2 year plan required?

[kydog12]

I was wondering if it is completely mandatory to get a 2 year contract with the iphone. Will they just sell it to you without a contract, so you can use it on your existing contract? (mine doesnt expire for about 7 more months) my plan already has a good amount of minutes with unlimited Nights and weekends, unlimited Mobile to Mobile and unlimited messaging, and i dont plan on using internet features when i am not in a wifi hotspot, so i will not have to purchase any unlimited internet plan right?

[TurtleBomb]

Yeah it should work, since its a GSM it will need a sim card, so just swap the sim cards and add the services, like that media thing and you should be fine.


You could also buy the phone unlocked from place like Myworldphone, once they get it.

[jhollington]

This likely won't work, since the iPhone has to be activated via iTunes with the two-year contract before you can use any of the features in it, even as an iPod.

So in other words, you can get the iPhone without signing up for a contract on the spot, but you won't be able to use it until you sign up for a contract online, via iTunes.

If you're already an existing AT&T customer, you can purchase the iPhone portion of the plan for an additional $20/month, but you'll still need to do the two-year contract.

[esoin]

This likely won't work, since the iPhone has to be activated via iTunes with the two-year contract before you can use any of the features in it, even as an iPod.

So in other words, you can get the iPhone without signing up for a contract on the spot, but you won't be able to use it until you sign up for a contract online, via iTunes.

If you're already an existing AT&T customer, you can purchase the iPhone portion of the plan for an additional $20/month, but you'll still need to do the two-year contract.

Im in the same situation as the orignal poster, however, we have the family plan (4 phones). Not eligible for upgrade.

I want to replace one of our phones with the iPhone. It sounds like what you're saying is I can purchase the iphone w/o contract, and simply pop in my current sim card. The only additional service charge would be the $20 data plan (is this data plan different from the itunes service plan you mentioned)? Am I understanding that correctly?

I get confused when you say I'll still need to purchase a two-year contract? So, does that mean I'll have two contracts? My current ATT/CINGULAR family-plan contract and the Data-Plan contract?

Thanks for the insight.

[jhollington]

Actually, you apparently won't be able to use your existing SIM card, but you can transfer your existing account information via the iTunes activation process... When you go to activate the iPhone, simply select the option that you're already a customer, and enter the appropriate information. The new SIM in your iPhone will be updated with the relevant information from your existing account, including the phone number and other details.

Apparently upgrade eligibility is not a requirement to purchase an iPhone.

The two-year contract requirement likely just means you'll have to sign-up for another two-year commitment on your existing plan. This is generally the case with most cellular providers on any upgrade to a new phone. As far as I know, the plan extension is based on the date you sign up, so it's not added to your existing contract, but starts from the date you activate the iPhone.

So if your contract with AT&T was going to expire this October, for example, it will be extended to expire in July 2009.

[esoin]

Thanks, jhollington, for that information. I think I understand it a little better now.

It seems that since I'm on a ATT/CING family plan, I would have to transfer all four phones over to the ATT/CING/iTUNES family plan. Would that be a legit assumption?

I read here:
http://www.tuaw.com/2007/06/26/atandt-and-apple-announce-service-plans-itunes-activation-for-iph/

... they have family plans, however, my entire family doesn't want an iphone, just me. I think switching over my entire family plan would be too much of a cost burden.

oh well! Thanks for the info, tho!

[jhollington]

Well, you should probably ask AT&T just to clarify, but the impression I get from reading the information thus far is that not every phone on the family plan has to be an iPhone. The family plan just provides shared minutes, and I'm really not even sure how the sharing of the other iPhone-specific plan features would work.

I'd be very surprised if the family plan required every phone to be an iPhone.

More likely I suspect you'll just need to change your plan to add the iPhone features and transfer the number from whichever one of your phones you're replacing over to the iPhone. From what I've seen of the iTunes Activation screens, this looks like it should be fairly straightfoward. You might want to check out the iTunes Activation and Sync video over at Apple's site (http://www.apple.com/iphone/usingiphone/activation.html) for more information on how this works.

[esoin]

Hello,

I took your suggestion and called my local ATT retail store. They said that all I would have to pay for was the phone and the additional $20/month data plan. Even through i'm on a family plan, it will still work.

That is perfect, because that is what I wanted to do.

Thanks for the video link, that helped too.

Take care,

esoin