# iPhone Pay As You Go



## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

I'm about to spend most of the next 2 weeks in the US. I'm driving down to take a flight out of Buffalo this evening and will have a bit of extra time. Would it be worth it for me to take the original SIM card that shipped with the iPhone and use it to obtain a Pay-As-You-Go AT&T account? Can I still do this and if so, how do I do it?

I'm in the Boston area this week and then in San Francisco next week (my first MacWorld in 11 years). I also head down to the Buffalo area quite a bit in the golf season so I'm sure that I'll make use of any minutes I don't use in the next few weeks.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.


----------



## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

No. Unless that SIM card is active still, and has airtime/minutes on it. And if I'm not mistaken, the original AT&T SIM cards were not pay-as-you-go anyways.

You should buy a local pay-as-you-go SIM for $20+ and use that while you travel.

If you want to use your Rogers' SIM, call Rogers and add $US long distance to the account, and turn off voicemail temporarily. Every voicemail call (when someone winds up leaving you a message) will incur double long distance, when the phone rings and relays the call.


----------



## Jeepdude (Mar 3, 2005)

HowEver said:


> No. Unless that SIM card is active still, and has airtime/minutes on it. And if I'm not mistaken, the original AT&T SIM cards were not pay-as-you-go anyways.
> 
> You should buy a local pay-as-you-go SIM for $20+ and use that while you travel.
> 
> If you want to use your Rogers' SIM, call Rogers and add $US long distance to the account, and turn off voicemail temporarily. Every voicemail call (when someone winds up leaving you a message) will incur double long distance, when the phone rings and relays the call.


Good idea. Rogers also sells a package (I believe it was $60) that represents a flat-rate roaming fee in the US. I learned the hard way last summer...

I don't have all the particulars, but it's something along those lines.

Whatever you do...don't roam! Text messages, per-minute charges and data rates are out of this world!


----------



## Philly (Nov 17, 2007)

Not possible with the AT&T SIM that came with the phone. You'll need to activate a SIM card from them or T-Mobile.

I'm not really up to date with the AT&T rates. I'm with T-Mobile in here and the rates are about 0.10$/min. If you spend more that 100$, it's a little bit less. 

There's so much hotspots in the states that the Edge is not really required. I'm sure if you go to macworld, there will be some. Plus, the edge is as expensive as with Rogers/Fido but it's still not cheap when you are not on a monthly payment.

AT&T or T-Mobile are fine. For coverage, I know that T-Mobile is good. Major cities, highways, roads are covered. AT&T are telling everybody that they are the best coverage in the US. True ? Don't know.

Hope this input helps.


----------



## Philly (Nov 17, 2007)

In any case, I would suggest:

DO NOT USE YOUR ROGERS/FIDO SIM CARD ! Roaming charges are really expensive. I'm in the US and I keep my Fido SIM card active for my old phone number in Canada. Everytime I have to pick up the call, the fees are HUGE !  

DON'T ROAM. 

Activate a SIM here. There is activation fees but still, I think you're a winner anyways. Plus, you'll have a US phone number for future trip down there.


----------



## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

When they had free unlimited data roaming, I had T-Mobile paygo SIMs useable in Canada. This was just last year. Sigh.

eBay is a good (if you're careful) source for a much-discounted US paygo SIM card.


----------



## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

I added a plan for the month to my account. 120 minutes of US including long distance for $60. The lady was very helpful and she even put in an automatic cancel in for the end of the month so I didn't need to make a second call.


----------



## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Oakbridge said:


> I added a plan for the month to my account. 120 minutes of US including long distance for $60. The lady was very helpful and she even put in an automatic cancel in for the end of the month so I didn't need to make a second call.


I'd follow up.


----------



## Corvillus (Nov 15, 2007)

There is a way to activate the bundled AT&T SIM with a GoPhone plan (equivalent to an iPhone plan but priced $10 more per month and is prepaid, however I would not recommend iy for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that it involves purposefully failing the credit check so they can't offer you an iPhone contract. Secondly, your phone must be put to factory in order to activate, which means goodbye jailbreak and apps (yes they can be performed again afterwards, but why go through the hassle). Besides T-Mobile is better anyway (cheaper minutes, arguably better coverage, and unlimited data included with all prepaid via T-Zones hack). 

If you're still insistent in using the bundled SIM as prepaid, here you go
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/07/02/iphone-prepay-the-right-way/


----------



## JustAMacUser (Oct 21, 2007)

Well, I bought a $15 AT&T prepaid card from cheapphonecards.com for less than $15US. With the Canadian dollar where it is, it would be even cheaper now.

Then I went to AT&T's GoPhone site to activate my previously not activated iPhone AT&T SIM card along with the prepaid top-up number from cheapphonecards.com (FYI, I am not affiliated with them in any way). Once I was done, I put the card in my jailbroken and unlocked iPhone (then running 1.0.2) and it connected to the AT&T network without trouble (no need to restore, re-jailbreak, etc.).

I was able to do this to get the iPhone rebate Apple was offering and I'd imagine it might still work for short-term travel needs.

Keep in mind, there's no roaming with AT&T prepaid. I'm close to the border so it worked well for me. Also, because I didn't follow the regular AT&T sign-up process, I did *not* get the unlimited data (just something to be aware of).


----------



## jonnyajax (Apr 7, 2008)

JustAMacUser,
I bought an AT&T sim activation code on Ebay for $1.99 and it workes to setup my sim, however, during GoPhone activation it's asking me for the phone's IMEI number.

When you activated you iPhone SIM what IMEI number did you use?

Thanks!!!


----------



## JustAMacUser (Oct 21, 2007)

jonnyajax said:


> JustAMacUser,
> I bought an AT&T sim activation code on Ebay for $1.99 and it workes to setup my sim, however, during GoPhone activation it's asking me for the phone's IMEI number.
> 
> When you activated you iPhone SIM what IMEI number did you use?


The IMEI is unique to each phone, not the SIM card. You can find yours (in very small print) on the back of the iPhone. Or you can locate it on the iPhone itself in Settings > General > About.

So to answer your question, I used my legitimate iPhone IMEI. Not using the proper IMEI will likely result in the account not being set up properly.


----------



## ruffdeezy (Mar 17, 2008)

i used my own iphone's imei # to activate my tmobile to go sim card. You can use your own it doesn't really matter, they wont block your account. You could also just make up a 15 digit code and it will still activate for you. You are basically activating the sim, the imei will tell them what features you can and cannot use on your account.


----------



## katbel (Apr 20, 2008)

JustAMacUser said:


> Well, I bought a $15 AT&T prepaid card from cheapphonecards.com for less than $15US. With the Canadian dollar where it is, it would be even cheaper now.
> 
> Then I went to AT&T's GoPhone site to activate my previously not activated iPhone AT&T SIM card along with the prepaid top-up number from cheapphonecards.com
> .



I need to get it straight: on the AT&T's GoPhone page- where they ask for your SMART chip number- did you put the original one (number on the sim card you got with the iphone)
or the pin number you bought at cheapphone? 
Are Pin and sim activation number the same thing?

I feel really confused and there are so many pages I'm reading on the Internet and more I read and more I'm confuse

Thanks


----------



## ruffdeezy (Mar 17, 2008)

katbel said:


> I need to get it straight: on the AT&T's GoPhone page- where they ask for your SMART chip number- did you put the original one (number on the sim card you got with the iphone)
> or the pin number you bought at cheapphone?
> Are Pin and sim activation number the same thing?
> 
> ...


No they aren't the same thing. The pin # is the activation code for the prepaid account which will usually give you a few bucks worth of mins to start. You also need to put in the sim card serial # so the phone will work.


----------



## JustAMacUser (Oct 21, 2007)

katbel said:


> I need to get it straight: on the AT&T's GoPhone page- where they ask for your SMART chip number- did you put the original one (number on the sim card you got with the iphone)
> or the pin number you bought at cheapphone?
> Are Pin and sim activation number the same thing?


As ruffdeezy stated, these are two different things; you'll be asked for them separately. I used my legitimate IMEI, original AT&T SIM card number, and the pin (prepaid card number) I purchased online to add money to my account. It all worked without any trouble.


----------



## katbel (Apr 20, 2008)

Thanks: now I have a clearer idea!  
Two last question  
When you bought the 15$ prepaid card
did you get just a pin or you also get 15 $ of credit on your card?
Did you use a Canadian address for AT&T gophone activation?


----------



## ruffdeezy (Mar 17, 2008)

You dont need to provide any personal info to anyone, you don't even talk to anyone. It's all done over the phone by pressing numbers. You enter those codes, then you enter what area code you want. That was my experience activating on t-mobile, i believe it's the same for at&t.


----------



## PastorVink (Nov 20, 2007)

I didn't read all the above so this may not be new info.

When I was in the States for a month this winter I used the At&t sim that came with my phone and hooked it up at a At&T re-seller store (not official corporate) as a Go Phone month to month with the $20/ month unlimited Data.
He just used the stores address when it needed one and I paid with my Credit card over the phone the first time I used it.

One phone call a month later and I was off the plan.

Super Easy and great having the Data


----------



## JustAMacUser (Oct 21, 2007)

katbel said:


> Thanks: now I have a clearer idea!
> Two last question
> When you bought the 15$ prepaid card
> did you get just a pin or you also get 15 $ of credit on your card?
> Did you use a Canadian address for AT&T gophone activation?


I did it through the GoPhone web site. I don't recall submitting any personal information (address, etc.). The prepaid card I purchased was for $15. It cost about $12USD (which, then, cost $16CAD).

The entire process took a couple of minutes. Most of that was finding the stupid Go Phone registration page.


----------



## JkEw (Oct 10, 2007)

I'm down in the U.S now and using a GoPhone sim card in my unlocked iPhone

I bought the cheapest GoPhone at BestBuy for $20.00 comes with a CHEAP phone and simcard with $10.00 on it. I activated the sim card on the AT&T GoPhone website and used my unlocked iPhone IMEI # and works great. You can buy GoPhone refill cards pretty much anywhere down here.

I've been down here for 3 weeks and have only needed to purchase one $25.00 refill card. A Lot cheaper then if I was roaming with Ro$ers.


----------



## macfalls (Feb 29, 2008)

you can pick up an AT&T go sim and use it and the minutes will rollover too. i have one and use it when i cross into the states ... it still holds the left over minutes i haven't used even when it's out of the iphone i have and using the fido sim.

there shouldn't be an issue activating it ..... i never had one. and i just walked into the AT&T on niagara falls blvd near the target superstore. they sold me one walked me through setting it up and adding my time.

i have had it out of the phone for a month now and just popped it in and it still registers as having the exact same amount of minutes i had when i last took it out.

so no worries of losing anything you have on it.


----------



## retrocactus (Jun 17, 2003)

macfalls said:


> i have had it out of the phone for a month now and just popped it in and it still registers as having the exact same amount of minutes i had when i last took it out.
> 
> so no worries of losing anything you have on it.


The minutes expire depending on the amount purchased. A $100 card lasts 1 year and everything else only lasts 90 days. Under $20 cards only last 30 days. It's all outlined on the little blue/orange pamphlet or poster that is probably beside the cards in many stores or on their website:

Pay As You Go cards are available in these amounts:

Card Denomination	Expiration Period
$15	30 days
$25	90 days
$50	90 days
$75	90 days
$100	365 days
One year expiration period on $100 refill cards!


----------

