Pay-As-You-Go Plans

Most people assume that a two-year AT&T commitment is required, possibly because Apple says, "two-year AT&T commitment required." That's not technically true, however.

If you enter 999-99-9999 as your Social Security number and click Continue, you'll fail the credit check. And what happens to people who fail the credit check?

They're offered the chance to sign up for one of AT&T's GoPhone plans. These are prepaid plans, intended for people with poor credit (or a fear of commitment). You pay for each month's service in advance, and it's very expensive: $60 a month buys you only 300 minutes, for example.

But here's the thing: There's no two-year commitment, no deposit, no contract. You can stop paying at any time without having to pay the usual $175 early-termination fee.

In fact, if you remove the SIM card at that point, the Wi-Fi and iPod features of the iPhone still work. If you really want an Internet terminal/iPod that can't make phone calls, or if you can afford an iPhone but not an AT&T service plan, well, here's your chance.

Note

Clearly, this business about using the iPhone without an AT&T plan is something of a loophole—and Apple/AT&T may eventually close it. Caveat hacker.

Get iPhone: The Missing Manual now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.