. Got more questions? Put them in the comments!
AT&T's $3-a-day unlimited calling, Samsung a177 both go live
Today AT&T begins selling an interesting new GoPhone pay-as-you-go option, offering users unlimited domestic local and long distance for $3 a day, only on the days that you use it. If all you need is a sheer crapload of voice minutes, this actually stacks up really favorable against AT&T's postpaid offerings, which price unlimited service at $99.99 a month -- with this, you'll be paying between $84 and $93 a month, assuming you end up springing for service every single day. Of course, the tradeoff is that you're stuck bringing your own phone to the network or picking up one of AT&T's GoPhone devices -- which tend to dominate the low end of the spectrum -- but then again, if voice is really your thing, odds are you don't care about how many accelerometers your phone features. On a related note, Samsung's a177 (pictured) has gone live on AT&T's site, bringing a solid text messaging experience to the prepaid market. As you might expect of a $99.99 no-commitment phone, all you've got is a VGA cam -- but roughly $110 a month for unlimited contract-free voice and texting on a top-tier carrier might be enough to sway a few in the a177's direction, assuming value leaders like Boost, Cricket, and Virgin Mobile aren't picking everyone off. Read - Samsung a177 Read - $3-a-day option
O2 UK shows the LG Cookie sporting a new whiter look on Pay & Go
O2 seems to like LG's KP501 Cookie so much that its decided to offer it in white with shiny metallic accents in the Pay as you go realm. Pricing is listed as £99 (roughly $140) and for that money you'll get stuff like a 400 x 240 touchscreen display, a 3.2 megapixel sharpshooter, Bluetooth, FM radio, and so forth. Sound like it's too good to be true? Well, it isn't, though, you'll need to sit and wait a tick as this guy is listed as "coming soon" to shops and the O2 online store.
TUAW Hands On: Trying out the $20/month contract-free unlimited data iPhone
Yesterday, I wrote about AT&T's new $20/month unlimited data feature pack. Today, my daughter was home sick from school. Why is that important? Because we gave her a cheap AT&T Pay As You Go phone, which she uses to keep in touch when her bus is late or if she needs to contact us for some reason. Pay As You Go plus idle phone = Data Plan Experimentation! Read on for details...
