I just bought an iphone on craigslist, and im trying to get the phone part to work w/o activating it thur itunes. Do I have to agree to a 2 year contract if do it this way or is there other way to activate it. I do have atat.

1/16/2009 1:49:54 AM

you have to activate the phone through itunes. You are gonna have to roll into at&t and get on a iPhone plan which requires a 2 year contract at the moment

1/16/2009 2:47:09 AM

^ what if you already have a data plan? Do they still fuck you over by requiring the "iphone data plan" which is more or less the exact same as MediaNet+200 SMS for $10 more a month?

1/16/2009 5:22:19 AM

it's $10 more because you'll be using a lot more bandwith than average MediaNet user

^^^ go ahead and sign up for an iphone plan. iphone without data access is about as useful as a a car with square wheels

1/16/2009 6:40:59 AM

just unlock it, it'll take care of it if i remember correctly

http://www.intomobile.com/2008/07/18/iphone-3g-unlock-still-not-working-iphone-dev-team-says-pwnage-tool-20-will-only-jailbreak-and-activate-iphone-3g.html

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 7:58 AM. Reason : link, yeah, looks like it..try using that.]

1/16/2009 7:57:02 AM

these are the types of questions you ask BEFORE making such a purchase.

1/16/2009 9:43:07 AM

This is why I by stuff like like this right out of the store.

1/16/2009 10:11:50 AM

its not a 3g its a 2g

1/16/2009 10:57:26 AM

^ means its a gen 1 folks.

there are ways to jailbreak them. look around google. I dont keep up on them, otherwise id probably have one to recco to ya.

1/16/2009 11:21:35 AM

http://freeyourphone.org/

1/16/2009 1:55:58 PM

Quote :

"it's $10 more because you'll be using a lot more bandwith than average MediaNet user"

I don't think that's true. A lot of other smartphone users (myself included) get the unlimited data plan so they can use their sim cards with their laptop (tethered internet access). What about the iphone requires "more bandwidth" than the average medianet user? Email, Browsing, downloadable content...

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 4:55 PM. Reason : ]

1/16/2009 4:50:16 PM

Quote :

"get the unlimited data plan so they can use their sim cards with their laptop (tethered internet access)."

technically you are suppose to pay more for that btw.. and if you do it too much, you'll get a 50 page bill with the details of your tethering habits..then they'll start charging you for it if you keep it up

now, as far as the extra $10--that was originally added when the 3G iphones came out to cover the subsidizing cost..unfortunately EVERYONE is subject to that higher charge now that gets an iPhone plan--regardless of what version it is (someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's how it works..)

[Edited on January 16, 2009 at 7:21 PM. Reason : (I tether a lot too..just letting you know what I've read)]

1/16/2009 7:20:38 PM

^ about how much do you tether? and you haven't ever been charged?

1/16/2009 7:34:45 PM

not that much really. if i'm traveling i'll sometimes use it at night if i'm having with a hotels internet access or if i'm visiting someone without wireless on the weekends i might use it for an hour or something... for usage like that AT&T doesn't give a shit.

but there are some stories i've read of people who use it constantly eventually getting charged out the ass for it... just a heads up

1/16/2009 7:40:06 PM

one of my buddies back home was an engineer for at&t (up until he got laid off a couple of months ago )

he said that unofficially, as long as you don't use it like every day, and when you do use it, it's for checking email, reading the news, etc. (i.e. low bandwidth activities), they don't give a shit.

it's when people use it as their primary ISP, watch youtube or hulu over it, or run p2p apps that they start charging you for it.

1/17/2009 12:11:05 AM