Buy iPhone 4 Without Data Plan

Since this is hackint0sh.org, I think answers on here will be better than an ATT customer service operator's answers to my situation.

So basically, I am on Tmobile and have an iPhone 3G. I am so excited about the iPhone 4 but not so excited about the price I'd have to pay as a non-ATT customer.

So, I asked my good friend if she would be willing to preorder the iPhone 4 since she is an ATT customer and she was eligible for an upgrade but did not want to use it. She said that she would preorder the iPhone 4 using her upgrade and therefore getting it for $199.99.

According to the ATT customer service, there is no way to buy an Iphone 4 without a data plan.

Is this true?

Is there a way my friend can preorder the iPhone 4 without the data plan but still only pay 199.99 and have it shipped to her house?

Or can you buy the 200 MB data plan for $14.99 per month and just cancel that plan after the first month?

And also, would the iPhone come activated? (With a SIM card that works?)
Or would it be empty so I could unlock it myself and pop in my Tmobile micro SIM?

Please help! I know it's short notice as preorders start tomorrow...

THANK YOU!!!

the $199 price is subsidised because of taking out a contract. if you want it without a plan then expect to pay $600+ for the handset. And now you could not take out a plan and then cancel it after one month. all plans are for 18 or 24 months generally.

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Originally Posted by bobhope

the $199 price is subsidised because of taking out a contract. if you want it without a plan then expect to pay $600+ for the handset. And now you could not take out a plan and then cancel it after one month. all plans are for 18 or 24 months generally.

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AT&T has recently doubled the early termination fee on smartphones. It now works out cheaper to buy the iPhone locked but contract free.

See this - Would you recommend a contract-free iPhone for details - however keep in mind that this assumes you will stay with AT&T during the contract period.

If you want to buy it totally unlocked and without contract expect to pay at least $900 - also you need to buy from outside North America. The big advantage is higher resale value and no risk of losing the unofficial unlock due to an accidental OS upgrade.

AT&T won't let you buy/use ANY smartphone without data plan.
This is the reason I went to T-Mobile. Plus, I think iPhone 4 is not software unlockable (at least for now). So, you will need factory unlocked iPhone in order to use it outside of AT&T.

As an aside, ultrasn0w 0.9.3 is out which unlocks the baseband included in the 4.0 release, so a software unlock *IS* available. There are no jailbreak tools published yet for 4.0 though. You can use the modified pwnagetool to create a 4.0 bundle that is jailbroken, but I do not believe you can jailbreak a device running 4.0 that hasn't already been pwned.

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Originally Posted by n1ckn4m3

As an aside, ultrasn0w 0.9.3 is out which unlocks the baseband included in the 4.0 release, so a software unlock *IS* available. There are no jailbreak tools published yet for 4.0 though. You can use the modified pwnagetool to create a 4.0 bundle that is jailbroken, but I do not believe you can jailbreak a device running 4.0 that hasn't already been pwned.

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Right. My bad. JB is what we're missing...:D

It's cool, I was wrong too :D. I should have been more specific:

There is no jailbreak for 3GS devices running 4.0 yet.

There *IS* a jailbreak for 3G devices on 4.0 (redsn0w)

There *IS* a (hard to find) jailbreak for previously pwned 3GS devices with the old bootloader using a modified PwnageTool + the GM of 4.0, but it's not public yet and end-users should wait a day or so until redsn0w and PwnageTool are released.

That explains it all. Thank you.

Wait and ye shall receive.

PwnageTool 4.0 is now available to jailbreak 3GS devices running iOS 4.0. There are certain restrictions though so be sure to read up on the Dev-Team blog before jumping completely in.

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Originally Posted by Kanavel

Wait and ye shall receive.

PwnageTool 4.0 is now available to jailbreak 3GS devices running iOS 4.0. There are certain restrictions though so be sure to read up on the Dev-Team blog before jumping completely in.

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Nice. Do you know by any chance if it's worth keeping the old 4* baseband even though the new is unlockable?